Old Red Lion, Holborn

Old Red Lion pub, Holborn

The Old Red Lion is a pub at 72 High Holborn on the corner with Red Lion Street, Holborn, London.

The pub was established by the sixteenth century, and was rebuilt in its present form in 1899,[1] and retains its original Victorian character.[2]

The Red Lyon was the most important inn in Holborn, and Red Lion Street and Red Lion Square are named after it.[3]

According to legend, in 1660, King Charles II had the bodies of Oliver Cromwell and his fellow Roundheads John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton exhumed to stage an execution of their corpses, and the bodies were stored overnight in the pub's yard en route to the gallows at Tyburn.[2][4][5] The room upstairs is named the Cromwell Bar.[2]

In 1621, the innkeeper of the Red Lion was indicted for his extortionate prices under statutes of 1389 (13 Rich 2 c.8) and 1402 (4 Hen 4 c.25). He was selling oats at 2s 8d a bushel, a mark-up of around 60% on the market price.[6][7]

References

1. "Old Red Lion, 72 High Holborn, Holborn WC1". Pubshistory.com. 3 April 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
2. "Old Red Lion". Londonist.com. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
3. "Red Lion Square and neighbourhood | British History Online". British-history.ac.uk. 15 February 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
4. Peter Underwood (11 May 2013). Haunted London. Amberley Publishing Limited. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-4456-2859-2. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
5. Edward Sullivan (1 January 2000). Evening Standard London Pub Bar Guide 1999 S S Int. Simon and Schuster. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-684-86840-0. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
6. Johnson's Case (1621) Cro. Jac. 610.
7. Graham McBain, 'Abolishing the strict liability of hotelkeepers', Journal of Business Law (2006) 705

51.51810°N 0.11665°W / 51.51810; -0.11665