Old Golden Lion

On the corner of Kinterbury Street and its junction with Holy Cross Lane (formerly Colmer’s Lane) stood, for much of the middle of the nineteenth century, the Old Golden Lion.

Quite how old the Old Golden Lion was, is unclear, however there was also a Golden Lion in the neighbouring street, running parallel to Kinterbury Street – Old Town Street – which, unlike this one, survived well into the twentieth century, as a pub. Both buildings were victims of aerial bombardment during the Second World War, but by that time the Old Golden Lion in Kinterbury Street had long since ceased to be a drinking establishment.

Curiously enough there was also a Golden Lion in Devonport prior to the war, in Fore Street, but it too was a Blitz victim. It is also possible, incidentally, that this was the building that earlier housed the Bunch of Grapes and with it a popular literary club in the eighteenth century.

Licensees

1823 - John Cowen
1844 - John Harding
1850 - John Gibbons
1857 - William Redmonds
1862 - E Lavis