Royal Arch

It stood on the corner of Charlotte Street and Charlotte Row, alongside the site we see here occupied by Norman Crook’s newsagent, by the last tree on the left side of the street. Pre-war Eli Nuttall ran the premises as a fish and chip shop, but prior to him Thomas Rice appears to have been the last licensee to sell beer from here, at the end of the First World War.

Originally No.53 it became 110 Charlotte Street following the absorption of Charlotte Terrace East and West in the second half of the nineteenth century. The site has been long since redeveloped as has the area occupied by military vehicles on the other side of Albert Road. The name itself – Royal Arch – would appear to be a Masonic reference. Royal Arch Masonry is the oldest and largest rite of Freemasonry; its members, irrespective of global politics or religion, believe in one God and in respect for each other.

Licensees

1864 - Elizabeth Cundy
1873 - Elizabeth Vosper
1875 - E Martin
1877 - Owen
1880 - J Renfree
1895 - Frederick Loveys
1897 - Samuel Hawkins
1900 - M Stephens
1902 - W May
1909 - R Griffin
1910 - F Coombes
1912 - W Waddon
1913 - W Rees
1919 - Thomas Rice