Clumber Street can be a bit of an overwhelming experience at times as it's one of the busiest streets in Nottingham city centre. But despite the ever-changing line-up of stores, there is one building that is always recognisable - the Lion Hotel.
The Grade II-listed building is no longer an actual hotel - it is now a casino. It was once a pub too.
The hotel was built in 1684 and was known as the White Lion Inn. At the time, Nottingham had several coaching inns around the city centre.
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A coaching inn was a vital part of transport pre-railway as it provided a place for travellers and their horses to rest and have some food. There were usually attached stables where horses could be cared for and another example of a coaching inn within the city centre is the Flying Horse Walk.
It might seem like the hotel has had a complete change from its past in that it is now known for gambling as a casino but that's actually not technically true. The hotel was once known for the barbaric practice of cock-fighting in the 1760s. There are plenty of rock cellars underneath the inn with one listed as 'the cockpit'.
In 1763, a great match was organised between London and Nottingham but it was abandoned after a number of the birds were poisoned with arsenic in their drinking water ahead of the fight. The association offered a reward of £50 (more than £7,000 today) to catch the person responsible.
Thankfully, nothing like that happens there today although it was not the only pub at the time to host the 'sport'. The Duke of Cumberland once stayed at the hotel when he came to the city to receive the freedom of the town in 1779.
At the turn of the 20th century, the hotel began to pick up a reputation for crime as there were a number of burglaries taking place in the rooms. In 1907, a young man was charged with stealing nine shillings and two gold rings from a waitress who lived in a room on the top floor.
Two years later, Nellie Ellis, from Radford, who was a barmaid in the Lion, admitted to stealing a gold watch with a value of £2 from Lucy Hepworth, who she worked with. In an interview, she admitted to stealing the watch from a box in the bedroom and was fined 10 shillings.
It may well have acquired its tiled exterior around this time, known as the Edwardian period, as many pubs in the city centre were tiled, including the Running Horse on Radford Road. Turn of the century pubs often had tiles on the front as it was a way of making them stand out from competitors. It started as an architectural trend in the early 1800s but became really popular during the late 1890s and early 1900s.
The Running Horse and Lion Hotel have extremely similar tiling as both feature an array of striking green and decorative tiles. Many pubs were attached to breweries during this time and Nottingham was no different. Home Ales and Shipstone's were two of the most prominent Nottingham city brands but sadly neither is around today.
In the 60s and 70s, the hotel became a pub where visitors were treated to a 'warm welcome' and 'time catering' at the fully equipped bar, according to the adverts at the time. The Home Ales pub also opened in a function room for private hire in 1977.
The pub was known for being incredibly busy at lunchtime with two women sitting making cobs at the end of the bar. Often the cobs would be sold as fast as they were made. However, at night it began to quieten down. It is unclear when it became the Admiral casino although it may have been in the early 1990s.
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