Red Lion Public House

Red Lion Public House: Station Road, Potton

Red Lion Mar 2007

The deeds to this public house| suggest it was built in the early 1840s as the land was conveyed to Thomas Strickland in 1842 and he then mortgaged it in 1845 to provide money to pay for premises lately built on the land. To judge by the entries of ownership in the licensing records, on Strickland's death his trustees held the property for a while, leasing it to James Home of Potton. The registers then record that in 1874 Alfred Richardson became the lease holder - he was a Potton brewer who owned a number of licensed premises in the town and local area. Strickland's trustees finally sold the premises to Alfred Richardson in 1879. The deeds do not reveal when the public house was purchased by Charles Wells Limited though the final document in the deed packet is an abstract of title of Alfred Richardson of 1893 suggesting that this was the date of the conveyance. Certainly they owned it in 1927 when the public house was valued under the 1925 Rating Valuation Act. The valuer noted that it was opposite the station and contained a bar, parlour, tearoom and kitchen downstairs with four bedrooms above - no cellar, however. Outside was a dilapidated wood barn, a two stall two bay hovel with a loft over and a derelict barn. It sold one 18 gallon barrel of mild per week and a nine gallon barrel of bitter. It had two acres of market gardening land at the rear which the tenant also occupied.

By 2006 Charles Wells had ceased to own the premises and it became a free house. By August 2012 the Red Lion was closed. 

References:
- WL1000/1/POTT/1/1: copy will of Christian Franklyn devising all her real estate to her sons in trust for sale: 1813;
- WL1000/1/POTT/1/2: conditions of sale of 2a 1r 0p: 1841;
- WL1000/1/POTT/1/6: conveyance of land from Francis Edmund Franklyn and Benjamin Whall to Thomas Strickland: 1842;
- WL1000/1/POTT/1/7: mortgage by Thomas Strickland to Joseph Dickason to raise money for premises lately built on land; 1845;
- WL1000/1/POTT/1/8: assignment of mortgage to Thomas Jepps and Thomas Pickering: 1862;
- HF143/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1872-1873;
- HF143/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1874-1877;
- X501/12: provisional deed of charge by Alfred Richardson to William Thomas Chapman of property including four Potton public houses: 1877;
- WL1000/1/POTT/1/9: reconveyance of land and premises now a beer shop to trustees of Thomas Strickland deceased: 1878;
- HF143/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1878-1881;
- WL1000/1/POTT/1/10: conveyance by Strickland's trustees to Alfred Richardson - with note that the former Red Lion had burned down and a new one had been erected: 1879;
- HF143/4: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1882-1890;
- HF143/5: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1891-1900;
- X501/15 and WL1000/1/POTT/1/11: mortgaged, with other property, by Alfred Richardson to William Thomas Chapman: 1880, redeemed 1894;
- X501/16 and WL1000/1/POTT/1/11: mortgaged, with other property, by Alfred Richardson to Henry Raynes: 1881, redeemed 1894;
- WL1000/1/POTT/1/11: assignment of mortgage to Sophia E.Raynes and Simon Brown: 1889;
- X758/2/7/1: photograph of carts lined up outside: c.1900;
- HF143/6: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1900-1914;
- PSBW8/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1903-1915;
- WL800/4 p.19: photograph: c.1925;
- WL801/38: negative of above: c.1925;
- DV1/C/9: rating valuation survey;
- PSBW8/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1956-1972;
- PSBW8/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade and North Bedfordshire Petty Sessional Divisions: 1976-1980;
- WL722/26: "Pint Pot" in-house magazine of Charles Wells with photograph of public house: 1979.

 List of Licensees: note that this is not a complete list. Italics indicate licensees whose beginning and/or end dates are not known:
1869-1878: James Manning (& timber merchant)
1878-1882: Samuel Manning;
1882-1893: Elizabeth Manning;
1893: Amos Glenister;
1893-1896: Walter Thomas Mills;
1896-1898: Helen Mills;
1898-1927: Frank Lawson;
1928-1931:George E Fowler;
1936: John H.Tansley;
1940-1961: John William Askem;
1961-1964: Owen Percy Cousins;
1964-1965: James Rayner Wilkin;
1965-1966: Ralph William Winterbottom;
1966-1969: Anthony John Smith;
1969-1978: Stanley Allanson;
1978-1979: John Ernest Gibbs;
1979-1980: David Latham;
1980: John Anthony Murray