A Brief History
Very little is actually known of the early history of The Lion Hotel. It was thought to have been built in the early 17th Century with much debate on the actual date, although records show an inventory dated 1601 that indicated a change of ownership that year. Throughout the years there have been numerous refurbishments and substantial rebuilds with its present appearance dating from the late 18th Century.
| The Original Lease. Found In The Cellar Of The Hotel In The 1990's Dating Back To The Early 1700's. Click On The Image Above For A Larger Image. |
Previously named ‘The Red Lion’, the inn had a dubious reputation during these early years, as an extract from the diary of Colonel John Byng dated 1789 reads;
| ‘it was a paltry looking inn; taking possession of a poor parlour and ordinary supper….Nothing could have been nastier than our inn at Worksop; with ill cooking, stinking feather beds and a conceited fool of a landlady.’ |
One of the next earliest existing records is of a meeting held at The Red Lion on the 27th June 1745. This was to find out how many townsmen of Worksop were of ‘no unlawful calling’ and thus eligible to be levied into the army.
By 1870 the infamous Red Lion had changed its name to The Lion Hotel and had turned its reputation around. It had become the principle house in the town with a large range of amenities unlikely that any other establishment in the district could rival. Behind the Georgian façade were three private sitting rooms, twenty two bedrooms, two large rooms used as market and dining rooms, commercial and coffee rooms, a bar, a taproom, a billiard room, kitchens, pantries and cellars. Facing the yard at the rear of the hotel was stabling for up to thirty six horses, coach houses, wash houses and other outbuildings. A most impressive range and standard for that certain period of history.
The Lion Hotel continued this standard of service well up until the late 19th Century with numerous owners and landlords until 1975 when it was threatened with demolition by Whitbread breweries. The Brewery had presented outline plans for the redevelopment of the site as a modern shopping arcade and office block. However the council stepped in and announced that The Lion Hotel would be placed on a statutory list of buildings of historic and architectural interest complied by the secretary of state, thus saving the building.
The Lion was closed for a brief spell in 1976 before being reopened in 1982 with a new owner. The hotel changed hands a few times more before finally being purchased by its present owners ‘Cooplands (Doncaster) Ltd’. Now a well renowned forty six bed roomed hotel with excellent modern amenities, it still retains all of its charm and character of the past and has even kept a few of its old residents.
One ghostly resident in particular likes to make headlines in the local paper, namely Alice, a spurned serving wench who was said to have committed suicide in the building in the 18th Century. Said to have once favoured the dark attic Alice may have been disturbed by building work and has since been reported to have given several employees and residents a shock by appearing in bedrooms, humming, singing and even crying along empty corridors. Her favourite haunt, room 201 with its exposed beams and quaint dressing room, has an air of mystery with only the bravest of guests daring to spend the night alone.