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Ipswich Golden Lion
Ipswich Golden Lion
formerly White Lion
North East, 52.0577,1.15206
Currently closed - may reopen?
has been empty and on the market for a long time
10 Cornhill, IP1 1DB
grid reference TM 161 446
bar / diner, opened about 1400
The hotel is shown on this OS town plan from about 1880 (larger map).
A Grade 2 listed hotel building and former posting house, located in one corner of the historic Cornhill. Once it stood beside the moot hall, today it is dwarfed by the Victorian Town Hall.
Originally the whole hotel complex formed the Golden Lion as the large roof sign suggests. The lion statue was once gilded; small remnants of this gilding still remain. Since 1998 the foyer has been used as a restaurant and the separate function room (to the rear) has been used as an occasional live music venue, whilst the hotel business still functions on the upper floors. The pub had a toilet for disabled customers.
The bar area was operated as a single "L" shaped split level room with food and beer festivals. Beers were from the JD Wetherspoon national beer list. Disabled toilet.
Around the turn of the century, before Wetherspoon's took over, it traded as the Vaults Bar (as part of the hotel) and had a reputation as a first-rate freehouse with a wide range of well-kept beers.
The building is supposed to date from the 18th century. An earlier inn called the White Lion stood on this site; whether in the same building or one preceding it is uncertain.
The White Lion is known to have dated back at least to the 16th century.
Facilities
- Accessible to disabled customers
- Accommodation available
- Bus stop nearby (see transport links for details)
- Cider (real draught, not keg) available
- Evening meals
- Lunchtime meals (not just snacks)
- Separate bar
- Smoking area
- this page for details"> WiFi available: free. Connect to "Wi-Fi Zone - The Cloud": see this page for details
Railway station about 0.6 miles away (see transport links for details)
Gallery
Historical interest
Owner/operator: John Labbatt Retail
[Vaults Bar]
Good refurbishment of this town centre hotel, providing comfortable drinking and eating areas plus reasonably priced accommodation. After a brief spell of serving mostly national ales, a good range of local and guest beers are once again available.
Beers: Adnams Bitter, Broadside; Greene King IPA; Tolly Conquest; Whitbread Castle Eden; guest beers.CAMRA's 1997 Suffolk Real Ale Guide
Originally called the White Lion, the name changed during the 1570s. According to Alfred Hedges' book "Inns and Inn Signs of Norfolk and Suffolk", the inn here dates from about 1400.
Church tax records of 1571 record payments: !Of John Sherman for his messuage or lime called the Whit Lion at ye West Ende of the mote halle[1]"…
Landlords
Footnote
[1] The Moot Hall stood on the site of the present Town Hall.
[2] In the time of Queen Mary the Ipswich Martyrs were burnt at the stake on the Cornhill (in 1555) for their Protestant beliefs. A monument commemorating this event now stands in Christchurch Park.
(Most pub, location & historic details collated by Nigel, Tony or Keith - original sources are credited)
(** historic newspaper information from Stuart Ansell)
(*** historic newspaper information from Bob Mitchell)
(**** information supplied by Neil Langridge)
Old OS map reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.