Research – Watson Fothergill Walk

The Flying Horse, April events and availability

March 11, 2026 watson

My research into Nottingham’s Berni Inns has led down a few historical rabbit holes…

I’m busy researching and writing my forthcoming talk on Nottingham’s Berni Inns and their buildings. This is now fully sold out at The Vat & Fiddle, but I will be repeating the talk at The Abdication Micropub, Daybrook, on Tuesday 21 April, 7 pm. Please contact the pub for tickets, £10 each.

Meanwhile, I have a couple of walking tours lined up for April:

Watson Fothergill Walk, Sunday 12 April, 10 am

The Hine Hike, Sunday 18 April, 2 pm

Tickets are £20 each from Eventbrite.

I also have some weekday availability to conduct walking tours in the next few months, if you have a group of friends, a club or organisation that would like to see Nottingham differently, drop me a line here.

I have been delving deep into the stories of some old Nottingham buildings. One of these is the Flying Horse Hotel, which, for a short time, was owned and run by Berni Inns, but has been famed in the town and beyond in the years before and since.

Nottingham’s Flying Horse Walk, 2026 (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)

These days, it is Flying Horse Walk, a shopping arcade first planned in the mid-1980s, now home to the first cafe opened by 200 Degrees Coffee and Bar Gigi, who make use of some of the cellars beneath the building. According to J. Holland Walker’s 1928 history of Nottingham, The Flying Horse stands on the site of the house the Plumtre (sometimes Plumptre) family erected when they first came to Nottingham in the 13th century. Claims are made, not least by the date inscribed on the facade, that it was established as a hotel in 1483, but like several other dates attached to Nottingham pubs, this might not be everything it seems.

I’ve trawled the newspaper archives for evidence and found that The Flying Horse Hotel is sometimes called a “Tudor Coaching Inn”, with the name referring to the speed of the horse-drawn vehicles. It seems more likely that the flying horses were the ones on early fairground rides – perhaps inspired by the Goose Fair, which was held on the Great Market Place close by. J. Holland Walker posits that it was known as “Travellers Inn” (later writers state that he doesn’t mean this was the name of the hotel, rather this was the purpose for which the hotel had a reputation.) It was also claimed (apparently in Thomas Bailey’s Annals of Nottinghamshire) that the hotel was mentioned in letters of endowment of the Plumtre Hospital in 1392.

The Wikipedia page claims the owner was William Rowbottom from 1799. I’ve found evidence for him as licensee until 1811, when Robert Mackley, formerly of the Black Boy Inn, took over. I can find Mackley at The Flying Horse until around 1821, and then it is possible that he retired. Mrs Jane Clarke is the next licensed victualler on the premises (until circa 1844), and then the hotel is taken over by her son-in-law, William Henry Malpas. Of Malpas, a lot more seems to have been recorded, at least in the local papers.

William Henry Malpas (1803-1862), along with his wife Jane (who he’d married in 1835), and later his sister Emma Susanna Malpas plus a staff of over a dozen barmaids, waiters, chambermaids, cooks, a carman and an under ostler, boots and under boots, ran the hotel until his death in 1862. Henry Malpas, as he was known to his friends, was a character seemingly straight from the pages of The Pickwick Papers (Charles Dickens’ debut novel, published in serial form from 1836). A colourful obituary in the Nottingham Journal describes him as “20 years mine host” at The Flying Horse, known for its “quaint and cosy style of architecture… one of those establishments where ‘men on the road’ and temporary sojourners might be supposed to have ‘taken their ease at the inn.’” The Flying Horse was known throughout the country and “held lordly sway over the lesser inns in Nottingham.” Malpas was a “robust and genial host”, always ready with a sporting story, his “force of character”, patriotism, love of field sports and greyhounds and acquaintance with “stars of the ring” including Nottingham’s boxing hero William “Bendigo” Thompson, making him a popular figure. Despite bankruptcy hearings due to his “having more than one iron in the fire” with his investments in iron and tin plate, he continued at the Flying Horse after the death of his wife and after attempts to sell the lease of the Hotel.

At his death in November 1862, from a “brief but severe illness” after suffering severely from “frequent and protracted attacks of gout”, his sister Emma Susanna Malpas took over the running of the hotel, going into partnership with her assistant Sarah Harper from 1868. They rebuilt substantial sections of the building in 1870 and opened a new luncheon bar and restaurant in 1871, described as “at once handsome, commodious and convenient”. In 1872, a new company was formed and it appears the hotel was at least partially rebuilt (at least this was the plan at the time).

Nottingham Journal, April 1870. (British Newspaper Archive).

Miss Malpas died in 1874, and for a while, Miss Harper continued at the helm, making more improvements to the building.

From around 1877-8, the Hotel seems to have been run by a succession of managers and manageresses, and owned by Thomas Dickinson (sometimes Dickenson), Wine and Spirit Merchant, with Martin Inett Preston (solicitor, who had been Sheriff of Nottingham 1866-7) trading as The Flying Horse Hotel Company.

In November 1886 an altercation between the manageress Miss Emily Smeed and the Musical Hall star Jenny Hill was reported. Miss Hill was refused service, and a fight ensued, possibly ending with Miss Hill striking Miss Smeed with her umbrella (the witness accounts were conflicting to say the least).

In 1881, a new annexe to the hotel with an entrance of St Peter’s gate opened, with a new refreshment counter and billiard room.

Each successive report of the Hotel going up for auction (in 1870 and 1908) seems to end in ‘no sale’, as the reserve price was not met. It continued to trade all the same. Apart from adverts for staff and notices of meetings and dinners, the most solid mention of management is in 1908, when the license of the “ale house” transfers from Arthur Mann to Charles Symons.

In 1916, alterations are again proposed, this time to reduce the number of entrances; the magistrates object. Around 1921, Trust Houses Ltd, a company originally formed to rejuvenate coaching inns for the motor car age, took over The Flying Horse.

In 1931, the property was once again put up for sale, but Trust Houses still seem to be in charge, then in 1934, applications were made for more alterations to the building, it was actually suggested that the building be demolished. Douglas Gladstone Millett, Trust Houses in-house architect, planned to pull down The Punch Bowl, another inn adjacent to the Flying Horse on Peck Lane, as this was now largely disused. The licensing magistrates were in favour of pulling down the entire hotel rather than modernising the interior. They claimed the only solution was to rebuild. The Flying Horse was described as the only surviving medieval landmark in Nottingham. The date 1483 was then visible on the signboard, but the architecture was described as “from about the time of The Armada.”

The Flying Horse Hotel, before the 1935 alterations. Nottingham Evening Post, 1.12.1934 (BNA)

Permission for Trust Houses modernisation scheme was refused at first, but in 1935 plans for structural alterations were deemed satisfactory and went ahead, with the facade being practically rebuilt to D.G. Millett’s design (the pargetting is alleged to be based on The Rose & Crown, another coaching inn he had worked on for the company in Saffron Walden, Essex.)

8 Oct 1936 Nottingham Evening Post (BNA)

The Flying Horse Hotel circa 1951 (Old English Inns Illustrated, source.)

The new dining room was described as “beautifully panelled”, a description you’ll recognise if you’ve ever been inside 200 Degrees Coffee Shop (and a scheme that they have replicated across their chain of cafes!).

In 1968, the Hotel again came under threat of demolition but was saved and altered internally once again, this time to become part of the Chef & Brewer chain of dining pubs, opening in 1969.

Into the 1970s, as Chef & Brewer were absorbed into the Grand Metropolitan hotel chain, The Flying Horse was rebranded as a Schooner Inn and by 1981 had become a Berni Inn (the 9th steak restaurant in Nottingham and the surrounding area.) In 1986, when plans for the new shopping arcade were launched, Berni had originally planned to remain on the site, but in the end, they pulled out of the deal, and the Flying Horse Hotel finally closed its doors. Flying Horse Walk shopping arcade opened in 1988, costing £8 million it was seen as a sign that Nottingham was a vital and fashionable shopping city.

Original shops included Ouiset, French Dressing Mondi, Alexon, Berketex Brides, Le Pew, Barbara Pepper Lingerie, The Costume Jewellery Shop, Optional Extras, Wires and Intermission Coffee Shop (upstairs if I remember rightly!).

Flying Horse Walk Opening event, March 17 1988 (With thanks to Nottingham City Libraries Local Studies Dept.) (Actress Jan Harvey played a fashion tycoon in the BBC melodrama Howard’s Way, broadcast on BBC 1 at the time)

The facade remains as a listed building, but the majority of the building was modernised (and has been refurbished a couple of times since). The arcade was rebranded as FH Mall for a while, but was rebranded again as Flying Horse Walk in 2013 with the addition of Amy Goodman’s Pegasi sculptures. Currently, in 2026, the shops inside include The Cheese Shop, Vivienne Westwood, jewellery shops, hairdressers and art shops.

The Flying Horse sculpture by Amy Goodman (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)

More about Nottingham’s Berni Inns and their buildings on 21 April, 7 pm at The Abdication Micropub, Daybrook. Please contact the pub to reserve a spot. Tickets £10 each.

Events, Research, talk

26-28 Market Street, Nottingham – From The Constitutional Club to Cuba, via Berni Inns.

February 9, 2026 watson

Building histories… an occasional series. Plus a new talk at the Vat & Fiddle in March.

Deco in the Details Part 1 is now sold out, and there are 6 tickets remaining for Deco in the Details Part 2 on 29th March, 11 am. I will also hopefully be doing these walks again later in the year.

The Watson Fothergill Walks in February and March have tickets still available, if you haven’t joined me yet for a tour of my favourite Nottingham buildings, then make sure you don’t miss out this year. Read on to the end for news of a new illustrated talk at the Vat & Fiddle in March.

All tickets for my events are available on Eventbrite here.

Thanks to my correspondent Hazel C for suggesting I look into the history of 26-28 Market Street, Nottingham. It has just been put onto the market for sale, with the present tenants Revolucion de Cuba, staying on inside.

This Flemish Renaissance-style grade II listing building, which was built from 1897 and opened in 1899, was designed by architect A.R.Calvert as The Nottingham and County Constitutional Club. At the time of his death in 1922, he was still the club’s secretary.

Alexandra House, Market Street, Nottingham. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.

It was originally built as the headquarters of The Nottingham and County Constitutional Club, one of several gentlemen’s clubs in the city in the late Victorian period. It was organised as a place for supporters of the Conservative and Unionist Party to meet and discuss the political events of the day, socialise and use the facilities. Their chairman at the time was the Solicitor James McCraith (coincidentally a colleague and client of Watson Fothergill).

The newly completed Constitutional Club, 1899 (The Building News, Internet Archive).

When newly built, The Constitutional Club was considered “one of the most complete and well-equipped clubs outside London.” Inside were a smoking room, billiard room (three tables), and assembly hall on the ground floor. On the second floor, behind the balconies, were dining rooms, a committee room, reading, writing, and card rooms. At the top of the building were bedrooms for members, a bathroom and a steward’s room. Disconnected from these were a kitchen, scullery and servants’ bedrooms. There was a large skittle alley in the basement and a ladies’ room, decorated in peacock blues and white, “separate from the club proper”, (as not yet having the vote, the ladies were not allowed membership.)

The front of the building was constructed in Derbyshire stone, the entrance porch was panelled in Kilkenny and Languedoc marble, with a mahogany screen containing antique glass. A period photograph held by Historic England shows that the terrazzo floor, which can still be found in some places inside, is likely original.

CC for the Constitutional Club, found at the entrance to the building. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.

Over the years, these clubs and their lavish buildings fell out of fashion and became expensive to maintain. The Borough Club, which had a similarly decorative building on King Street, completed to designs by the architect Gilbert Smith Doughty, merged with the Constitutional Club in 1959. The building on King Street was sold to the Nottingham Corporation and subsequently demolished.

The Borough Club on King Street to a design from Academy Architect Magazine.

The Market Street Building and the organisation both took on the name “The Borough Club”. This building in turn, became too large and was sold off in 1968. The club had also merged with The Nottingham Reform Club (who themselves had sold off its Victoria Street building – Now The Cosy Club). In 1969, in an effort to bring themselves up to date, the merged clubs moved to the Midland Design & Building Centre, then a new modern building on Mansfield Road (and itself now demolished). The city’s politically-minded clubs now seem to have been absorbed by Conservative Party organisations, and the era of Gentlemen’s clubs is long gone – if you search for them now, you’re more likely to find listings for lap dancing establishments!

The next use for the Market Street building was as a Berni Inn. When The Black Boy Hotel on Long Row (whose many alterations and rebuilding works were carried out by Watson Fothergill) was demolished in 1970, the license was transferred to these premises, and it was refurbished with some of the hotel’s fixtures (including a small statue of an enslaved boy – which came up for auction a couple of years ago). It was renamed The Black Boy Inn, claims were made that the name and the history of the old hotel came from the time of King Charles II, whose nickname was apparently “Black Boy”, thanks to his dark hair. A likely story!

Berni Inns, a British restaurant chain whose accessible and straightforward Steak and Chips menu did much to democratise eating out in post-rationing Britain, had several establishments in Nottingham. In December 1971, The Black Boy Inn on Market Street opened. It eventually was home to four bars with seating for 330 people. As well as their trademark steaks, in the mid 1970s it served pizza and boasted a female DJ in its DiscoDine bar.

Berni traded here until 1988, when the building closed for refurbishment, reopening as Old Orleans, a Louisiana Jazz theme bar and restaurant, with the City Trading House bar in the basement.

In December 2015, Revolucion de Cuba took over the site from the relatively short-lived Long Island American Diner (Here from 2014. If anyone can remember the name of the nightclub on the upper floor, please let me know!)

Part of the Revolution chain of bars, it has recently been taken over by a new consortium and will be having a spruce up as the building goes on the market once again, valued at almost £2 million. (Check the listing for more pictures of the interior.)

Tickets now available for my next talk in the pub

All this has inspired me to dig deeper into the history of Nottingham’s many Berni Inns and their buildings, and I will be presenting my findings at The Vat & Fiddle on Tuesday 24th March, 7pm. Tickets are £10.

If you have any Nottingham Berni Inn memories to share or photos of the interiors of any of Nottingham’s many Berni Inns, I’d love to take a look. Drop me a line here.

Art Deco, Research, Travels

A Beeston Bimble*

February 2, 2026 watson

Plus Nottingham architecture events now booking.

My next Vat & Fiddle talk, on Watson Fothergill in the Park Estate, is now sold out. However, if you’d like to book me to give a talk to your group or club, please do not hesitate to contact me.

The first few tours of the year are filling up nicely – Deco in the Details Part 1 on 15 February is now full, but there is space left on Deco in the Details Part 2 on 29 March, and on the Watson Fothergill Walk on 22 February and 22 March. There will be more tours throughout the year, with The Carrington Crawl and Hine Hike also returning, so keep an eye on these emails for future dates.

The weather has not been particularly conducive for tours this month, so I took a day off for a wander around Beeston. (This is not a guided tour, just something I do!)

Beeston’s history is well-documented, and the Beeston Civic Society have been doing great work. If you live there or visit, you’ll know that there are loads of cafes and bars, interesting shops and charity shops. A few buildings caught my eye…

As a former Library Assistant and full-time bookworm, I made a beeline for Beeston Library. The building on Foster Avenue was designed by the County Architect E. W. Roberts in 1938. He was also responsible for West Bridgford Library. The builders of the Library, local firm Hofton & Son, also built Beeston Town Hall, which is now used as a church, and sits opposite. It opened in 1938 and was designed by the architects Evans, Clark & Wollatt with H.H. Goodall. It has a solid Neo-Georgian look with Art Deco details.

Former Town Hall, Beeston. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.

After a very nice coffee at Greenhood, itself in a former Birds the Confectioners shop on the High Road, our daunder** took us past the former Primitive Methodist Church on Wollaton Road. This 1882 building was one of many Victorian-era Methodist churches by Nottingham architect Richard Charles Sutton.

Former Primitive Methodist Church, Beeston. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.

R.C. Sutton was a very prolific architect in his day; his buildings can be found all over Nottingham and outlying areas. I’m hoping to explore his work and his connections to Bromley House Library, where he had his office, further this year.

Back on the High Road, the former NatWest Bank stands out. It was originally built for the Nottingham and Notts bank, 1905-08, and was likely designed by the Coalville architect Thomas Ignatius McCarthy. The Pevsner guide describes it as “abstracted Neo-Tudor.” It ceased to be a bank in 2023 and is now a kitchen showroom.

Former Nottingham & Notts/ NatWest Bank, Beeston. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.

Further down the High Road, the familiar Home Brewery lettering on a white building caught my eye. The Pudding Pantry cafe was previously The Durham Ox pub.

A very detailed history of the pub can be found on David Hallam’s Beeston History website. The present building was built in 1925, and was one of many pubs rebuilt by the Nottingham architect Albert Edgar Eberlin, as mentioned in my Art Deco Pubs talk. Eberlin also worked on The Fox, The Royal Children, The Beechdale and many more pub buildings around Nottingham.

Another Deco-era building I noticed, the recently closed Poundland, was in fact a former Woolworths.

This was Woolworth’s store 578 and was completed in 1934 by their in-house architect, Harold Winbourne. I noticed the parapet and margin glazing in the metal-framed windows. Head over to the Woolies Buildings website for archive pictures of this one in its former glory and to Building Our Past for shop architecture historian Kathryn A. Morrison’s in-depth look at Woolworths and their architects.

Does your neighbourhood have any buildings that catch your eye? Look up and see what you can see next time you’re out. Or if you have a building you’d like me to research – get in touch.

* Bimble; English, informal: a leisurely walk or journey.

** Daunder; Scots: to stroll, saunter or wander aimlessly.

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Art Deco, Research

90 years of The Savoy Cinema

November 21, 2025 watson

On 7 November 1935, Nottingham’s Art Deco Savoy Cinema opened to the public.

The Savoy Cinema, on Derby Road, Lenton, opened 90 years ago on 7 November 1935. It is the only surviving pre-WW2 cinema in Nottingham, although it has been much altered, it still has some original features surviving.

The cinema is celebrating this anniversary with newly refurbished seating and special prizes for cinema-goers, but what of the building’s beginnings and its architect?

The Savoy as pictured in The Nottingham Journal, 7 November 1935. (BNA)

It was designed by architect Reginald W. Cooper (1902-1969), who had been an assistant to another Nottingham architect, Alfred J. Thraves, also known for his cinema designs and for his work on Nottingham’s Palais de Danse. (As covered on my Deco in the Details tour).

Reginald William Gaze Cooper was born in Long Eaton in 1902. By the age of 19, he was working as an architect. In January 1935, when plans for the Savoy were announced, his office was in Queen’s Chambers on King Street (a building familiar to anyone who has been on my Watson Fothergill Walk tour, as it was designed by Fothergill and completed in 1897).

The new Savoy cinema was described at its inception as being in the “Austrian style, with a frontage carried out in cream with stainless steel columns used to obtain decorative effect.” (Nottingham Journal, Wednesday 16 January 1935).

On the Derby Road trolley bus route, The Savoy was built to cater for the suburban populations of Lenton, Radford, and Wollaton Park. The “new picture house embodies every modern idea in cinema design”. It was planned to “provide accommodation for some 1,200 patrons”.

The frontage to Derby road was “striking in cream Cullamix (render) and green and black glass.”

The Savoy, as pictured in a Pilkington Glass Vitrolite Specifications catalogue (late 1930s). (Internet Archive).

In the Pilkington’s Vitrolite Specification catalogue, (pictured above) the canopy over the door of the cinema is highlighted. It describes black and green Agate Vitrolite bands with columns of green Agate and black. Vitrolite was a super-strength glass made by heating chemical compounds to extreme temperatures, it was often used on Art Deco buildings.

Inside the elliptical-shaped foyer, there was a central pay box and a chocolate counter. The flooring was made from Dunlop Rubber, as seen in this advertisement from The Architect’s Journal in 1947.

Dunlop Rubber Flooring, Architects’ Journal 1947 (Internet Archive)

The Nottingham Journal described an interior colour scheme of pale green, deep cream, and silver. “No cinema in the city possesses such a perfect screen.” Seating, carpets, and curtains were all supplied by Griffin & Spalding (the local department store, eventually to become Debenhams).

The opening film was Flirtation Walk, a musical of 1934 starring Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler.

Poster for Flirtation Walk (1934) Source

Here’s crooner Dick Powell singing the title song with some clips from the film…

Reginald W. Cooper was also the architect of many other Nottingham cinema buildings, including The Roxy, Daybrook, The Capitol, Radford (Still standing as a church and worth seeking out), The Ritz-Carlton (in Carlton!), The Adelphi, Bulwell, and The Metropole on Mansfield Road, Sherwood. He was also responsible for the typically Art Deco Ritz cinema in Ilkeston and the Nottingham Stadium Ice Rink.

Read more about The Savoy in Left Lion, source of this 1940s photo.

The Savoy circa 1965 (Found on Facebook).

The front of the Savoy being altered circa 1968 (Read more about The Lenton Picture House Co and The Savoy in The Lenton Times, the source of this photo).

These days, The Savoy has an altered frontage, added in the late 1960s, and the interior has undergone an array of alterations. More about the ongoing history of The Savoy in West Bridgford Wire.

If you’re heading to The Savoy to see the films they’re showing this week – including The Choral and Bugonia – enjoy the movie and remember one of Nottingham’s great Art Deco-era buildings.

For more about Art Deco architecture and the buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, join me for my talk on Nottingham’s Art Deco Pubs, which I’ll be running again on Tuesday, 20th January 2026 at The Vat & Fiddle pub.

NOW SOLD OUT – Make sure you’ve subscribed for announcements of new dates!

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Art Deco, Events, Research

Deco in the Details: The Bath Inn

October 21, 2025October 24, 2025 watson

Soak up the history of one of Nottingham’s most distinctive pub buildings and the brewery that turned it Egyptian.

There are still a few places available for my architecture tour Deco in the Details Part 1, Thursday 23 October, 11 am – see the previous post for more info on one of the featured buildings.

I’m going to be covering the other side of town on Deco in the Details Part 2 on Thursday 30 October, 11 am so I thought I’d highlight one of the buildings that we will visit – The Bath Inn, Handel Street, Sneinton Market.

The Bath Inn, Handle Street, Sneinton Market. Photo: Louise Hunter

I touched on the history of The Bath Inn when I looked at Nottingham’s Art Deco Pubs, but since then I met a descendant of Thomas Losco Bradley (the owner of the Midland Brewery, originally responsible for refurbishing the pub in Egyptian style), so I thought I’d delve a little more deeply into the story.

There is an older building, originally built in the 1820s, beneath the 1928 refaced exterior of The Bath Inn, which itself has been restored and reinvigorated by the present publican, Piers Wheatcroft Baker.

The Bath Inn circa 1900 (Picture Nottingham)

Before it was refurbished in the 1920s, the landlord was Frederick Knibb (possibly seen in the photo above). The name above the door is a previous landlord, Thomas Bagshaw (c.1885). By the time the work was done on the exterior, the landlord was Tom Hollingworth, who had previously been a tobacconist. His wife Annie carried on running the pub after his death in 1934 until at least 1939.

The Bath Inn 2009 (Photo: Alan Murray-Rust, Geograph)

The pub is a Listed Building described as stucco with a faience pubfront (the glazed tiles are typical of those used in many 1920s and 1930s buildings). It has a rebated, rounded corner and on both sides, the now-rare Egyptian stylings are visible in the ornamented cornice and the columns with bunched reeds as capitals around the doors. There are giant Egyptian pilasters with decorated capitals down the length of the building, now partly hidden behind the hanging baskets.

Ancient Egypt was all the rage in the 1920s thanks to the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. Read more about it on Historic England’s blog.

The Bath Inn, 2015 (Photo: Stephen Richards, Geograph)

In the 1920s, The Bath Inn was one of the tied houses belonging to The Midland Brewery, owned by Thomas Losco Bradley. The Midland Brewery was then based at 119 Northgate, New Basford, but had begun in the late 1890s when Bradley started brewing ales at the pub he kept on Raleigh Street, The Barleycorn (now demolished).

Thomas Losco Bradley was the son of Thomas Bradley, who had run another pub in Radford, The Cricketers Arms on Alfreton Road. They were at the Cricketers in 1881 but by the time of the census in 1891, the Bradleys had moved to The Barleycorn.

The Cricketers Arms c. 1976 (Photo: Closed Pubs)

Thomas Losco Bradley took over The Barleycorn from his father and began brewing his own beers. He lived at Second Avenue, Sherwood Rise, with his wife Alice and son Thomas Losco Bradley Jr.

Around 1907 the business expanded and Thomas Losco Bradley purchased the brewery building on Northgate, New Basford from Madden & Dell. By now the company was called The Midland Brewery and their beers came to be known (in their advertising at least) as “Bradley’s Brilliant Ales.”

Bradley’s beer label c.1930s (Pic: Brewery History)

In 1928, Bradley’s Ales were awarded First Prize at the Brewers’ Exhibition in London. Perhaps The Bath Inn was refitted in celebration of this victory?

Thomas Losco Bradley was a well-known figure locally. He owned racehorses and as master of the Rufford Hunt, was often photographed in The Tatler mingling with the county set. His wife bred Fox Terriers at their home Munden House and was featured in The Ladies’ Field magazine in 1917 with her dogs, who all had the pedigree name ‘Cromwell’.

At the time of his death in 1930, Thomas Losco Bradley Snr had moved to Holly Lodge, Oxton and he was buried in his pink hunting kit after a service at St Barnabas Cathedral. His ‘favourite lemon and white smooth haired Fox Terrier, “Nettle”, with a black bow round its neck attended the funeral’. (Granthan Journal, 5 April 1930).

The Brewery continued to be run by his son Thomas Losco Bradley Jr, with several tied houses, many of which are still Nottingham pubs today, including The Sir John Borlase Warren, The King William (aka The Billy), The Hand in Heart, and The Foresters (New Foresters), along with several outside the city.

Sir John Borlase Warren, Canning Circus, Nottingham, as a Bradley’s pub. (Photo: Brewery History)

In 1954, Shipstones purchased the brewery and its pubs, The Bath Inn and the others became Shipstones houses. In the 1990s, it was briefly a Greenall’s pub, and for a while it was part-pub, part-fish and chip shop.

It closed down, but in 2021 was reopened by Piers Wheatcroft Baker, who has gone on to do great things. He has restored the exterior and added an Art Deco flavour to the inside of the pub, along with many characterful elements worthy of his pedigree – his father is Doctor Who actor Tom Baker and his mother was part of the Wheatcroft family of Sneinton rose growers, including her uncle, the flamboyant Harry Wheatcroft, who was born in Handel Street, just a stone’s throw from the pub. Read more about the regeneration of The Bath Inn in Nottingham’s own Left Lion or drop in for a pint (sadly not of Bradley’s Brilliant Ales).

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Research, Watson Fothergill in Nottingham

Another Fothergill on the market

May 2, 2025 watson

A couple of small flats are for sale in another Fothergill building, the former Marhill Brewery building at Carlton, to the north of the city centre.

The former Marhill Brewery, Carlton from the listing for a flat in the upper floor on Rightmove

Originally built for Mr Vickers in 1899, it was converted to residential use around 2005. It seems that the Brewery was quite a short-lived enterprise, The Vickers family held the licence at The Black’s Head pub close by in Carlton in the late 1800s.

“Brewing in Nottinghamshire” has an older picture of the building and states that the Carlton Brewery was short-lived. With Mrs Vickers there in 1902 and Willam (her son?) there between 1904-1906. It was sold in 1904, 1906 and 1909. It became a laundry, then a print works and then it was used as a dye works owned by the Ilkeston Hosiery Finishing Company. The sequence of these changes is not entirely clear according to the official listing on Historic England.

This building is too far out of the city centre to feature on my tour but you can reach it by bus then walk from Carlton Square.

More pictures of my FothergillSpotting on the Watson Fothergill Walk Instagram!

Public Art, Research

WTF is this?

April 8, 2025 watson

I’ve been trying to create a tour that people could do without me being physically present. I put a lot into presenting my tours and it takes a lot out of me…

A sunny day in St Peter’s Square, Nottingham. Photo: Lucy Brouwer

I’ve tested a few options including audio tour apps (hit and miss quality-wise), printed tours (where’s my reading glasses?) and dragging guidebooks with me onto the street (haphazard and increasingly heavy to lug around – the updated Nottinghamshire Pevsner guide weighs almost 1kg).

One of my ideas for an audio tour was for an in-depth look at some of Nottingham’s public artworks and commemorative plaques. Now come on, don’t yawn…

Who doesn’t love a statue selfie? Me with one of the Lions from the demolished Black Boy Hotel, now in the grounds of Nottingham Castle.

So while the sun was out I popped down to the centre of town to walk a route I had in mind, I wanted to include the new Standing In This Place sculpture in this survey of statues, so I headed down towards the Broadmarsh.

On the way, at St Peter’s Square (outside M&S) there is a sculptural work, placed in the 1980s by the well-meaning City Council, back when it had money to spend on the Public Realm. I snapped a photo and as I went by something caught my eye. There was something written in felt tip pen on the marble.

Now, I’m always on the lookout for stuff to put on the Watson Fothergill Walk Instagram, so a little later I launched this photo of Leaf Stem with brief information about the artwork, I was a bit peeved but not massively so, it’s rather neglected and hardly anyone notices it these days. I didn’t think much more about it.

It auto-posted to Facebook and there were a few comments – the usual mild outrage that I’d suggested “LOCAL PEOPLE” might have committed vandalism, a few tales about how people thought it looked like a certain anatomical shape and the names they used to call it when they arranged to meet their friends by it, that sort of thing.

What I hadn’t really considered was that the algorithms love a bit of rage. The post started to get a bit more traction than my usual photos of buildings with names and dates. However, the next morning I awoke to a text from a friend – Saw this Notts Post headline and thought “I know her!”

It even made the print edition! Modern journalism, eh?

A little late notoriety for Paul Mason’s Leaf Stem – here’s a blog telling the story of the work in more depth.

So I suppose I should put something together, possibly with all the slightly rude names that this sculpture has collected over the years…

Nottingham has some great sculptures – Robin Hood, Brian Clough, Rachel Carter’s fantastic new Standing In This Place, not to mention the Left and Right Lions. They all have stories to tell. Would you like a self-guided public art trail? Do let me know…

Events, Research

Let’s see Nottingham differently!

February 1, 2025February 10, 2025 watson

As promised, more walks are coming up. There are still tickets available for both parts of Deco in the Details in February. March sees the return of the Carrington Crawl, plus more chances to join me for the Watson Fothergill Walk and Hine Hike in Nottingham city centre. I can also take private bookings for groups of 5 or more on weekdays and I can present illustrated talks to groups, so please drop me a line if you’d like to organise an event. Terms and conditions apply.

Click on the links below for info and tickets:

Nottingham: Deco in the Details Part One – Weds, 12 February, 2 pm

N ottingham: Deco in the Details Part Two – Weds, 19 February, 2 pm

Watson Fothergill Walk: City Centre – Sun, 23 February, 10 am SOLD OUT more walks soon or book a private tour

Watson Fothergill Walk: The Carrington Crawl – Sat, 8 March, 1 pm

Watson Fothergill Walk: City Centre – Sun, 16 March, 10 am

Hine Hike: The Buildings of Thomas Chambers Hine – Sun, 23 March, 2 pm

Tickets are £20 each*

Valid gift vouchers purchased before the end of 2024 will be honoured – please send an email if you have any difficulty redeeming vouchers.

*This now includes ALL FEES and is the same price across all platforms (Eventbrite, Yuup and TripAdvisor) whose fees vary. This helps my small business to reach a larger audience.

Hire a House Historian

Lucy Brouwer (seen here with her mate the Left Lion) is a tour guide, art historian and researcher who likes to look at things differently. If you’d like to hire a researcher to look into the history of your house, business premises or other pre-1940 building then send an email via this form. Rates start at £57 for a preliminary investigation into each property. More details here.

Research

Hire a House Historian

October 31, 2024October 31, 2024 watson

I am now available to carry out research on the history of houses and the people who lived in them, in Nottingham and the surrounding area. I’m particularly interested in Victorian properties but will branch out where appropriate resources are available.

If you’d like to see who lived in your house* through time or maybe you want to discover if a renowned architect was involved in designing your property, then please contact me to arrange a research package.

For more details see the Hire a House Historian page here.

*or shop!

Have a look at some research I did last year on a house in Elm Bank, Mapperley Park… Inside Elm Bank

And here’s another house, this time in Chilwell, with Watson Fothergill connections that I looked into in 2021.

I’m not only interested in Fothergill houses… Nottingham has a lot of Victorian architecture and I’m always interested to find out more.

Events, Research

Researching buildings PLUS Summer dates for tours

May 9, 2024 watson

I’m busy researching buildings for what I hope will be at least one new tour in Nottingham and maybe something else for extra-keen Fothergill-spotters (all very exciting and I will share this properly with you when things are closer to being ready!)

Meanwhile, there are some of my walks coming up, including Watson Fothergill Walk and Hine Hike.

Here are the dates and links to tickets.

Watson Fothergill Walk (Nottingham City Centre tour), Sunday 26 May, 10 am

June 2024

A summer evening Watson Fothergill Walk (Nottingham City Centre tour) Thursday 13 June, 6pm

Watson Fothergill Walk(Nottingham City Centre tour) Sunday June 23, 10am

Hine Hike – The Buildings of Thomas Chambers Hine, Sunday 30 June, 2pm

Lucy, your tour guide, being over excited about a Watson Fothergill building – in this case The Simons and Pickard Paper Warehouse 1894, now Castle Court, Nottingham.

Please check out some of the lovely reviews people have been leaving on TripAdvisor (thank you so much if you’ve taken the time to write one.) (Booking directly through me or Eventbrite is the best value option for tickets).

It’s getting harder and harder to reach new people on social media… so if you’ve enjoyed Watson Fothergill Walk please tell your friends!

So, if you live in or around Nottingham or just visiting, you’re interested in History, architecture, and eccentricity (me? the architect?) you might enjoy my tour. Plus you get your steps in & there’s a pub at the end!

Dates in June with tickets available – all details and links to tickets here or sign up to the mailing list to hear about new dates each month. Thank you everyone!