Old Red Lion’s History An Eventful Past Remembered in Bradford

The Old Red Lion was once a village inn, a very simple place. William Cudworth wrote about it, saying it had just a couple of small rooms. They added a floor later on. A new pub replaced it in the early 1800s, standing a bit further up the road where it used to be a private home.

Inns hosted many events back then. George Hadfield, a Radical candidate, spoke there in 1834-35. In 1837, people gathered to discuss the New Poor Law, fearing working-class trouble. Building a new workhouse caused violence, but it finally opened nearby in 1851.

Mary Dunn was a famous Red Lion owner. She was Joseph Baxter’s widow and later remarried Robert Dunn, who was present at the Poor Law meeting. She later managed the Bermondsey Hotel. Mary’s son-in-law started a music hall there, and Henry Pullan opened his own hall in 1869.

The Sharp Powell family owned the land and collected rents at the Red Lion. Their estate trustees sold the pub in 1929. John Smiths brewery bought it, along with the Old House at Home, which I wrote about recently.

The brewery acquired other pubs then, including the Leaventhorpe Inn and the Duke of York. They updated the Red Lion in the late 1960s. A CAMRA guide in the 1990s described it as a small, nice pub featuring two rooms.

The Red Lion closed around 2006 when the owner sold it. The last landlord liked it a lot, saying it had great regular customers.

I walked around Little Horton Green recently. Some old buildings are still there, including houses from the 1600s and 1700s. Also still standing are All Saints Church and old schools. Sadly, Horton Hall and the original workhouse have vanished. Other buildings now form part of St Luke’s Hospital.

The Red Lion’s building still stands. It is now a Persian restaurant, complete with metal grilles on the windows.