Robin Hood (Potters Bar)

From International Robin Hood Bibliography
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Locality
Coordinate 51.6939, -0.1776
Adm. div. Hertfordshire
Vicinity 39 (?) High Street, Potters Bar
Type Public house
Interest Robin Hood name
Status Defunct
First Record 1751
A.k.a. The Robin Hood; Robin Hood Inn; The Old Robin Hood; Old Robin Hood Hotel; The Robin Hood and Damsel; The Robin Hood and Little John; Robin Hood & Little John
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At or near the site of the Robin Hood.
The Robin Hood gave way to the brown building to the right / Google Earth Street View.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2020-09-02. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-02-13.

The Robin Hood on the High Street in Potters Bar was in existence by 1751 and closed in 1980.

At the site of the pub was built a warehouse belonging to the now defunct MFI Group of furniture retailers.[1] The pub is labelled 'Old Robin Hood Hotel' (or similar) in several of the O.S. maps listed below. The location indicated there translates to something like 39 High Street in modern terms. Part of the pub would have stood on ground currently occupied by an Oliver Matthews furniture shop, part of it would have occupied the parking space along the east wall of the modern building (where a van is turning right in the Google Street View photo below).

Apparently the land on which the pub was later built was granted to one William Swain in 1721; in 1740 a messuage was erected there by William and Mary Stone. By 1751 it had become a licensed house, known as the Robin Hood, according to a brief notice in a newsletter of the Potters Bar & District Historical Society.[2] The Pub Wiki states that the pub was established in 1730,[3] but since no source is provided for the latter date, it seems safer to accept, provisionally at least, the date cited by the local history society, even if this also does not come with a reference. Being simply the Robin Hood during much of its existence, the name of the pub has varied over the years:

  • 1751: The Robin Hood[2]
  • 1760-61: The Robin Hood and Damsel[2]
  • 1768-1811: The Robin Hood and Little John[2]
  • 1896: Old Robin Hood Hotel[4]
  • 1928-34: The Old Robin Hood.[2]


The pub was damaged by a bomb in 1940 but was subsequently repaired[5] or rebuilt.[2] The excellent Pub Wiki lists information on publicans and other residents for 1851 to 1933.[6]

Gazetteers

Sources

Maps

The Robin Hood is included on several of the O.S. maps.

Background

Also see


Notes