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High Street, COLCHESTER, CO1 1SZ

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Grade II* Listed Hotel with 15th century core. Remodelled and extended in the 17th century with early 18th century front. First records of the George appear in 1494. Part of a middle truss and a section of 14th century wall still exist from the original house. In the first half of the 18th century a tilted carriage from Ipswich, owned by Thomas Shave, stopped at the George every Friday on its way up to London. The carriageway in George Street is bricked up but the frame still exists. First mentioned in 1790s directories, they refer to the inn as the George and Dragon but the first recorded innkeeper was Abraham Moor who died in 1778 after a tenancy of more than thirty years. On arrival of the railway in 1843 the then landlord John Smith provided horse-drawn omnibuses to meet the trains and also later to Brightlingsea, Braintree and Walton-on-the-Naze during the summer months. Changing hands a few times, it was sold to Truman’s in 1959 who were taken over by Grand Metropolitan who converted the ballroom into bedrooms and created a carvery in the cellar around 1979. Queens Moat House Hotels bought it in 1982 and sold it to a Michael Slagle in 1994. During his refurbishment in 1995 they were able to say that its ground floor showed evidence of medieval shop fronts both facing the High Street and George Street, with the owners presumably living on the first floor. They further noted that the building was originally only two storeys, the present day third storey having been added at a later date, together with its Georgian front. Marketed by the Best Western Group it was still owned by Slagle who sold it to London and Edinburgh Inns Group in 2002. Directory entries include; 1855 Samuel Forbes (& wine & spirit merchant); 1874 Charles Guiver; 1882 Mrs Mary Ann Guiver; 1894 Richard William Mutton (family & commercial hotel & posting house, best accommodation); 1902 Hugh Percy Loraine Triscott; 1914 Mrs Gertrude Triscott.

Grade I Listed late 15th or early 16th century inn. The original house was built 1481-2 by the first Duke of Norfolk and the front block added when converted to an inn about 1500. The cellars are thought to be about 1400. The earliest mention of the Red Lion is in 1529, although at that time it was the White Lion. By 1625 the lion had become red probably to mark the accession of James I in 1603. In the Civil War of 1648 Colchester fell to General Fairfax and the beaten defenders were held in the Red Lion yard while their leaders were hastily tried and then shot. Some rebuilding was carried out 1716 and in 1756 it was the terminus for an express service to London. The Red Lion became a Trust House in 1913. Directory entries include; 1855-1874 William Fletcher (& posting house); 1882 Edward Julian Hart; 1894 Henry Edward Heath (& posting house); 1902 Fred Rees (& posting house); 1914 Home Counties Public House Trust Limited, A Lillywhite, manager.

North side, west of George Street.