[evamermaid]

Anyone remember it? With its jukebox, and I think it used to have outside loos at one point? Spent a lot of time and money in there in the late 70s / early 80s!

[WallBuilder]

Early 80's I could often be found in there. Always crowded on a sunday night which was unusual as most other pubs would of been quiet on a sunday. The only juke box I knew of that had Janis Joplin on it and didn't people hate me when I put her on. I can never recollect seeing any trouble in the place and as I was also likely to be in there on Thursday, Friday and Saturday sometimes it must of been a friendly place.
The blokes toilets for a time had a wall covered in little ditties and loo jokes so you'd take longer than a girl going to the loo because you'd be reading.

[sirglyn]

My mate Iain and I used to promote blues nights there in the late sixties.We never made any money but we put on some great music.

[evamermaid]

Janis Joplin... and Jimmi Hendrix... Sunday nights, me too. I remember being taken down there for a Sun night drink after I'd just moved into a flat in Nether Edge only to find the previous occupant still asleep in the room I was supposed to be moving into... so a nice pint down the White Lion to settle the stress levels. Ditto when I moved into my next flat (also in NE), pulled up outside only to find the landlord was selling up - so homeless! Fortunately a friend put me up on her floor for a few weeks (and took me down the White Lion for a restorative pint of Tetleys...!)

[WallBuilder]

I always enjoyed the cider sold there and could drink quite a lot of it when in the mood. There were plenty of locals who used the place off Albert road/Valley road and the surrounding area's. However there were also people coming in from as far afield as Rotherham and one lass who later became a g/f came from Millhouses and her then b/f would let her walk home cutting along a dark footpath to Abbeydale road at the end of the evening, needless to ssay I wasn't impressed with his manners..
Some of the old faces can still be seen in there but the laughter lines are looking more and more like wrinkles.

[muddycoffee]

The white lion still has a good jukebox in its back room.
Still a good boozer. Still got a piano, still got it's seperate rooms, tables in the back yard and tiled entrance.

[tosh13]

I remember the Red Lion my sodding hand went through the glass door, I tripped over some newly layed marley tiles & my hand went through the bullseye glass door leading to the toilet cut my wrist really bad ,got barred for being drunk,the thing is I argued I tripped over the tile which was up on the corner & because I argued that is why I got barred.

[evamermaid]

Originally Posted by tosh13

I remember the Red Lion my sodding hand went through the glass door, I tripped over some newly layed marley tiles & my hand went through the bullseye glass door leading to the toilet cut my wrist really bad ,got barred for being drunk,the thing is I argued I tripped over the tile which was up on the corner & because I argued that is why I got barred.

The Red Lion was up the road??

[Winemaster]

Originally Posted by evamermaid

The Red Lion was up the road??

Yup, further up t'road.

[evamermaid]

Just under the railway bridge, as I remember, there was a cheapo shop that sold everything. I bought a large wood-effect melamine covered chipboard bookcase thirty years ago for three quid and it's still as good as new, houses my son's paperback books a treat! It was my first ever piece of furniture (I lived in a furnished rented flat).

[muddycoffee]

Originally Posted by evamermaid

The Red Lion was up the road??

There was a yellow lion decades ago too.



Unfortunately, the red lion kinda died in 1999 when it was gutted and turned into Mr. Q's. Instead of being a popular and very busy old pub with a large snooker table, lovely staff and different rooms, it became a fun pub with lots of pool tables and gimicks which was full of kids for a couple of years before they got bored of it and the druggies moved in instead of regular clientele.
Of course it is now closed.
I expect that in time it will be demolished for apartments, as that's what happens to all pubs which are lost.

[evamermaid]

Originally Posted by muddycoffee

There was a yellow lion decades ago too.



Unfortunately, the red lion kinda died in 1999 when it was gutted and turned into Mr. Q's. Instead of being a popular and very busy old pub with a large snooker table, lovely staff and different rooms, it became a fun pub with lots of pool tables and gimicks which was full of kids for a couple of years before they got bored of it and the druggies moved in instead of regular clientele.
Of course it is now closed.
I expect that in time it will be demolished for apartments, as that's what happens to all pubs which are lost.

The short-sightedness of breweries never fails to amaze me. Here in Leeds we have several pubs that were given a Mr Q type makeover and died a death.

In the process of brewery-fying, whatever the style or theme, so many original pub interiors have been lost for ever. Not just in the city but in the countryside, however whenever we visit country pubs in Kent (hubby's home county) they're pretty original, many seem to be owned free houses rather than managed I guess. It's the only thing I like about Kent - the country inns. And I hate to admit it as a Yorkshirewoman, but I prefer the beer! (Boo, hiss...)

[Longcol]

Originally Posted by evamermaid

Anyone remember it? With its jukebox, and I think it used to have outside loos at one point? Spent a lot of time and money in there in the late 70s / early 80s!

Used to be a regular there on Saturday nights (and quite a few others) approx 1977 - 82 - Dave Tollerfield was the landlord and if I recall did a lot to stop the brewery getting rid of all the different little rooms. He kept a cracking pint of Tetleys.

The trip to the outside loos, up the steps, could be pretty treacherous when it was icy.

[macP]

sirglyn ,remember well champion jack dupree ,union blues ,puds lightshow
health &safety wouldnt allow it now
ah happy daze , nuff said

[yan]

Originally Posted by Longcol

Used to be a regular there on Saturday nights (and quite a few others) approx 1977 - 82 - Dave Tollerfield was the landlord and if I recall did a lot to stop the brewery getting rid of all the different little rooms. He kept a cracking pint of Tetleys.

The trip to the outside loos, up the steps, could be pretty treacherous when it was icy.

Hi the White Lion is still a great place to visit, its a proper pub I say and better than the others on offer round that way. David Tollerfield, the ex landlord of the WL iss my grandad so I vitually grew up there. His son, also David Tollerfield is my uncle and he was the landlord of the Red Lion (when it was also a good pub) I virtually grew up in there too, I loved the big back room in the Red with the stage and piano...fond memories

[rosie]

oh i had many a good night in the white lion myself as you all say the juke box was one of the best.there was always loads of bikes outside also.

[evamermaid]

We always sat in the same place on a Sat night - the other side of the room from the juke box, right opposite it. I think the seats were moved forward when the inside loos were being built to allow a kind of passage way between the backs of the seats and the wall. Am I right? I remember some decorating or building work going on, sure the loos were being done. The back room had its own bar, didn't it?

[rosie]

i remember some work been done on the pub also but cant remember what?
we used to sit on the right hand side of the back room.

[artisan]

Martin Devilly used to be the landlord back in the sixties and seventies, an old style 'cumergeon', how they convinced to have the music nights in the concert room I never found out.
But we had some great nights in there, and The Broadfield.
The same faces were always there in whatever pub or club you wnet in those days.
He used to whinge something cruel about all the electric it was costing him.
He was known as 'Amos', after a character in 'Emmerdale Farm', because of his big mutton chop sideburns.
But he kept the best pint of Tetleys in Yorkshire

In those days the pub was for all ages, from us young 'hippy types' in the concert room, to the older guys in the little 'tap room', for which you had to practically an invited guest to go in

It is a shame to hear about the Red Lion, I drove past the other day, on one of my rare visits, and though it looked a bit shabby.
It used to have a big back garden, whiuch they used to open up on special days.
Whit Monday was always one, after the processions and the 'sings' in Meersbrook Park, evereyone used to go there.
We used to meet far flung cousins and relatives we did not see for the rest of the year.
At that time everyone in Heeley seemed related in one way or another.

[evamermaid]

So what's the White Lion like these days then? What's changed? Loads, I guess... I was last there circa 1983, seems like a lifetime ago...