GeoGraph - photograph every grid square

Watford: The Red Lion

The Red Lion is in Vicarage Road and opposite Watford Football Club's stadium. As such it was the home supporters' pub for many years. In fact the Red Lion easily predates the football ground, and the Ordnance Survey map of 1871 shows it, the Union Workhouse and the Cemetery as the main, and indeed virtually the only, features in the hamlet of Colney Butts. The present building dates from 1895 and was designed by the architect C P Ayres. It is locally listed. The text across the front reads:-

THE RED LION BENSKINS CELEBRATED WATFORD ALE & STOUT

The pub was bought by Watford Football Club in 2006 with various intentions of turning it into a club shop, offices and houses, but plans for these were withdrawn late in 2008. In February 2009 Saracens Rugby Club, who share the Vicarage Road stadium with the football club, expressed an interest in taking it over. Currently it stands empty and boarded-up.