Richard 1

This is a print of my drawing of the Richard 1 pub. The original is hanging above the bar.

They have been selling beer at 52 Royal Hill ever since the street was laid out in 1830 when the government encouraged people to sell beer as alternative to gin. Beer was safer than water at the time! Contrary to popular belief, the street has no royal connections, but rather named after the Victorian builder Robert Royal who developed the area.

The first mention of Richard 1 is in the 1885 Census, with the Richard at number 52 and the Fox & Hounds at 56 with a florist in between. In 1923 George Honeybone, the owner of the Richard, bought the building next door and opened an off-license. At some stage, possibly around 1934 when Honeybone left the pub, the business was bought by the Tollemache Brewing Company and the name Richard 1 was relegated to minimal branding on the exterior.

In the late 1970s Young’s bought the building and restored the Richard 1 name, adding the beer garden at the back. The building next door at number 54 eventually changed from an off-license to merge into a double sized pub. Then, the Fox & Hounds (which had changed its name to McGowan’s in 1994 and the Greenwich Union in 2003) was snapped up by Young’s in 2021 when Meantime Brewery announced it would not be reopening the pub after the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the Richard 1 is the only pub on Royal Hill to have kept the same name since it was established, locals still refer to it as “The Tolly” from the days Tollemache had the building.

Also available as a postcard.

Top Tip: Buy a postcard of this print in The Ricard and 100% of the money goes to Wooden Spoon – The Children’s Charity of Rugby

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