Home > Lincolnshire > Lincoln > The Harlequin The Harlequin
Picture Source: Admin
The Harlequin was situated at 20 Steep Hill and is now an antiquarian bookshop. This grade-II* listed pub was present by 1744 and closed in 1931 by the licensing authorities due to its unsuitability for use as a public house.
Grade II* Listed late 15th century building on the site of a 12th century building with some of its fabric remaining inside. It may have been the property known as the Corner in the 13th century and the Cornershop in the 15th century. It appears to have been built as a hall house and converted with ceilings, fireplaces and chimney stacks in around 1600. Probably in the 17th century but by the 18th century it had been extended into what is now No.20. In the 18th century another separate building was added that is now No.19 (The current shop extends on the ground floor from 19 into the first bay of No.20). Soon after 1744 it became the Harlequin and Columbine Theatre Inn. A brewhouse was added in 1835 when F & C Winn, brewers took on the lease. Directories show it as in Fish Hill (Michaelgate) in 1826 and as the Harlequin and Brazier in the 1868. July 1835 it was reportedly valued at £450.00. It remained the Harlequin public house until 1931 when it was closed down by Lincoln Corporation. Alterations made internally in 1901. By 1965 it was listed as occupied by Frank Brewer antique dealer and second bookseller in No.19-21 and Mrs L Shelton antique furniture dealer in No.22. From at least 1970 No.21-22 was Harlequin antique galleries (bookshop) and remained so until 2017. A search of my directories for Harlequin produced; 1826-1842 William Brown (in Fish Hill then St Michael’s and No.20-21 by 1841); 1850 Samuel Brown; 1851-1861 Susannah Brown; 1867-1868 William Henry Lees; 1872 Samuel Pool; 1881 Edward Thurston; 1885 William Nolan; 1889 John Horsfield; 1892-1894 Mrs Betsey A Winning; 1896 Thomas Maplestone; 1897-1901 Mrs Lizzie Cornwallis; 1905-1930 Fred Reynolds (presumably to the end).
Steve Turner (January 2022)
From the archives:
In April 1890  John Gafford Smith was accused at Lincoln City Quarter Sessions of the crime of obtaining articles of food and drink and 1s 6d in money in the Harlequin public house, Lincoln, by false pretences.
Listed building details:
Former public house, now a bookshop. Late C15, altered C19, restored mid C20. Timber framing, with rendered nogging and plinth, plain tile roof, and single ridge and side wall stacks. 2 jettied floors, arch braces, corner bracket. 2 storeys, 2 x 3 bays. North front has to right a close boarded door and to left, a C19 bay window with wooden cross casement and sloping roof. Above, 2 wooden framed cross mullion casements with leaded glazing, flanking a painted inn sign. East side, to Steep Hill, has a jettied gable to right. To left, a shop window with dentilled cornice, C19, flanked to left by a half-glazed door and to right by a C20 shop window and a pair of half-glazed doors. To right again, 2 small casements. Above, to left, a cross casement, and a larger casement with wooden mullions. Interior: ground floor has matchboarded rooms and chamfered spine beams.
Do you have any anecdotes, historical information, updates or photos of this pub? Become a contributor by submitting them here. Like this site? Follow us on Make email contact with other ex-customers and landlords of this pub by adding your details to this page.
Other Photos
Date of photo: 1930s	Picture source: Chris Lightfoot
Date of photo: 2010	Picture © Jo Turner
Picture source: Phil Day