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Lion and Lobster - then and now

Lion and Lobster, 24 Sillwood Street – previously The Rockingham

Rockingham
Image reproduced with permission from Brighton History Centre
Lion &L obster
Photo by Mike Snewin

Comments about this page

  • The L & L always wraps its arms around ya with a welcoming hug! Life is good there!

    By Gordon and Maggs (15/09/2007)
  • The Lion and Lobster is a great pub. Full of character (and characters too). The food is great as is the beer. I used to work there and still miss it now. The addition of guest rooms is a great idea (really nice, cheap too). I always visit the L&L when I’m in Brighton.

    By Heath Thomas (17/09/2007)
  • Amazing place to take the whole family. brilliant! It feels soo lovely and they make the best food. Can’t wait to go there next week.

    By Aliana (27/01/2009)
  • One of Brighton’s oldest pubs, started out as the Olive Branch in the 1800s.

    By Shan Lancaster (30/06/2019)
  • When was it built and are there any images of how it was when new?

    By Debbie (20/03/2024)
  • As Shan says, it was originally known as the Olive Branch. It appears under that name in trade directories from 1839, but could be slightly older, because some buildings in Sillwood Street date back to the late 1820s.
    The street numbering in Sillwood Street has changed several times and the Olive Branch has been no. 16½ (1840s), no. 22 (1850s), thereafter no.26, no. 27 and, since 1950, no. 24. But it has probably always been on the same site and definitely has since the 1890s.
    There are very few photos in existence from the time the Olive Branch came into existence. The earliest I’ve seen of Brighton (in the James Gray Collection http://www.regencysociety-jamesgray.com) are from the late 1850s. But the Olive Branch had a bow window added or altered in 1863 and the Keep has a copy of the record of this. It’s possible that the record includes a ‘before and after’ drawing of the building. The reference no. of the record is DB/D/8/261.

    By Gill Wales (21/03/2024)

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