Skegness Magazine

Source Skegness Standard 1997
Photo: supplied to the Skegness Standard by Mr Michael Morley of Nottinghamshire

These three news stories about the old stone lion statue which ‘went missing’ from outside the Lion Hotel, Skegness appeared in various issues of the Skegness Standard in 1997…

An online petition has been launched to plead for the Return of the Skegness Stone Lion Statue

Please only sign the petition if you agree with its return. Any concerns may be expressed here

The first of the Skegness Standard’s articles about the lion statue asks in the headline, “Where has the Lion escaped to?”.
The article continues to tell the reader where the lion was situated immediately before its disappearance and and give the reader a little of its history when it was on the roof of the Lion Hotel.
The Skegness Standard approached the new ‘owners’ of the pub asking where the statue was. Wetherspoons replied that they didn’t know. Some consolation was offered by Wetherspoons by telling us that “there were plans to include several lion features within the pub”.
We are then reminded that the lion statue has been popular with visitors and holidaymakers, many of which used to sit on its back.
The Skegness Standard ended the news story by seeming to incite readers to protest at the disappearance of the statue by concluding “Maybe a roar of protest at his loss would be in order?”

Incidently, the “roar of protest” incited is, ten years later, being effected.

The second article includes a picture of a holidaymaker sat on the lion statue’s back. This picture was sent to the Standard after an appeal by the Red Lion Pub for readers to send in photos of the lion so that a replica might be made.

The third article in the ‘hunt for the lion statue’ carried the headline “Missing Lion found safe but retired”. It was revealed that the former owner of the Lion Hotel, the Kheng family of Mablethorpe had the lion in their possession.
Mr Michael Kheng stated that the lion had “gone into retirement”.

Where has the Lion escaped to?

What has happened to the famous stone lion which for years stood outside the Lion Hotel on the corner of Lumley Road and Roman Bank, Skegness?
It was removed for restoration when work started on the hotel to turn it into a Weatherspoon pub.
But now J D Weatherspoon’s have admitted they don’t know where it is.
A spokesman explained that a new architect had taken over and he “knew nothing about it”.
However, there were plans to include several lion features within the pub. “We are keen to retain the old associations,” he said.
The once proud lion, latterly a shadow of its former self, once stood on the roof of the building but in the pre-war period licensees Bert and Emily Parrot, fearing that the weight was becoming too much for the building, had it taken down.
Since then no childhood in Skegness was quite complete unless you had been lifted up to sit on the lion’s back. Maybe a roar of protest at his loss would be in order?

Fond Memories

The old stone lion which formerly graced the roof and later the outside of the Lion Hotel, Skegness, holds fond memories for both local residents and thousands of visitors to the town.
The Morley family from Nottinghamshire are no exception. Mr Michael Morley called in at the Standard office during his holiday from his hometown of Newthorpe to share with us this lovely picture of his late mother, Ivy Morley.
The photograph shows Ivy at the age of 24 and was taken during a holiday to the resort in 1939.

The owners of the Red Lion pub which now stands on the site of the former Lion Hotel are appealing to members of the public for photographs of the lion with the aim of producing a replica.

Missing Lion found safe but retired

The famous stone lion statue which stood for many years outside the Lion Hotel, Skegness is safe and sound in the care of former hotel owners the Kheng family of Mablethorpe.
Mr Michael Kheng joked that the lion was now too old to hold the weight of youngsters on its back and had gone into retirement.
Copy of the Lion
Mr Kheng said there had been a suggestion that a copy of the lion might be made by J D Weatherspoon, the company which had taken over the running of the hotel on the corner of Lumley Road and Roman Bank. The idea however has never bourne fruit although several lion features have been included in the pub’s refurbishment.

What do YOU think? Should our Lion be with Mr Kheng? Or should it be back where it’s stood since 1906 - that’s 101 years?

But let’s take a closer look at the actual wording from the newspapers story - “It was removed for restoration when work started on the hotel to turn it into a Weatherspoon pub”. “When work started” surely means AFTER the hotel was sold, implying that the statue was still in situ at the time of the sale!

The actual dates of the issues in which each of the three articles appears can be found in the 1990s news stories page.

Update 12th September 2007

After doing some research, we felt confident that we’d gleaned enough information to give us a good chance of finding out exactly where the lion statue is today. So this afternoon, we set off on the trail of the lion!

We will not reveal exact places or names as we feel it would compromise the safety of our old lion statue. We have therefore substituted the names and places with letters of the alphabet or fictitious names. We can confirm that the place in question is NOT Mablethorpe, as suggested in the old newspaper article above.

We set off from Skegness and arrived at the house, the garden of which we had an idea the lion might be situated. We had travelled less than thirty miles.

The house was called ‘Palm Forest’ (don’t forget this is not the correct name). We scanned the gardens for a possible sighting of the lion. Nothing! We decided to take the bull by the horns and knock on the door. Mrs X answered. We asked if she knew the whereabouts of the old lion statue, confirming we were doing some research into Skegness History. Mrs X was very helpful and told us that a lion statue, possibly the one we were looking for, lay in her mother-in-law’s garden in a village around ten minutes drive away. She gave us Mrs X Senior’s contact number. We thanked the lady and set off for the new location.

As we were approaching Village Y, we noticed a house named ‘Palms’, though this was just outside the perimeter of Village Y. Toying with the name of the house in my head, I thought it was a bit of a coincidence that Mrs X’s house was called ‘Palm …’ and this house was called ‘Palms’. Neverthless, we carried on into the village and headed for the village pub (well we were on safari and it was a hot day…but I must add that the driver just had a coke!). We asked the landlord and landlady if they’d ever seen a lion in the village (we were losing all credibility now…). They replied that they definately hadn’t seen a lion in the vicinity, but pointed us to some cottages where the village ‘know-everybody’ lived.

On staggering…er…leaving the pub, we saw an elderly gent walking his dogs. We asked him if he knew Mrs X Senior. “I certainly do,” he replied, “She lives at ‘Palms’ just before you come into the village. I knew it! There was a connection!

Back out the village we went and parked outside ‘Palms’. The driveway leading to the house was bent, thereby obscuring the house itself. We scanned the gardens through the trees but saw no lion. There were some dense trees to the left of the driveway, outside the perimeter of the property. We ventured

in, peered towards the house…

WE SAW THE LION!

And here he is…

And here was where he began his life - perched aloft the Lion Hotel in Skegness.

Picture taken c1890

Update: 3rd October 2007

After finding the lion statue, we decided to try to find out where in fact the lion should be. Was is sold as part of the public house or not?

We went along to Wetherspoon’s to ask some questions. We talked to Amy, the manager, who was very interested to hear about the lion and immediately telephoned two of her line managers for advice. She told us to leave it with her and she’d see what she could do. Meanwhile, I contacted Paula Spencer, the Customer Services Officer for JD Wetherspoon, and explained the plight to her.

This morning, I received a letter from Paula (for JD Wetherspoon), informing me that she had made enquiries with their estates department. It transpires that the Lion Hotel was owned by Kurnia Ltd before being sold to Metrobrook who still own the freehold on the premises. JD Wetherspoon actually lease the hotel from them, so consequently the statue was not transferred to them as a company.

A public show of thanks must be extended to JD Wetherspoon Plc for their exceptionally kind assistance. Though a large company, they understood how important the statue is to the people of Skegness and did everything in their power to help us.

So what now?

We did a little more digging and have obtained a copy of the title deeds to the property, but this document does not mention any fixture and fittings.

It seems that Kurnia Ltd have its offices in Spanish City, Mablethorpe. (Which is where one of the commenters below suggested the lion statue was initially stored)

Metrobrook’s offices are in London.

The obvious next step is to write to Metrobrook asking them if the statue was excluded from the fixtures and fittings at the time of the sale. Cross your fingers that they are as helpful…

We’ll keep you posted…

Update 31st October 2007

Well, we’ve had no reply from Metrobrook and it’s been almost a month since we wrote to them!

But the good news is that the Skegness Target local newspaper is running the Skegness Stone Lion Campaign this week, and is publicising the petition. The Target is holding a hard copy of the petition so people can drop in and sign and we’ll be collecting signatures on the streets of Skegness on various occasions.

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