Run-down Stoke-on-Trent pub where Robbie Williams grew up goes on the market for £150,000
Chart-topper's dad Pete Conway takes trip down memory lane by revisiting former home
THE RUN-DOWN pub where Robbie Williams grew up is struggling to find a buyer after going on the market for just £150,000.
The Red Lion in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs was taken over by the chart-topper’s parents Jan and Pete in 1975 when he was just two years old.
But it has since fallen into ruin and now requires significant renovation.
Its appearance on the market prompted Robbie’s dad, Pete Conway to revisit it.
He said: “Because it is up for sale I went back inside recently.
"A friend had a look at it and I went with him.
"It was quite strange being back inside I even had a look around upstairs – I had not been up there since 1977.
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"It brought back a lot of memories and I had a good look around. It has got a lot of history. It was a great old pub.
"It would be nice if the pub was restored because if it is turned into flats it will be a little bit of history that has disappeared."
Estate agents say the pub could be bought by developers and turned into flats.
Director Chris Hulme, from property agents Keates Hulme, said: “The pub was run by Robbie Williams's father and at one stage Robbie grew up there.
"It's been partially refitted as a pub and could be brought back into use as one with some work.
“I would expect it either to be reopened as a pub or a bar or converted into a house of multiple occupation.
"So likely buyers are either a bar operator or an investor who wants to develop it.
“The pub is in a prominent location.
"There is cheap on-street parking close by, a partially-refurbished bar and new toilets.
"There is also quite a lot of accommodation upstairs for a manager, or tenants."
Local resident Fred Hughes recalled the pub's heyday in the late seventies when he found himself invited to Robbie's third birthday party there.
“In the late seventies the Williams’ family took over its management. My youngest son, born a few weeks after Pete and Jan’s lad Robert, was invited to his birthday party one Sunday afternoon after closing.
"And what a wild assembly that was: if you can imagine a space full of uncontrolled noise, loud screaming, and silly behaviour. And the children didn’t conduct themselves much better either.
“The Williams’ kid was three at the time; I think it was the year of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. And like all birthday boys he performed for his audience, strutting around the room, commanding attention, showing off, and acting like a pop star.
"The Red Lion was Robert Williams’s home. It was his theatre; an adventure playground that had a jukebox in the two-tier back room, and an electric organ.”
Local historian Mervyn Edwards said: “Historically the Red Lion is one of the oldest pubs in Burslem before it was rebuilt in the 1960s.
"But if it is not to become a pub again it would be another part of Burslem's history gone."
Residents hopeit will not be turned into flats.
Hazel Filcher said: “We have got enough flats.
"The Red Lion used to be a nice old black-and-white building."
Derek Johnson, aged 54, added: “It would be a shame to lose the Red Lion.
"It is part of Burslem's history."
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