Phoenix, Nottingham

A post war estate pub, formerly an Home Ales house. The name Phoenix has been long associated with the area in which the pub is located. The pub, the local authority ward, Methodist Church, school and road which all use the name "Phoenix", almost certainly derived from Phoenix Farm at the junction of Arnold Lane and Jessops Lane. This was the home of JRR Tolkein's maternal aunt, J. Neave. Tolkein visited in 1914 at the age of 22, and is credited with writing the first draft of "The Voyage of Earendel the Evening Star" there. In "The Lord of the Rings", Galadriel gives Frodo a vial containing the "Light of Earendel" and which is used to defeat the giant spider guarding the entrance to Mordor which Gollum has encouraged the hobbits to use. Phoenix Farm was demolished in 1954 and Sam Smith's Grey Goose built near the site. The Grey Goose is also now demolished. Apparently Jane Neave changed the name to Phoenix Farm from its original Church Farm after acquiring the property by auction in 1911. It had previously been worked as a smallholding by a Mr Lamb. The Phoenix public house "opened 2 December 1965, near a parade of shops. It is almost identical in plan to the Major Oak in Arnold. There are two storeys with a rendered central gable and pitched roof to the main façade, which has the main bar. To the left is a long single-storey public bar, clearly original as the underside of the windows is finished in the same panels as used on the main façade, but there is also a large addition to the right next to the ‘lounge bar’ entrance.
The interior was being adapted as a ‘Santa’s grotto’ so was not photographed when visited in December 2015." [Elain Harwood / Historic England].

As at November 2017, the freehold for the Phoenix [NT253674] was held by Ei Group plc [Reg. No. 2562808], formerly known as Enterprise Inns.

[Gedling Borough Council; Phoenix Ward / Nottinghamshire County Council; Arnold South Division / Gedling Parliamentary Constituency]