March Hare, Nottingham

Built in 1958 for Warwicks & Richardson of Newark, the March Hare has an heritage interior rated by CAMRA as being of Regional Importance. The only significant change to this pub since it was built is the absorbtion of the off-sales into the smoke room in the 1960s. All the bar fittings, fixed seating, toilets and even the furniture date from 1958, their longevity no doubt connected to the fact that the same tenant, George Dove was in charge from opening and his widow still runs the pub. Even the till is dated 1959, having been converted to decimal in 1971. The weighing machine in the lobby still records pounds and stones. (www.heritagepub.org.uk)

George Dove once famously turned down the Beatles when they were looking for pub venues to play in Nottingham.

A John Smiths' pub after Warwicks & Richardsons.

Registered as an Asset of Community Value on the 13th May 2016 and nominated by the Nottingham Branch of CAMRA.

"1957-8 by Albert E. Eberlin. Shown as the Carlton in 1956 Directory. C/PS/B/37/2/1-3: Proposed rebuilding of the Carlton PH, for Mssrs Warwicks & Richardson Ltd of Newark, December 1956, Eberlin & Darbyshire, FFRIBA of 3 College Street. A perspective of the Carlton at this reference shows an entrance to right, double doors to left as built, tile-hanging to the upper floor with tiles below, built for Warwick’s Ales. The old Carlton Inn was demolished because it was considered ‘incapable of structural alteration and improvement to comply with modern standards’. The change of name was suggested by one of the directors of Warwick & Richardson who wanted something ‘rural yet with a literary connotation’ (Wright and Curtis, p.89). It was for many years thought to be the only pub of that name in Britain. There was, however, a rather similar looking March Hare in Burwell Road, Shephall, Stevenage, which is now closed. The Evening Post, 26 November 1997 says that the pub opened on 24 October 1958, with a £15 barrel of beer given by the brewers to celebrate the opening. The Evening News for 24 October 1958 says that the pub’s original name was the Bricklayer’s Arms before it became the Carlton. The new premises was built in just nine months. The fireplace in the public bar originally had a surround of mosaic tiles like those on the façade. The cellars from the old pub were not reused. It was the first pub built by Warwicks and Richardsons after the war in Nottingham, but the twelfth overall. The plans (C/PS/B/37/2/1-3) of 1956 show a smoke room facing Carlton Road, angled between the entrance to the public house on the left and to off sales to right. To the rear is the public bar, with an ‘L’-shaped servery and cask store filling in the angle and a large case store behind, along with a heating chamber. The two bars share lavatories placed on the outer-angle of the ‘L’ next to the main entrance, with between them stairs to the landlord’s first-floor flat set over the front range – i.e. the quieter bar. The off-sales was knocked into the smoke room to form a lounge in the mid-late 1960s. There is a rear car park.

The building has a brick ground floor, with mosaic tiling in grey and green under the windows described in the review of 24 October 1958 (Evening News); the original windows survive save for some small opening lights replaced in upvc. The site of the off-sales has been matched exactly with the same windows and mosaic work, and inside the bench seating was continued round the enlarged room – there is just a small kink to show it was extended. The upper floor is hung in russet tiles, and there is a roof garden over the public bar. The public bar now has a central pool table but retains its fixed seating all round the edge. The doors to the bars are particularly nice, dark-varnished with long door handles and signs saying ‘push’. This is an absolute gem in terms of atmosphere, although the architecture is simple. It is still run by Mrs M. A. Dove (now widowed) with her son and daughter Andrew and Angela. The joy of the March Hare is that the family can confirm what has changed, though dates are a bit rare. The bars themselves are of dark varnish to the main bar front and simple mouldings, which were installed by Mrs Dove’s son-in-law on top of earlier fronts of a Formica-type material in red, green and black which was damaged by cigarette butts but survives underneath. At decimalisation she had the old tills adapted and the family still uses them. Because it can be entirely authenticated (and the Architect and Building News for 27 January 1960 has a picture) it can set a benchmark for other pubs. George Dove served with the 8th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters in North Africa and Italy, where he was mentioned in dispatches, and he was the Army’s middleweight boxing champion in Tripoli. His parents ran a beer-off so he was always interested in running a pub. ‘Home Brewery said I was too young’, he confessed, so he worked at the Crown and Anchor in Lincoln and at the Millers’ Arms in The Meadows, before applying to Warwick and Richardson for the licence at their new house in Sneinton. His wife Margaret was then eighteen. There are, however, many stories associated with the March Hare and the Doves, not all of which seem plausible. The March Hare is said to have hosted Shane Fenton before he became Alvin Stardust and Gerry Dorsey before he was Englebert Humperdinck, but Mr Dove tuned the Beatles down because at £25 they were too expensive." (Elain Harwood / Historic England).

As at November 2017, the freeholds for the March Hare (NT27927, NT71159 & NT23665) were held by Unique Pub Properties Limited [Reg. No. 3726292], a subsidiary of Ei Group plc.

[Nottingham City Council, St. Ann's Ward / Nottingham East Parliamentary Ward]