Next door: the White Lion, the city wall and a lost figurehead

Quay Head House does not stand alone. Its neighbours have stories just as odd as its own.

The White Lion

The little pub on the corner has been a pub since at least 1806, when it was part of a hotel, and it claims to be the smallest pub in Bristol. Its back wall is made from the old medieval town wall, and a section is still visible inside. The spiral steps down to the gents are said to have come from the city’s old New Gaol. Within living memory it was known as the cheese pub, thanks to a landlord who kept a large display of cheeses behind the bar.

The town wall and St Giles’ Gate

The wall that runs behind the White Lion once marked the edge of medieval Bristol, and this corner is close to the site of St Giles’ Gate, one of the old gates into the town. Quay Head House was built right on the line where the walled town met the quay.

Demerara House and its figurehead

A short way along, beside the old Stone Bridge at Quay Head, stood a building that later became known as Demerara House. For almost seventy years a ship’s figurehead, carved as an Indian figure, was displayed on its front. The building was pulled down in 1931, and Bristol Archives holds drawings and photographs of it, including its demolition and the removal of the figurehead.

Other neighbours

• The Sun Life Assurance building at Quay Head, by the architects Oatley and Lawrence, 1902.
• An office at Quay Head built for Bass and Company, the brewers, designed by H D Bryan in 1893 and 1894.
• The statue of Neptune, which was moved to Quay Head in 1949.
• Henry Mountstevens, a bedding manufacturer, who gave his address as Quay Head in the nineteenth century.

Do you remember Demerara House, or the cheese pub? Share what you know.

Sources: The White Lion, Bristol; Bristol24/7, A-Z Bristol Pub Crawl: The White Lion; Bristol Archives, scrapbook 17563/1/900 to 905 (Demerara House); building plans volumes 30 and 41; 41087/6; Wikimedia Commons, White Lion Hotel, Colston Avenue