It is, quite literally, part of the history of York.
And now the Lamb & Lion Inn, which is partially built into the city walls, is about to embark on another new chapter.
The pub on High Petergate is to become The Fat Badger York – part of the HRH Hotel Group, which also now owns the Guy Fawkes Inn on the same street, and Marmadukes Hotel on St Peter’s Grove.
The group already runs The Fat Badger in Harrogate. And plans are now in to rebrand the Lamb & Lion as York’s version.
“Welcome to The Fat Badger, York’s most characterful inn in the heart of the city,” says the website.
It describes the pub’s wonderful beer garden, overlooked by the walls and with a view of York Minster, as ‘York’s secret gin garden’.
Under the plans, the pub front will get a new colour scheme to go with the new branding.
Furniture will be replaced, as will the stair carpet, and there will be a “replacement of the bar on a like for like basis”.
Lots of history
There’s a lot of history wrapped up in this inn.
It comprises two grade II listed buildings – No. 2 and 2A, which was a house and shop dating back to 1840; and No. 4, a house built in 1782, that was the Bootham Bar Hotel for many years.
“The proposed signage to the shop front is intended to be carried out on a sensitive like-for-like basis to ensure that the aesthetic value of the building remains unaffected,” say planning documents.
The High Petergate pub also comes with 12 bedrooms.
According to the website, you can book a table in the beer garden from reopening on 12 April onwards – but it is not clear whether its transformation into the Fat Badger will have finished by then.
The Fat Badger in Harrogate, found on Cold Bath Road, serves “cask ales, classic & modern cocktails & wine and modern British pub-grub”.