White Lion? What do you Think?

This is an area where I disagree a little with local historian Roger Edwards, once head at Ysgol Brynhyfryd. His view is never to commit to print for fear criticism. He has a point but then again if he doesn't, just who will? Not me, in case I make a mistake : )

Geraint Owen had no such qualms when he published via Invisus Publications his 2004 "Old and Present Pubs of Ruthin Town", a delightful saunter through the streets as they are and once were. You can forgive what appears to be the odd misstep or faux pas because his booklet, sadly out of print, is an important record and one that covers so much more than brewers and taverns. You get a real sense that Owen knew his subject...

Owen viewed the Castle Hotel as the town's most important. He placed it first in his book. It was, according to Owen, owned by the Myddleton family, as was the Castle Arms (today's Myd, next door). He says of it that it was more hotel than pub but that it was a place where circuit judges stayed; and where town civic business & quarter sessions took place. It brewed beer on a commercial scale, supplying much of the town.

The no longer available Castle Hotel brochure elaborates.

" The original name for this hotel is lost, but in 1595, it was bought by Sir Hugh Myddleton, and it became The White Lion, giving due recognition to the Myddleton coat of arms [a white lion]. It remained The White Lion until 1883, when it was changed to The Castle Hotel"

Both names have a claim on the building though the older is, well, older. I am grateful for a comment yesterday suggesting there is now an opportunity to revert to this older name. But is it something worth perusing? Is it something Wetherspoon's should consider when it reopens the premises?

I thought I'd ask the question and see readers' reaction. The survey, thohgh, is now closed.

Owen's view is that the date of change from White Lion to Castle Hotel was 1885, by the way, not 1883. They can't both be right. It's as well that he wasn't perturbed by a little matter of a couple of years. And neither was Lloyd's Hotels. How about it, Roger?