Kings Head Hotel, Broadgate

Could be Kaga, but I'm thinking it would be too damp for horse feed? I know that the stables for the Craven Arms had lofts above the stables which would be a logical option for dry feed. I doubt that the Kings Head would be much different. A few of the cellars I've seen, including the proper medieval stone vaults had the 'steps' round the edges and sat barrels on them. As you write, loads of stuff came in barrels - salted fish, meat, butter, etc. Meat was also hung from ceiling hooks. While beer would have arrived in barrels, I'm not sure how long it would have been stored. Large establishments like the Kings Head would have had their own brewhouse originally. Prior to the construction of Hertford Street, the Kings Head plot would have extended further south, allowing for more service buildings. The rear of the Kings Head was also connected to Vicar Lane, where, by the time the photo was taken, there was a wine and spirits wholesaler and the pub The Kings Head Tap. By 1850 at least there was a sizeable malt house a few doors west. Maybe they adopted a just in time policy? Didn't they also drink beer at a warmer temperature than is now preferred? By 1934, the cellars may have just been general storage areas or maybe the limited view in the photograph doesn't show the racks? Looking at the photo it looks like there is damage repair or new work going on - so maybe they'd just cleared stuff out to work? I could Google it but what's a thrall? I'm probably not the only person who doesn't know.

George Jennings, bass, on the menu. He was a local man who also played in The Ken Sykora Six, a jazzband. Picture from "The Stage"!

Helen, a 'thrall' is a slab (in some walk-in pantries etc) on which to keep perishable items. A cold slab, my great-aunts in Grantham had one beside the cellar steps of their Victorian house at what they called 'the cellar head'. There was an inside door to the cellar directly opposite the front door of the house, and beyond the cellar, steps descended! With the the cellar door open a person in a hurry to get inside could 'come a cropper'!

No, Helen, it was a cold slab of marble on a bench, like in a cellar for cold food.

Prof, I think it is spelled thrawll

Kaga / Helen - the text with that cellar clipping states that it was part of the beer/wine cellar previously but was not in use at the time the image was taken.

Neil. Thanks, but I put it down to being too small in those days for an hotel of that size, and with no fittings, and not in use.

Not much of the hotel but even during clearance what must've been the remains of the cellars attracted the crowds (see post #89 as to what they were like!). Helen, do you think that's what was the M&S store to the right and are the pedestrians going along what remained of Vicar Lane behind?

Interesting shot, Neil I don't know much about the back of the M&S, it might have been part of the print works, but yes, it is Vicar Lane. The picture shows how much new Broadgate ate into the original line of buildings and Smithford Street.

I was just going off this image I added to the Vicar Lane thread some time ago. Dimensions look similar minus its upper floor (bomb-damaged?), Vicar Lane showing on the very left edge. There can't have been too many buildings between there and the visible old City Arcade.

I don't know how much of the rear was new build or renovated, so I can't say if the block in the picture is pre or post war. It looks like a steel and corrugated iron warehouse. If a brick skin was blown off, they may have reused a steel frame. Scratch that. Re looking at the post war maps, it looks like the standing building is probably part of the print works, not M&S. It's not close enough to Vicar Lane. The standing building is the City Arcade. Post war map