Hop Merchant, Nottingham

The Hop Merchant was until recently called the Turf Tavern, a name a pub on the site has had since Victorian times. Formerly a Shipstone's house, when acquired by Greenall's in 1996 it was renamed the Samuel Morley after a Victorian benefactor to the City and whose statue had been located nearby until 1927. Unfortunately, Morley was also a well know temperance campaigner. Disgruntled locals objected and in 1996 the name reverted to the traditional Turf Tavern (Whitworth 2010).

In 1855 the publican of the Turf Tavern was G. Moore (Post Office Directory).

On the 9th February 2016, the Nottingham Branch of CAMRA nominated the then Turf Tavern as an Asset of Community Value. On the 9th June 2016 Nottingham City Council rejected the nomination on the grounds that the Turf Tavern 'did not further the social wellbeing or interests of the local community'.

The Hop Merchant has an entry on Nottingham Civic Society's Draft Local Heritage List (09 December 2013), which notes it was built in 1923 to a design by WB Starr & Hall and that the building has a faience exterior.

The Hop Merchant is in Nottingham City Council's Old Market Square Conservation Area.

As at November 2017, the Hop Merchant freehold (NT344553) was held by Punch Partnerships (PML) Limited [Reg. No. 3321199] until transferred to Patron Capital on the 5th March 2018.

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