This is the Railway Hotel, a plot of land where Charles Carter decided to build his home. He was a brewer by profession.

Records seem to suggest his brewery was behind or closely adjacent to the building, and included stabling. In 1834 the brewery was taken over by James Belchamber and became the Teville Brewery.

A short time later, 1836 Robert Watkins took over and it paired up with the main building and became the Crown Inn and Brewery. This was later changed to the Railway Hotel. It was suggested that Richard Tamplin, a well established brewer made use of the facilities when his burnt down.

At some point, date thought to have been about the 1900s, the Howell family become the owners

The building changed shape several times and later became divided. The hotel side was run by Ellen Howell and managed by Jesse Howell, whilst the Railway Hotel Tap, regarded as a separate entity, was under the direction of Walter Howell and various combinations of sons!

We're not 100% sure when the brewery side ceased, but we think it may have been around 1870. The now unused brewery and stables became a motorcar garage, the obvious successor to the horse.

The Howell family pictured below in the garden of Railway Hotel and Tap.

The Howell's had interests in the Pier Hotel, the Montague Arms, the Albion, the Downview and the Fountain. In 1964, the Railway Hotel became the Lennox, and after that, the Rivoli.

Patrick Howell recalls: "Walter's father, William, who ran the George Inn at Portslade in 1865, married twice. He had five children by his first wife, and eight by his second. George was the eldest of them all. The Tap was undoubtedly the old cottage which stood in the back yard and garden of the Railway Hotel. In the 1911 Census, he was described as an Ostler and gardener. The horses were probably stabled in what became a motor garage at about that time, and was run by Edmund Briggs, who was still there in the fifties, when my uncle Maurice took over the garage. His office was in the front part of the Tap".

All Walter's sons used their middle names. Walter James Harold Howell was Harold; George Sydney Herbert Howell was Sydney; and Cecil Frank Maurice Howell was Frank.

The pub at the Railway was split into four bars, the Public Bar, where the beer was cheapest; the Saloon Bar; the Smoking Room; and the Jug and Bottle, which was essentially a takeaway point. In the Second War, they could sell all the beer they could get, and even served it in jam jars on occasion! There was also an open air urinal in the hotel and garage yard, for those who had drunk their fill."

July 1958 saw the reopening of the Railway Hotel, marking the end of five months of reconstruction work costing £8,000. The hotel has been given a new look, there is a spacious oak-panelled restaurant, and the former billiards room is now a banqueting room.

Other changes include a new saloon bar (pictured right), this replaces the old dining room and wine office. The old private bar has been incorporated into an enlarged public bar.

The host of the Railway Hotel is Mr Frank Collier, who has been in the trade since 1916.

MYSTERY may forever surround the cause of Worthing's biggest blaze since 1987. Fire officials were unable to enter the former function room at the back of the Rivoli pub to investigate what caused last Wednesday's inferno because the building was so unsafe that it could have collapsed.

Gary Towson, spokesman for West Sussex Fire and Rescue service, said: "The investigation was hampered because the building was likely to collapse. "It is going to be very difficult to establish the cause, but arson is not being ruled out, and further enquiries are being made." Firefighters from Worthing were first called to the Chapel Road site at 7.20 pm after neighbours reported thick black smoke billowing from the rear of the derelict pub.

More than 100 car tyres, which had been stored in the building, caught fire, causing thick, acrid smoke, which smothered the town centre area. There were also fears that gas cylinders could have been stored at the derelict site, so police cordoned off the area and evacuated homes.

Incident commander Neil Stocker said: "As part of the building was also reportedly being used as a workshop, there were concerns about gas cylinders exploding.

The Rivoli has been shut for more than a year, but there have been reports of at least one other fire in the building last year, believed to have been caused by squatters.

 Time Line

 A little bit extra

1800 - 1824 Charles & Hannah Carter
1824 - 18?? James Penfold
18?? - 1834 James Belchamber (Teville Brewery)
1836 - 1839 Watkins and Puttock (Crown Inn & Brewery)
1839 - 1840 Thomas Attree (Crown Inn)
???? - 1845 William Cobby
1848 - 1855 Thomas Henney (The Railway Hotel)
1857 - ???? Owen Godley
1858 - 1865 Henry Norman
1866 - 1869 Henry Butler
1870 - 1881 Mrs Sarah Marsh
1881 - 1889 John Hammond
1890 - 1891 Mrs Maria Hammond (Widow)
1896 - 1899 C Cheesley
1900 - 1901 Walter Howell
1901 - 1911 Ellen Howell
1912 - 1913 Walter Howell
1914 - 1925 - Howell & Sons
1928 - Building enlarged.
1926 - 1966 Frank Howell (Cecil Frank Maurice Howell)
1958 - Mr & Mrs Frank Collier1964 - Dennis & Peggy Gates
1965 - Tom & Rita Jones
1994 - Re-named 'The Rivoli'

 Peter recalls: Hello! I’ve been trawling through your site with immense interest. thank you for putting it together and recreating SOOOO many memories for me! Regarding the Tenancy of the Lennox, I went to St. Andrews secy. school c64 and one of my class mates was Richard Gates. Now, His father ran the Lennox Hotel and bar at about the time that they opened their function room called “The Normand Room,” which was entered from a Norman arch-shaped door on the NW side of the building. I remember that Richard left SA in about 65,’66? due to his dad taking over the White Swan at Bosham.