Cross Keys, Smithford Street
| These premises have been known by different names during their history: | FROM | TO | NAME |
| 1570 | 1750 | CROSS KEYS | |
| 1671 | ? | BLACK HORSE | |
| 1756 | ? | FLOWER DE LUCE AND CROWN | |
| 1795 | 1926 | FLEUR DE LIS | |
| 1835 | 1835 | BEERHOUSE | |
This is a common sign in Christian heraldry, referring to St. Peter, to whom Jesus said, 'I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven'. The papal arms show crossed keys and they occur again in the arms of various bishops such as those of Exeter, Gloucester, Peterborough, Ripon and St. Asaph where the cathedral in each case is dedicated to St. Peter.
There are documents in Lincoln Record Office concerning this pub dated 1570 and 1614. In 1671 we read of a mesuage formerly known as the Cross keys, now called the Black Horse. Yet it later reverts to the Cross Keys as in the will of John Moore dated 1729, the Cross Keys is listed as being owned by him.
In 1731 John Moore dies and leaves the Cross Keys to the Trustees of the Unitarian Meeting House in Vicar Lane, which is built partly on yard of the pub. The first regular stagecoach from Coventry to London ran from 6th August 1750. It began from the Cross Keys in Smithford Street and took two days initially, reduced to 14 1/2 hours by the end of the century. In 1795 a victualler tenanted the former Cross Keys, later the FLEUR DE LIS, Smithford Street. | |||
LICENSEES:1729 William Perkins | |||
 Street plan of 1851 | |||
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