Yahoo News The lost Cambridge pub with unusual decorations said to have once been a brothel
Cambridge has so many interesting things to see at ground level that you may not have thought to look up – or you may have been too busy dodging slow walkers and avoiding getting hit by a bike to do so. If you do get a chance to look up, you will be rewarded for your efforts by the sight of interesting things just above where you would normally look.
Try it down Magdalene Street and you will see one building with upper levels that jut out. Look even closer, and you will see some curious carvings.
The building is now home to Bowns, a designer clothing shop, but it has lived many lives in its 500-odd year history. One of the most interesting of those is when the building was the Cross Keys Inn.
The Cross Keys Inn was one of five on Magdalene Street alone, of which the Pickerel Inn survives. There were once more than 30 pubs within a five minute walk of each other in that part of the city, which would have made a pub crawl for only the bravest of drinkers.
Stand outside Bowns and look directly upwards. You'll notice that the jutting upper storeys are supported by brackets with carvings of 'grotesques'.
One looks particularly suggestive – it is a succubus with large breasts. This is part of what has led people to speculate on the pub's past, giving it a lurid backstory as a brothel.
Some people say students at the University of Cambridge regularly attended the brothel, according to The Real Cambridge. But others believe the figures were merely decorative, or that they were intended to deter witches from entering the pub.
It seems that the inn went out of business in the 18th century. The upper floors are now used as student accommodation.
