Monument record 0988500000 - Big Hand Mo's, corner of Oxford Road and Friarage Road

The original Hen and Chickens pub was demolished in 1965 and was replaced by the current structure which was built in part of the Prebendal Gardens and on the site of Ludds Alley opening in May 1966. It re-opened as a 'carvery' but descended over the years into a bikers pub and then one used by the young, its main feature being a number of pool tables. It was eventually re-modelled as a theme pub by Scottish and Newcastle and re-launched as Big Hand Mo's (B1).
The site had undergone considerable grading during redevelopment in the 1960s. Geotechnical survey (2 boreholes and 6 test pits) carried out in October 2008 by Tweedie Evans Consulting Ltd recorded up to 0.6m of modern hardstanding overlying natural clays. Borehole 1 recorded brick fragments to a depth of 1.7m, interpreted as backfilling of a possible cellar or basement associated with earlier buildings on the site (B2).
Watching brief identified no archaeological features, but identified that parts of the site had previously been truncated (B3).