Hardys and Hansons, the brewery company that owned the 17th/21st Lancers public house, closed it down and spent £500,000 modifying the building. In late April 1999 it reopened as the Dog and Topper. The intention was to try and attract a new student clientele. Prior to its reopening the brewery placed this advertising copy in several editions of the Nottingham and Long Eaton Topper - a free newspaper that was delivered to properties in the Lenton area. This made better sense than placing it in the Nottingham Evening Post as it was probably felt that students didn't usually purchase a daily paper such as the Post.

As can be seen from the advert the idea was to provide a different focus in the pub on each night of the week. There was a large floor area made available for dancing. Marked out on it was a large Monopoly Board which could be used to play the game when there was no dancing going on. The 'Dog' and the 'Top Hat' were both character pieces that players could select when embarking on a game of Monopoly.

This new venture seeking to attract student may have had some success to begin with, but it can't have flourished for too long as the pub had closed its doors for ever by 2007.

We would be very interested to hear from any ex-students or local residents who were regulars at the Dog and Topper. Even more so we would be interested to hear from anyone who worked behind the bar who can tell us more about this ill-fated venture.

If you have any photographs taken within the pub at this time we would be happy to feature some of them on this webpage.

You can get in touch with us at Lenton Times by clicking here.