Another pub whose name I can't quite work out! The only information I have about pubs with this name are that it could be one of those occupational names (as there were many shoemakers - and probably bootmakers - in the Loughborough of old), or it's related to Sir John Schorne, a rector who apparently turned the Devil into a boot, but since Sir John was living in Buckinghamshire, it seems unlikely to be relevant to our Boot!
The original Old Boot Inn was opened around the 1770s and could be found in what was then known as Fishpool Head. Like so many other pubs, the building was demolished in about 1900 and a new pub of the same name built on the same plot, only now the street is called Cattle Market.
Some of the stories I've heard told of The Old Boot are quite fascinating! When The Essoldo (now the Odeon on Cattle Market) held its dances, it didn't have a license, so people would nip off to The Old Boot for a quick drink before returning to the dance floor. But more exciting than that was the idea that there were hoof marks going up the stairs of the pub as Loughborough's war horse, Songster, after he returned safely from the First World War, would climb the stairs with his mount on his back, parade round the upper rooms and then carefully descend again!
Unfortunately, I have no pictures of The Old Boot to show you, but there are some on the internet. I did go out today to take a picture of Sital House, the former Don Millers/Jessops, the former Abbey National/Santander as this is where the Old Boot used to be, next to town Hall Passage, but it rained rather a lot!
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