A very long time ago, 2013, to be precise, Bill Wells and I got together to talk about the pubs of Loughborough, just after his book, ‘Billy’s Book of Loughborough Boozers’ was published, a new edition of his earlier work. We were both familiar with the work of Eric Swift, who wrote a book entitled ‘Inns of Leicestershire’ which was published in Leicester in 1975, which covered many of the pubs in Loughborough.
Swift’s opening words in his chapter on Loughborough inns begins (I’ve split this long paragraph into a couple of shorter ones to make it easier to read on a blog):
“Loughborough owed much of its prosperity at the end of the 18th century to the canal which gave access to the [River] Trent, and later through Leicester to The Grand Junction and so to London. Several canal-side pubs are left. All can be reached from the towing path, many have a post or hitching ring, to which the bargee can attach his horse while having a drink inside.
The Albion, on the towing path as you enter Loughborough from the North, and named after a famous British battleship, is typical. The Boat, not so old, is near the bridge on Meadow Lane, and The Victoria on the bankside where Nottingham Road passes over the canal, is long delicensed: but painted on the wall it says, ‘Family and Commercial Hotel’, though I suspect the narrow boats brought a good many customers.”
If you want to find out more about life on the canal, there is an exhibition on now down at the Local and Famiyl History Centre in the Loughborough public library.
Anyway, The Boat is still there, where Swift says it is, although the houses that were attached to it on the left have been demolished. The Albion closed a few years ago, around 2015, if I remember rightly, and has been converted.
Also, as Swift says, The Victoria is still a standing building, but hasn’t been a pub for many, many years. Bill and I discussed which of the buildings “on the bankside where Nottingham Road passes over the canal” it might possibly have been, and came to the conclusion it was the one that most recently has been a car body repair shop. Although it doesn’t actually sit on the canalside, it does have the appearance from the front of looking like a pub, but we could be wrong!
Anyway, what
is amazing is that this particular property on Nottingham Road has been in need
of a little tlc for quite some time, so imagine my surprise when a couple of
weeks ago I happened to pass by while a glazier was replacing the wooden window
frames with upvc. This has given the building a bit of a facelift, and a new
lease of life! Hopefully, Swift would approve!
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| Heading towards the railway station |
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| Heading towards town |
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| The former Victoria? Pictured in July 2022 |
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| Pictured in January 2024 |
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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough
With apologies for
typos which are all mine!
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