Spotlight on the King's Head Part 3

The King's Head Hotel: a pub?

So, in Part 1 we looked at the very recent history of the King's Head Hotel which has more recently been known as the Ramada by Wyndham, and this was prompted by an article on the Leicestershire Live website about the possible future of the hotel.

Last week we looked at the various types of pub-related establishments that have existed over the years, and concluded that the King's Head was, or had been both a coaching inn and a posting house. 

Extract from the Sun (London) 19 August 1830

This week we shall look at the King's Head in relation to pubs and their offering in the nineteenth century.

This is part of the description of the function of a public house:

"The public house was the place to go for discussion and argument, and often, those who were unable to read would go to the pub to listen to the latest news being read aloud from the newspaper. Also, property sales were often held in public houses, as were shows, like the Nottingham annual Auricula and Polyanthus Show, which were often followed by a dinner. Back rooms of pubs often became home to working-class organisations, like friendly societies and later trade union branches."

Sales

While I have found nothing as yet to support the first of those statements in relation to the King's Head, there is, however, plenty of evidence relating to property sales, meetings of various groups, and events related to specific local societies, taking place at the King's Head. 

Property - in the loosest sense of the word - sales often took place at the King's Head. The earliest reference to this I have found is in 1806 when oak timber that had been felled from The Outwoods was being auctioned at the King's Head Inn (1), the house of Mr Fowler. Interestingly, the sale, which began at 2pm, was preceded by a dinner:

From the Derby Mercury of 13 February 1806, pg 2

An early recorded sale of actual property was advertised in the Leicester Journal of 19 April 1811 the property in this case being seven freehold dwelling houses in the yard of the Wheat Sheaf on Wards End. The auction would be held by Mr Boott, at the King's Head Inn, and particulars could be obtained prior to the sale from Mr Fowler at the aforementioned establishment.

The King's Head was also the venue for the sale of other licensed establishments and in April 1874, an old and well established public house, with a brewhouse, extensive stabling, malt offices, yard, outbuildings and saddlers shop, all set in about 800 square yards, known as the Golden Fleece, was offered for auction there. 

Properties sold at the King's Head weren't just in Loughborough: in March 1814 a valuable freehold estate was auctioned at the King's Head Inn, where Mr Fowler was the proprietor. This estate at Burton-on-the-Wolds, approximately 5.5 miles from Loughborough, was extensive, and including a house, barn and other outbuildings, as well as land:

Extract from Leicester Journal 25 February 1814, pg 4

Perhaps one of the most important nearby local estates to be auctioned at the King's Head was Quorndon Hall, in 1832. Quorn Hall was billed as a highly celebrated sporting residence in the heart of the Leicestershire countryside. Sporting, of course, means horse-related, and there was also available as part of the sale, a magnificent range of stabling for about 50 horses. The whole of the estate which comprised about 117 acres, was freehold. The most recent occupant was Lord Southampton.

Extract from the Nottingham Review and General Advertiser for the Midland Counties
23 November 1832, pg 2

In 1824, although the auction of the freehold manors and estate of Dowsby Hall in Lincolnshire was taking place at the Greyhound Inn in Falkingham, particulars relating to the sale were available from the King's Head Inn, in Loughborough.

Auctions of property continued well into the 20th century. In April 1919, auctioneers W. and F. Armstrong auctioned lots of freehold property, including nos. 43 and 45 Hastings Street (a shop and a dwelling house); nos. 56, 41 and 52 Paget Street; nos. 5,6,7 and 8 Conery Terrace and Conery Passage; no. 196 Freehold Street, a shop and dwelling house at the corner of Freehold Street and Queen’s Road; Fairview Cottage on Queen’s Road; no. 45 Queen’s Road; 2 villas and stables also on Queen’s Road; nos. 9 and 10 School Street; nos. 10 and 12 Burleigh Road; nos. 11, 13 and 15 Chapman Street. Note: not all of these were actually purchased on the day.

In addition to properties, numerous effects were also auctioned off, and the King's Head was regularly the place to go to obtain a copy of the sales catalogue. In 1831, all the useful household furniture and other effects, that belonged to the Rev. Charles Allsopp, now deceased, and which included a four-poster bed, bedding, tables, chairs, wardrobes, chests, kitchen utensils, brewing and dairy utensils, carriage and animals, as well as several acres of cultivated land, was auctioned at the vicarage in Shepshed: catalogues could be obtained from the King's Head Inn.

In a similar vein, catalogues for the 5-day auction of the extensive library of books, and other household furniture and effects (days 4 and 5), belonging to the Rev. William Casson, now deceased, were also available from the King's Head, Loughborough, the sale taking place during September 1829. And what self-respecting local historian wouldn't have popped into the King's Head in January 1831 to pick up a catalogue for the sale of the effects of Saville John Hyde, Esq., latterly of Quorn, which included not only a pianoforte and a library of books, but more specifically, a "fine copy of Nichol's History of Leicestershire, in eight volumes, and many other rare and valuable works." 

Catalogues for sales of animals were also available from the King's Head in Loughborough, for example, in 1825 when Mr Brearey was selling by auction an entire stud of valuable hunters, young horses, broodmares, and the celebrated stallion, Ranzleman, as well as riding equipment upon the death of George Redmond Hulbert, Esq., of Aston Lodge in Derby, catalogues were available from a variety of establishments including the Loughborough King's Head.

And, animals were not the only biological thing on sale at the King's Head. In October 1832 Mr Slater was selling his "new genuine winter tares for seed" both from his corn, hop, seed and cheese warehouse in Castle Donnington, and from the King's Head Inn in Loughborough, the latter every market day, from 1pm to 4pm.

Similarly, in 1861 there was a sale of cattle on Thursday 27 June, and on the next day, Friday 28, this was followed by the annual meeting of the Loughborough Association for the Prosecution of Felons at the King's Head. 

Society meetings and dinners

As mentioned above, many societies met, and many special dinners have taken place in the lovely setting of the King's Head Hotel. Here are some examples from across the ages. 

In December 1834, it was announced in the Nottingham review and General Advertiser for the Midland Counties that the Grand Lodge of Freemasons had agreed to the appointing of a new lodge, the Rancliffe Lodge, which would hold its meetings on the second Tuesday of each month, at the house of John and George Fowler, which was the King's Head Hotel, Loughborough. 

In May 1852, the Trustees of the Burton Charity held their meeting at the King's Head Hotel. At this particular meeting, the trustees were presented with a petition from Loughborough inhabitants, requesting a reduction in the proposed tuition fees.

Until about 1901, the Howe and Charnwood Lodge of the Freemasons held their meetings from April to November in the King's Head, but then moved to the Town Hall.

In April 1928, the annual meeting of the Loughborough Boat Club, which was presided over by Mr F.W.P. Simpson, was held at the King's Head Hotel. The society had had a good year, and the regatta had been particularly successful, and a new boathouse had been built at Zouch. 

The Loughborough Building Society was founded in 1867, and 100 years later, in 1967 a celebratory dinner was held at the King's Head Hotel, with honoured guests including the then mayor of Loughborough, Councillor J.E. Hammond. 

In early 1999, the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon at what was at the time known as the Jarvis King's Head Hotel. The event was for the directors of the National Forest with whom the Chamber wished to forge a close working relationship, in support of the programme of transformation of around 200 square miles of land partly in Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire, where already about two million trees had been planted and were now thriving.   

Financial affairs

Meetings and sales related to finances often took place in the King's Head Hotel. Here's an interesting event from 1828:

At the King's Head, the house of Mr Fowler, an auction was held by B. Payne, on Thursday 7th February at 3pm, at which "One Share in the Loughborough or Soar Navigation" was to be sold.

Meetings related to bankruptcy were relatively frequent:

The occasion in 1826 concerned the case of S. Peters, a grocer at Shepshed; in 1831, the case of William Bissil, a bowl manufacturer of Quorndon was heard, and the bankruptcy case relating to T. Crane, a grocer, took place in 1837.

The building itself

In January 1832 the Leicester Journal reported that a new dining room had opened at the King's Head in Loughborough, and more than 100 gentlemen celebrated with a dinner, accompanied by excellent wine, and Mr Barker, who sang 'in the best style'.

 

As we already know from last week's post, the Bull's Head coaching inn was demolished during a period of road widening in the late 1920s-early 1930s, and replaced with the building we see today. This was also the case for the King's Head so the old building was pulled down and the new building, with its Neo-Georgian frontage onto the widened High Street is the building we see today.

In 1953 some alterations to the relatively new King's Head building were made. I have an inkling that these alterations may have been completed by the Loughborough building firm of Corah, but, because archives are currently closed I have not been able to access the plans.

Conclusion

I think we can conclude from the evidence above that the King's Head, a posting house, until the demise of the mail coach, in favour of transporting mail by train (around 1830), became solely an inn, rather than a public house as I might have suggested last time. 

Next week we'll look into the origins of the hotel's name.

(1) The inn 

The inn was often built along the main public highway, or around a market, and served passing trade, as well as the more wealthy inhabitants of a place, like merchants, guild members, aldermen, justices and the richer pilgrims. See more at Spotlight on the King's Head Part 2.

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough 7 March 2021

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2021). Spotlight on the King's Head Part 3. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2021/03/spotlight-on-kings-head-part-3.html [Accessed 7 March 2021]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

You can leave comments below, but do check back as my reply will appear here, below your comment.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne 

Spotlight on the King's Head

The Story of the King’s Head, High Street, Loughborough: 

Part 1, the 21st century

Ramada by Wyndham, 2021

The twenty-first century

2021

In February 2021, the news came in that the Ramada by Wyndham, the hotel on Loughborough High Street, had been sold, and planning permission had been submitted for a change of use. This would involve a conversion from an 88 bedroom hotel to student accommodation.

The hotel was most recently franchised by the Wyndham hotel group, a large chain, with around 907 hotels in the group, stretching across the world. Like most of the rest of the hospitality industry, the hotel has been adversely affected by the pandemic of 2020-21, with few visitors traveling away from home, and therefore little need for overnight accommodation.

Local events, too, had been cancelled: lockdowns made such things impossible, and even illegal, and during periods when lockdown was eased, social distancing guidelines made meetings, and events difficult to administer.

In the report which appeared in the Leicester Mercury on Tuesday 16th February 2021, it was stated that business for the Ramada by Wyndham had declined over the past few years, attributed in part to the university having developed its own hotel, which is used to accommodate visiting academics, and others, thus no longer having need for a town centre hotel.

Further, the arrival in town of budget hotel accommodation, like that offered by the very nearby Travel Inn, together with the increase in the number of Airbnb properties in the vicinity also had a negative impact on the hotel, making it increasingly financially unviable. 

The hotel as it stands is a real piece of Loughborough’s history. Let’s look at the most recent story of the hotel.

2020

As late as 8th March 2020, a group of women of all ages and ethnicities, from across the Loughborough area met in one of the hotel’s larger meeting rooms, under the watchful eye of the Reverend Wendy Dalrymple. The event was a screening of a video recording made in the parish church of the women of Loughborough singing a song especially written for International Women’s Day.

Rehearsal at All Saints with Holy Trinity church

 

Under the baton of choral conductor, Emma Trounson, in her role as Director of Mission through Music of the church of All Saints with Holy Trinity in Loughborough, the song was rehearsed, performed and recorded earlier in the month. As it was due for release to the world via YouTube, on International Women’s Day, the chosen song was ’Twenty-first-Century Woman’ by Joanna Forbes LeStrange, and had been written only a year earlier for the same international day. After a short introduction from the Rector, the assembled party watched the video with a whole range of emotions!!

The rector addressing the crowds

Further addresses

 

Although it was evening, the large room in which the event was hosted was known to be one of the ones that had views out onto the bustling Loughborough High Street. The hotel had kindly allowed the group to bring in their own catering, and the buffet provided by Heaven on a Plate didn’t disappoint! Following a period of mingling, the event closed, with everyone agreeing to do something similar, in 2021.

Cake by Heaven on a Plate

Mingling!

2019

On a very hot day at the end of July 2019, one of the smaller meeting rooms was the venue for a book launch event. The hotel and staff were very accommodating and the hosts were allowed to decorate the room appropriately. Bubbly and cake was served to the 50+ invited guests who wandered in and out during the tw0-hour event, which saw the launch of ‘Secret Loughborough’. Such was the interest from the people of Loughborough and the surrounding area, that it was hoped to launch a follow-up book in August 2020 – ‘A-Z of Loughborough’. Sadly, such plans will now no longer come to fruition: while the publisher has delayed publication until August 2021, the hotel will no longer be available as a venue.

Book signing at the Ramada

Mingling at a book launch in the Ramada

2017

The Ramada by Wyndham seems to have been a popular venue for the holding of book launches, a earlier one, in the summer of 2017 being the launch of ‘Tales from Holt Cottage’, a collection of memories collected by a grandmother and told by a granddaughter, of their and their parent’s time living in Holt Cottage, which lies just besides what is now known as the Forest Green Belt, an area surrounding the Wood Brook that has again, in 2021, won a Green Flag Award.

 

 2015

In December 2015, there was a big splash on the front of the ‘Loughborough Echo’, the local newspaper, announcing that the Ramada had been sold for the sum of £2million. The owners at the time were BV Holdings who operated under the Ramada franchise, and at the time of the sale regular occupancy rates were running at around 35%, compared with rates in the early 2000s, which were around 80%.

2005

BV bought the hotel in July 2005 at a cost of £4million, and allocated a sum of money to “maintain the character and spruce it up a bit” and aimed, amongst other things, to add another dozen bedrooms. It was planned to re-name it from the Ramada Jarvis to the Ramada King’s Head. As a franchise of the Ramada hotel chain, in order to remain a part of it, they also introduced some exacting customer service standards, and expected staff to greet breakfast guests within 60 seconds of them appearing at the restaurant door and lead them to a table; approach them 3 minutes after seated with an offer of drinks; and wish them a ‘nice day’ when they depart the restaurant. At evening meal, staff have just 1 minute to approach diners at their table with the drinks offering. Meanwhile, over in the lounge bar, one simply has to take the drinks order promptly!

2004

In 2004 the building had been added to the Borough Council’s register of Locally Listed Buildings, because of its importance to the town throughout its existence, and particularly to the history of Loughborough in the late 1920s-early 1930s when such was the prosperity of the town that demolition of some of its older buildings was possible, as was the widening of the town centre streets, and the building of new properties more appropriate for the needs of the day. The Ramada, then known as the King’s Head, was one such building that was replaced with a new one, although rather than being built in the avant-garde Art Deco style like many of the town’s other buildings of the 1930s, the King’s Head was built in a neo-Georgian style. 

Throughout the twenty-first century, the hotel has been the chosen venue for numerous events in the town, including hosting a recruitment drive in June 2004 for volunteers to help out at Rainbows, the local children’s hospice. Roles included things like gardening, reception and secretarial work, as well as housekeeping, and since the hospice received very little in the way of funding, and most of its services were made available through money taken in fund-raising activities, it was also looking for people to organise fund-raising events.

In the year 2000 itself, the Jarvis King’s Head hotel was the venue for the signing of a bid for money under the government’s Single Regeneration Budget scheme. The application, submitted by the Loughborough Outreach Partnerships, if successful would be used to improve the health, community safety and the environment for people living in five wards, in underprivileged parts of Loughborough – being the Ashby, Hastings, Lemyngton, Woodthorpe and Storer wards - and a number of Charnwood villages – being Mountsorrel, Sileby, Thurmaston, Anstey and Syston. Almost five years earlier, a consortium of local organisations, led by Charnwood Borough Council, had been successful in their application for £1.3 million under the same scheme, so there was no reason to be other than hopeful this time round.

Pop back soon, when we'll go back a bit in the history of the Ramada Hotel, aka the King's Head.

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough 21 February 2021

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2021). Spotlight on the King's Head. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2021/02/spotlight-on-kings-head.html [Accessed 21 February 2021]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

You can leave comments below, but do check back as my reply will appear here, below your comment.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne