Loughborough pubs

The Windmill Inn on Sparrow Hill 

I recently caught sight of an article in the “LeicesterMercury” about pub names in Leicestershire towns. You’d have thought, as the county’s biggest town after Leicester, some Loughborough pubs would have made it into the article, wouldn’t you? But no, lots of others places mentioned, but not Loughborough. I suppose it was because the pub names they were referring to no longer exist in any Loughborough pubs.

The Old English Gentleman on Ashby Road

Ok, so fair dues, the article does say it’s going to look into the more interesting pubs names in the county, but I’m sure Loughborough must have had some of these! The newspaper goes into the possible meaning of the pub names, and their choice includes the following:

• The Monkey Walk
• The Globe (but not the Lamplighters)
• The Cradock Arms
• The Ram Jam Inn
• The Gate Hangs Well
• The Anne of Cleves
• The Tin Hat
• The Two Steeples
• O’Neill’s
• The Bull’s Head

The Black Lion, the Hobgoblin, now the Tap and Clapp

Then, the article moves on to a selection of pub names found, not just within the county, but across the country. Here they include:

• The Red Lion
• The Nag’s Head
• The Black Horse
• The Rose and Crown
• The Golden Fleece
• The Barley Mow

So, let’s have a quick look at those listed above and see if Loughborough has, or had any pubs with these names:

The Bull’s Head

The Bull’s Head [and Posting House] was a coaching inn on High Street (and there was one in Shelthorpe too), approximately where vice Versa, which is now a gym, is. The original signpost was one of those wonderful ones that stretched right across from one side of the road to the other. I haven’t got a photo of this, but here’s a link to one, and here’s a picture of something similar in St Ives, Huntingdonshire, taken in 2014.  

The Oliver Cromwell pub in St Ives, Hunts.

The Red Lion (the sign of John O’Gaunt)

Loughborough’s Red Lion pub was on Biggin Street. I’m not quite sure where exactly, but I think it was in the area now occupied by Timpsons, British Heart Foundation etc.. 

The Nag’s Head (an indication that the landlord kept horses, or a jibe at women?)

A pub with this name was on the site which is now occupied by Wilkinsons. Given that when the Co-op building was being built a hoard of clay pipes was found, maybe the Nag’s Head was the original smokers’ pub!

The Black Horse (was there a racing stables nearby, or is this an omen of death of a member of the royal family?)

There was a Black Horse (and commercial [inn]) in the 1800s on High Street, and also one on Woodgate. Between 1828 and 1841 the landladies were of the Mansfield family.

  

The Rose and Crown (the joining together of two of England’s most powerful emblems)

This pub has had a couple of incarnations. The original building, on Baxter Gate was replaced in the 1930s when Baxter Gate was widened, and has been the Custard Bar (and shamefully, I can’t remember if it still is called this).

The Golden Fleece (nothing to do with Jason!)

Loughborough town centre also used to have a pub called the Golden Fleece. There have actually been about three different buildings with this name, all in the general area of Cattle Market / Granby Street, the latest now being a restaurant and bar (possibly called Chapter One?). Since Loughborough was at one time part of the [wool] Staple of Calais, then I would agree that this pub name represents our involvement in the wool industry, way back.

The Barley Mow

Well, we certainly used to have a Barley Mow, on Market Street, in the double-fronted shop, one half of which is now a café. I wonder if this was called the Barley Mow because in the distant past this area was home to Loughborough’s malting industry? In order to use barley or other cereal grains in the brewing industry or for distilling, the grains first have to be malted  (basically, dried, re-hydrated and then sprouted). This would have happened in a building called a maltings, or a malthouse, or a malting floor. The area where Iceland is now, before it was occupied by Heathcoat’s laceworks, was, I believe, the site of the old malthouse, and was ideally sited because it is here that there are many little tributaries feeding into the Woodbrook which runs very close to Iceland, under the path. A friend tells me that although the area is now called Market Street, his mother still referred to it as either Mill Lane, or Malt Mill Lane. On a related note, there used to be a pub called The Maltings, on Knightthorpe Road, which is now a Co-op, that was a relatively recent build, and replaced an old barn: was this barn a malthouse?

Some of the more interesting pub names in Loughborough include:

Bishop Blaize – Bishop Blaize was the patron saint of the trade guild of woolcombers. The emblem usually associated with this pub name is a pair of candles, or a pair of combs. The pub was at the bottom of Woodgate.

Blue Boar – this pub was in Swan Street, and demolished when The Rushes was built. The sign of the blue boar is associated with the Tudors.

Dolphin – really? Initially I thought this might have been named ironically, rather like the Sea Around Us (on Ashby Road, now the Harvester), but I’ve now decided this uses a crest from a trade coat of arms – the dolphin being from that of fishmongers. The pub was on Church Gate: whether or not there was a fishmonger nearby, I’m not sure.

Dove and Rainbow (later Bucks Horn) – according to Bill Wells*, the Dove and Rainbow was on Pinfold Street / Buckhorn Square. The name could be a reference to Noah and the floods, or it could be that it’s connected with the dyeing industry, as the rainbow was the heraldic emblem of the Dyers’ Company and at one time there were many dyeworks in the town.

The study of pub names is a huge area of research, and there are often several suggested meanings for many names; however, some meanings are quite obvious. Some examples from Loughborough include those pubs with names related in some way to royalty or nobility. Here’s a few examples: 

Royal George on The Coneries / Nottingham Road, which was probably named after George, who was Prince of Wales, and Prince Regent in 1810 when the pub was first opened, and who became King George IV after the death of his father in 1820.

Similarly, the George the Fourth on Regent Street.

The Prince of Wales in Church Gate was opened prior to 1863: perhaps this was named in honour of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who later became Edward VII, on account of his being Prince of Wales from 1841 until 1901?

And perhaps the Clarence Inn (later the Jack O’Lantern) was named after the First Earl of Clarence, who was Prince Leopold, Queen Victoria’s fourth son.

Maybe the Duke of York (Nottingham Road, demolished and replaced by flats) was so named after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, the second son of George III?

The Marquis of Granby (which was on the corner of Wood Gate and Packe Horse Lane) was named after John Manners, the son of the Duke of Rutland.

Other pubs are named after the trade with which they were mostly associated, so, for example:

The Blacksmith’s Arms on Bedford Square, was so named because at one time the landlord was also a blacksmith.

The Cooper’s Arms on Barrow Street would have been frequented by barrel makers, and prior to this was named the Builder’s Arms.

The Three Tuns (now the Three Nuns) on Church Gate was a reference to the crest of the company of brewers.

The Wheatsheaf, now the Orange Tree

The Wheatsheaf (Bedford Square, now the Orange Tree) was a crest from the trade coat of arms of bakers.

The Green Man (Swan Street and under Carillon Court) was also an image used in heraldry, as the Company of Distillers used a pair of green men  (as in wild, or savage men)  as supporters in their coat of arms.

We’ve already mentioned Bishop Blaize and the Golden Fleece, the Dolphin and the Dove and Rainbow.

The Stag & Pheasant on Nottingham Road

Many pub signs are also named after animals, for example, the White Hart, the Unicorn, the Fox and Hounds, the Black/White Swan, the Black/White/Red Lion, the Black Horse, the Red Cow, Stag and Pheasant, Greyhound, Hare and Hounds/Pheasant, Peacock, etc.. Some of these origins are quite obvious, but others may be misleading, for example, I would think that the Peacock was named after the Dukes of Rutland, the Manners family, whose heraldic emblem is the peacock. Others, for example, the White Hart, have royal connections, this particular badge being that of Richard II.

Well, I could go on about this subject ad nauseam, so I shall stop here, but leave you with a thought: the Blacksmith’s Arms used to be called the Black Boy. This is thought to have been a reference to Charles II, but I have a slightly different thought about this, which I will share with you sometime! 

*Wells, Bill (2014). Billy's book of Loughborough boozers.    

Old Bleach Yard

Today I was lucky enough to be able to attend the opening up of the Old Bleach Yard!

If you know Loughborough, you are probably familiar with Angel Yard in Market Place, as being the original home of Wills and Hepworth, the publishers of Ladybird books, or maybe The George Yard, at one time home to James' Vaults. Yards like this, as well as courts, were very common in the Loughborough of old, but have changed over the years as new developments have replaced them.

The Old Bleach Yard is the path leading down by the side of the vacuum cleaner shop and The Moon and Bell (or Atherstone House) in Ward's End. For many years I used to buy my birthday cards in the pine shop that used to be on the left towards the bottom, but of late I have had little reason to go down there. The yard ends with a wall, and some concrete garages, with the old Clarke's dyeworks to the right. 

Well, I say this, but now the area has been transformed, the garages and wall knocked down and the pathway opened up into the Granby Street car park, with the aim of making it easier for folk who've parked there to come directly to the wonderful Ward's End, Devonshire Square, Bedford Square shopping area.

There is so much history associated with this area, I don't know what to highlight!! Obviously, Clarkes Dyeworks has played a very important part here, and I blogged quite some time ago about the Clarke family, and about some of the places, like The Gables, Park Street and Park Road where members of the family lived. The Woodbrook which runs through Queen's Park and across Granby Street was also important to the dyeing and bleaching industry. As you can probably tell from the name of this yard, there was also a bleach works, that went hand-in-hand with the dyeworks.

The cattle market used to take place near the opening of the Old Bleach Yard onto Ward's End, before it moved into what is now the Granby Street car park, evidence of which is still there in the form of the ring of stones near the entrance. Also, somewhere in the vicinity was the Drill Hall where the TAs used to meet (don't quote me on that: it might not have been the TA!!)

Just up the road from the entrance to the yard is The Orange Tree pub, previously the Wheatsheaf, and behind this a yard where Henry Moore (the spa ornament maker, not the sculptor!!) lived and worked on fashioning alabaster ornaments (I blogged about this a while ago, too!)

Just down the road from the yard is Devonshire Square, an area that has recently been rejuvenated with a colourful mural depicting local scenes, and created by Silent Hobo (subject of an earlier blogpost).

Whilst I was in town, I looked around Ward's End and took note of the many new shops that have opened in the area, like the Deli at 58, a new coffee shop, and a relatively new florists. Standing cheek by jowl with old-established businesses like George Hill's and Kent Stevenson, I'm sure this new link between the car park and Ward's End will encourage more shoppers to visit the area.

To end, here's some photos of today's event.

  

   

Magistrate's Court, Police Station and the Wheatsheaf Pub

Magistrates, police and spar ornaments

Yesterday morning I had an early start for a Saturday as I had to be at Heathrow Airport to pick up number one son, whose flight from Central America arrived at 9.40. Worried that the Bank Holiday traffic queues would be enormous, and that the world and his wife would be travelling to Heathrow, and the airport would be really busy, I set off at 7am, with some trepidation. Luckily, I arrived at about the same time as the flight and managed to find a space in the short stay car park reasonably easily. The airport was fairly quiet and I had no trouble finding said son in amongst the other disembarkees.

Number one son playing bowls

As a result of this speedy operation, we were on our way home by about 11am and finally arrived about 1.15. He had some lunch and then I whisked him off to the bowls club to take part in a doubles match, which left me with a free afternoon, having not scheduled anything because I hadn’t been sure what time I’d actually get home.

What's left of the police station

Hubby wanted to nip into town, and I also needed a few things, so we walked in together. Usually, we walk along Albert Street, but today we went via Southfields Park, where we passed the new police station. I’d forgotten they were demolishing the old one, but we had a good view of the pile of rubble that is now the former police station.

Which set me thinking …

The Magistrate's Court on Woodgate

Police cell on the right

Now, I know I should know the answer to this, and I have read it somewhere, but, I think the police station which is currently being demolished was built in the late 60s / early 70s. This new building replaced the former police station, which was situated within the Magistrate’s Court on Woodgate. If you walk down Town Hall Passage from Woodgate, you can see 3 windows at ground level on your right, but there is also a window at waist height, which is the old police cell, where prisoners were kept.

The police department left this building to move into dedicated premises, but the Magistrate’s Court continued in this capacity until about 2007 when the new Magistrate’s Court was built on a plot facing the NHS Walk-In Centre, being at right angles to Sparrow Hill. I must admit, the new Magistrate’s Court looks nice, and even won the Building of the Year Award in the Leicestershire and Rutland Society of Architects at the annual award ceremony. Strangely, when, rather belatedly, I settled down to read this week’s local paper, there was a letter in there about the court being underused, and a comment about it now being on the inner relief road, and therefore being seen as the architects intended. Ok, it’s great if the need to use the building is less than expected, but a shame that such a new building has already lost its sense of purpose.

The other thing that happened, because we chose to walk into town a different way, was that I met an old friend in a shop I wouldn’t normally go into because it’s not on my route into town, and how fortuitous that turned out to be! She had recently been clearing out her parents’ home and had come across loads of old photos of Loughborough: I love old photos, especially ones showing people and buildings together, which help to piece together the history of the town.

The Orange Tree (formerly The Wheatsheaf)

My friend also told me about the shop next to the Orange Tree (formerly the Wheatsheaf pub): Apparently, there were spirits in there, which explained why no-one would stand near the till, and also an elderly lady in the back room who didn’t like the constant comings and goings of people. She also told me that long ago that if you went down the passage at the side of the shop and the pub there were houses there, and that there had been a big fire, which burnt them down. This was of great interest to me as this is where Henry Moore was a spar ornament maker. I’d already worked out that the Wheatsheaf Yard contained lots of little houses around a central courtyard, but it was so great to have it confirmed!

The Town Hall

After this I visited the Town Hall to see the new exhibition of local art and paintings. This was fantastic and there was some wonderful stuff on display, which is well worth a look if you have time. 

The Hospital mural

Finally, I walked past the site of the former hospital on Baxtergate and noticed that planning notices had been pinned to the mural: Applications have been submitted by Pizza Express, Bella Italia and Centro, so it looks as though we will be getting another cinema, along with at least two new restaurants.  

That’s all for this week, folks! See ya next week!