Classic  Leicester Pubs

The Hat & Beaver, Highcross Street, Leicester

Should be entitled Death of a Classic Pub.

Once again Leicester seems to have lost another gem. Hot on the heels of the delicensing of the Durham Ox in Bowling Green Street and the demolition of the Spread Eagle, Charles Street, comes the closure of one of Leicester’s gems, a real unspoilt local, The Hat & Beaver, this now faces an uncertain future. If today’s trend continues we will not see it reopen, certainly not as we knew it.

A real shame as, if the powers that be could have held their nerve this was an opportunity to have a local in the heart of the Shires redevelopment. It now leaves only the Richard III as a beacon of a Victorian back Street boozer in this area.

The Hat & Beaver, a Georgian Inn, was one of Leicester’s oldest to survive.

The sign of the Beaver was not an animal, but the stand used for Hat making. The Licensee also traded making hats hence the name.

Until recently the ‘Hat’ was also one of the few to serve mild, and good it was too. A regular in the Good Beer Guide, it seemed certain to obtain classic interior status, which makes it all the more upsetting that it has closed.

Allied with the closure of the Hat & Beaver the pubs owners Hardy & Hansons Brewery have also fallen to a predator, Greene King. It is another blow to Leicester’s pub culture.

B Lount & K Hobson.

This page last updated: May 28, 2008

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