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Leicester's Lost Pubs, By Barry Lount and Chris Jinks
The Brewers Arms, Belgrave Gate
The Brewers Arms was located in the building now occupied by The
Phone Shop on the north west side of Belgrave Gate no’s 128 & 130. A
Georgian building, but little is known of its earlier history, as
not until the 1840’s was it recorded in directories, when Thomas
Bailey was landlord and the establishment known as a beer house and
eating house. The pub stayed in the same hands for over 25 years
before the splendidly named John David Dalrymple took over in 1875.
The owners of the property were butchers (John Stirtevant), a
profession that dominates the Brewers' history. 1879 saw the Brewers
put up for sale at an auction at the Bulls Head in the Market
Place; the ad in the Leicester Chronicle ran:
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The name seems to
be self evident, although the property was purchased by one Charles
Mortimer, a wholesale butcher (again) and beer house keeper (of The
Dun Cow) in nearby Upper Charles Street. Local brewers Everard Son
& Weldon eventually purchased the Brewers, temporarily ending its
butchering ties. |
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This charming
period photo shows The Brewers Arms flanked by Irelands
Haberdashery (also tin, iron and zinc merchant), on one side and a
tea merchants on the other. The round number sign on Irelands
haberdashers was still visible 100 years later, in the 1990’s. The
last landlord of the Brewers was John Henry Smith who ran the pub
from 1902 to its close in 1906, when Everards transferred the
license to a new off-licence on Henton Rd. A fruiterer took on the
premises for a few years before Arthur Shield restored the building
to a butchers again; he remained here throughout the two world
wars.
The building became a café in the 1950’s. However, by 1967,
Parkers Butchers purchased the café to expand their business, so
here we are again back to its butchering links.
A new Brewers Arms was to be launched in nearby Parliament St, in
part of the hotel complex in the 1970’s, but this venture, one of
the first in Leicester to embrace the real ale cause, sadly was not
to last.
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This page last updated: May 28, 2008
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