Leicester's Lost Pubs, By Barry Lount and Chris Jinks

Mitre & Keys, Applegate

This-pub dates back to around 1560 and legend has it that there was a tunnel underneath the pub which ran from Saint Nicholas Church to the Castle.

During the reign of George III, the pub was kept by "Old Carter" and his wife and there is an interesting story about "Old Carter" which happened in around 1770. The story goes that a famous Leicester tippler by the name of Lal Lee - who often played tricks on landlords and had built up a reputation as being a bit of a wag and a jester - visited the pub where "Old Carter" also bred pigs. Lal persuaded "Old Carter" that it was a sensible practice to cut off the tails of the pigs to avoid them going mad.

"Old Carter" decided to play along with the idea and docked all the pigs' tails amidst a great deal of yelling and squeaking. William Gardiner and here claims in his diaries that the ritual of docking pigs' tails came about purely as a result of this little episode.

When William Gregory purchased the pub in 1849, the property included a yard, garden, stables and outbuildings and the deeds state that Applegate Street was also known at that time as Coventry Street and had at one time been known as Silver Street. By the time that William Whatton had purchased the pub in 1863, the title also included a shop on the north side which had been erected by William Gregory. In 1879, a blacksmith's shop at the rear was partially gutted by fire although subsequent maps and photographs show that the smithy was operating into the 20th century.

Although the pub had for a long time been dispensing beers from Everard Son & Welldon, the freehold of the pub was not acquired until 1931. The title at this stage included the pub, the aforementioned shop, a two-storey workshop, slaughter house and other buildings together with two small dwellings known as Numbers 4 and 5, Mitre & Keys Yard. By this time, the Council had ordered that all the small dwellings in the yard (including those now owned by Everards) be demolished.

The pub continued to thrive until it became obvious that it featured as part of the Council's plan for an inner ring road whereby the oldest parts of Leicester would be razed to the ground. As early as 1956, an Agreement was signed for a sale of the pub to the Council though the sale was not completed until 22 April 1959. The sale to the Council of the shop, yard and other buildings was completed on 31 August 1960 exactly 400 years after the pub was first recorded.

© Barry Lount and Chris Jinks 2001

This page last updated: May 28, 2008

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