The Kecks Arms named after the wealthy and influential Powys Keck family, one of whom served as a local M.P. Another Kecks Arms was located in the main street in Evington, where the Powys Kecks owned most of their land.
This stood on the corner of Archdeacon Lane and Caroline St, from c.1827, Richard Watson being the licensee.
1840 Charles Croft was at the helm, during which time the Kecks Arms was auctioned off at the Blue Lion (March 1843).
By 1848 George Bishop was landlord. 1855 J Baldwin victular,
1862 a fight broke out in the Kecks Arms between Robert Chenler and a man named Shipman where they both rolled on the floor, Chenler got up and had another drink before going home where he was taken ill, complaining Shipman had murdered him, he died about 12 hours later. Shipman was cautioned accused of murder but the jury returned a verdict of ‘Chenler died of a rupture whether from violence or natural causes there is no sufficient evidence,
1864 John Draycott. 1865 to Joseph Bacon transferred the licence to Thomas Liggings Foxon who presided over a busy house employing John Ward as waiter, Ward was fined 21/- or 14 days for blacking the eye off a customer Joseph Bird over a row of Ward keeping Birds change.
1870 Kecks Arms for sale by auction
Richard Rawlings bought the the building c1873 succeeded in 1877 when Richard died by wife Mary Rawlings, also described as brewing here. For opening out of hours on Good Friday 1886, Maria Rawlings was fined 10/- or 7 days.
1888 William Maybank
1889 Michael Connolly, that year his daughter Margaret May 3 years old was fatally injured when outside the Kecks Arms she stepped off the causeway in front of a greengrocers cart and was knocked down, run over by the horse, death ensued that evening.
1899 William Dilly Sharp. By now LBM were the owners.
1913-16 Percy Baker (pictured above outside the pub).
1916-19 Susan Baker, with Percy returning as landlord in 1919, this perhaps suggests that Percy was serving in World War One.
Plans to demolish The Kecks Arms were put forward due to the coming of the new by-pass in Feb 1931, the licence was to be transferred to the new Shoulder of Mutton at Braunstone, but the plans were defeated by one vote at planning when temperance advocates were in attendance at the meeting. So the Kecks Arms survived temporally whilst the argument continued.
Hi. Thanks for all this info, it’s been a great help. I have been researching my family tree, and I have discovered that William Dilley Sharp was married to my great-grandfather’s cousin, Ada. They were running the Kecks Arms together in the 1901 and 1911 censuses. Their daughter Susan was helping out in the business in 1911. In 1913 she married Percy Archibald Baker, who took over the pub in the same year. It makes me wonder if the other person in the photo is Percy’s father-in-law William Dilley Sharp. William’s son, also William Sharp (Susan’s brother) was in the trade as well. In 1916 he was running the Durham Ox in Belgrave Gate, the year he enlisted in the army. When he returned, he took over the Red Cow, also in Belgrave Gate. In the 1921 census he was a licenced victualler in Canal Street, Wigston (I don’t know the pub’s name) and he was still a licensed victualler in 1938 (described as such in his father’s will, don’t know where). William Dilley Sharp had another daughter named Eva, who married Charles Abell in 1906. In the 1921 census Charles and Eva were running the Heanor Boat in Raynes Street.