BULLS HEAD, Bath St./Belgrave

Its origins unclear the Leicester Chronicle of the time reported on its history of once being an old manor house at some period it had become a coaching inn, The sign of the Bulls head possibly from the Hastings family who were resident in Belgrave in the reign of Elizabeth 1st, the Bulls Head being their crest. The building was removed and replaced by a school built in the Gothic style, for the education of the poor children of Belgrave. A new Bulls Head to be built across the road.

1817 auction held at the house of Mrs An Wood, Bulls Head. 1837 Ann Wood died she had been licensee for over 40 years. 1842 Thomas Bates Dudley was fined for allowing drunkenness in the Bulls Head. from the evidence it seemed several men who had been at a tea meeting, having tasted much tea, they found their stomachs greatly ‘affected’ so on their way home decided to imbibe at he Bulls Head, They had one quart, then another, then another to ‘settle their stomachs’ until licensee Dudley refused to serve them any more, great noise and shouting emerged from the pub and a local constable was called where he found the men in a ‘beastly state of intoxication’ Landlord Dudley was fined &2.

George Ingram licensee in 1849 he was fined &1 for having his house open after hours. 1852 William Curtis transferred his licence to James Bishop.

Many tales are told of George Davenport Leicesters notorious Highwayman, well-known at the Bulls Head He was eventually hung at nearby Red Hill c1797

Drawing by Fuzz Pendell from the book George Davenport Leicesters Notorious Highwayman by Barry Lount.

After the hanging George was taken down by his brother Thomas and taking back to his home in Wigston for burial.

But an alternative suggestion is made by Belgrave historian May Eagle, on the aftermath of the hanging, she infers that after George’s hanging, when all the people had left a priest from the Leper Hospital in Belgrave Rd came to see the body, where he found George still alive and hanging on to life, the priest took him back to the ‘Spittlhouse-leper hospital, took car of him until he recovered then smuggled him abroad. -an unlikely story but one that tipifys the stories surroung the famous highwayman.

Bulls Head c.1937, a rebuild across the road. (ES).

In the 1790s George Davenport Leicestershire’s notorious highwayman narrowly escaped capture by shunning up a 10ft wall after drinking in the Bulls Head. Eric Swift tells us in his Leicester Inns publication that the Bulls Head stood on the site of the Jubilee School and the present building is a ‘rebuild’

The Bulls Head was auctioned off in 1841 and again in 1860. The pub brewed its own ale until owned by Robinsons’ Brewery.  The pub was a beer house only until 1953 when it gained a full license.

Picture taken 1994, note the Stacey builder’s advertisement on nearby
wall temporally exposed.

Early licensees:
1890 Thomas Billington
1907 Thomas’s son Oliver Billington, that year Oliver was assaulted by one Joseph Freeman in the Bulls Head, Freeman was found guilty and sentenced to 21 days hard labour.
1918 Agnes Billington

In 1920 Oliver Billington listed a licensee again. He died c1924 in a motor cycle accident, on the road to Melton. He was riding a motor cycle and side car with passengers-the landlady and child of the Blue Lion Thrussington- when hitting the rear of a van his vehicle turned over trapping Oliver Billington, he was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, Agnes took over the again.

1927 Thomas Pratt
1929 M Woodfield.

Bulls Head c2018 closed (photo from Jeremy Corbett collection) demolished, converted to residential housing c2019