Nothing surprises with pub names, and here is one that surely stands alone, situated in Belgrave Gate with rear entrance to Barkby Lane (Bedford St). Possibly short lived or adopted another name circa 1833-34.
Thomas Wilson was victualler shortly after the 1830 Beer Act that allowed anyone within reason to obtain a licence for £2 guineas. The Beer House was named after local MP. Robert Otway-Cave, a liberal minded independent that represented Tipperary in Ireland as well as Leicester. Family ancestry gave him the Irish and Leicester connections, still evident today with the Cave family at Stanford Hall.
Thomas Wilson was charged with allowing tippling after hours in February 1832. He defended himself fiercely, pointing out the beer that was being consumed had been pulled before closing time. Conflicting evidence was heard regarding drinking up time under the new Act, although Wilson was then charged at the same court with assault and obstructing PC Dent. Strangely, PC Dent decided to offer no evidence. Landlord Wilson offered a sovereign for the Leicester Infirmary to forget the whole thing and this was accepted by the bench.
It seemed, however, Wilsons card was marked.
Whatever gripe Wilson had with the Leicester Corporation came to a head in March 1832 when the Town Clerk – the notorious Thomas Burbage – enacted an ancient custom of the borough instructing Wilson that he wasn’t eligible to hold a licence as he was not a freeman of Leicester. He could gain that by paying a sum of £50. The fact he had been trading for over two years seemed to have been the culmination of a running battle between Wilson, Burbage and the Corporation.
Wilson agued that it was an absurd situation where he was asked to pay £50 in a poor part of Belgrave Gate and a licensee in the more affluent are of say Gallowtree Gate didn’t have to pay as much as a farthing. Wilson didn’t hold back, claiming the Corporation were not authorised in making this demand which was an undue tyrannical act, unjust exertion (a claim often made of the Town Clerk) and could be the ruin of all victuallers. Wilson would gather many to his cause, including publicans and prominent people.
In February 1833, Thomas’ son, William Wilson, died aged only twenty. What bearing this had on Thomas is unknown but a month later in April the premise were put up for sale:
For sale: the Independent Otway Cave Public House situate in Belgrave Gate, extending to Barkby Lane where there is an entrance by a large pair of gates, sufficient grounds to build a malt house, office or several tenements. The bar has a parlour to seat 30, brewhouse and cellar to hold 1,000 galls of ale, adjoining is a large shop and newly built house. Apply Thomas Wilson.
The Corporation though didn’t give up. Later in September they again charged Wilson with carrying on beer selling against the rules of the borough.
Little is known of what became of the premises after that and more research is needed to gain in-depth knowledge of what seems an intriguing case.
Did the pub survive under another name or was this a short lived adventure for Thomas Wilson?
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