KINGS HEAD – WAGGON & HORSES, 69 BELGRAVE

Photo above: A procession passes by the Waggon and Horses c1900.

Old inn mentioned in deeds of 1743, also recognizance orders of the same year, as the Kings Head.  By 1815 it was known as the Waggon and Horses. 

JR lists the licensees as follows: 1815, Robert Jeffery. who was there for quite some time as in 1834 Jeffrey’s charged a customer Wm Wadds of enticing a servant girl at the Waggon and Horses to steal some gin for him, the court unusually liberated Wadds on promise to discontinue his visits to the Waggon & Horses. 1827,still in the Jeffreys family Millicent Jeffery.

1840, Charles Staines. 1855, Ann Staines. 1873, Albert Staines. The Staines family like the Jeffrey’s completing 30 or more years at the pub.

1885, James Lander. 1892, George Almey. 1894, John Jones. 1898, William  Brookes. 1899, Robert Campbell. 1902, John Smith. 1905, Arthur Robinson. 1910, Arthur Freer. 1914, George Pinsent. 

The Waggon and Horses closed in December of 1916, compensation of £1472 paid to LBM, the owners, and £160 to the tenant.

Originally a home brew pub, Leicester Brewing and Malting leased it in1893, before finally buying it outright on 24 June 1897 for £4500.

This area of Leicester was regarded as being pretty lawless.  In the 1820s-30s there were many complaints of robbery, pick pocketing, assaults and general rowdiness that came from the Wagon & Horses.  

One case involved ‘Birstall Jenny’, and another involved a man named Ferguson.   In 1836, the report writes he was a sturdy man of colour from Barbados, and was in the Wagon & Horses with no shoes or shirt, challenging men to fight.  Such a disturbance did he cause that PC no. 6 was called.  Ferguson attacked the PC viciously nearly half killing him, only the intervention of others managed to drag Ferguson to the station.  In court he spoke intelligently, claiming he was a seaman on his way from Liverpool to London.  His articulacy surprised the Mayor, indicating something of a Jekyll & Hyde character.  Nevertheless, as there were so many witnesses he was given one month’s hard labour and costs.