Corner of Brunswick Street and Wheat Street.
In June 1846, Jonathon Wilson took an advertisement in the Leicester Journal, stating he had moved his old tiling business to a new establishment at the Earl of Leicester Brunswick St. This seemed to suggest an adjoining or nearby factory or warehouse.
By 1848, John Baptist Wickes was at the Earl of Leicester. As well as victuallar, his main trade was a machinist. He also patented a stocking frame and warp mechanism, taking out an advertisement forbidding copying or royalties were due.
1854, saw a burglary at Wickess’ Earl of Leicester. William Holmes and Charles Gilbert, both with numerous aliases, were charged and found guilty. Holmes received six years penal servitude, Gilbert four years, together with young Ann Wickes (no relation?) who was charged with receiving stolen goods for which she was given18 months hard labour.
1861, John Baptist Wilkes died aged 54 leaving his wife Sarah who was twenty years younger to take on the licence. Sarah soon remarried a year later to William Cotton, who purchased the Earl of Leicester and adjoining building from the trustees of J. B. Wickes’ estate for £775.
1863, William Cotton put up for lease ‘a three story factory’ in Brunswick Street with the address as Earl of Leicester.
Later in 1867, he advertised the factory again for lease. That year a Mary Smith, who was living at the inn, hung herself with a handkerchief tied to a nail in the wall, the jury found her to have been ‘temporarily insane’
William Cotton died in 1875. and widow Sarah, again took on the licence, until George Ross, who passed on the licence to William Bevins in 1879.
A strange transcript to the 1862 sale of the property occurred in 1898 after the Earl of Leicester had been sold for £3000. Some beneficiaries of J. B. Wickes estate, applied at court that the property had been undervalued and sold to William Cotton too cheaply in 1862. Now thirty five years, later they were appealing against that sale. William Cotton had been dead for twenty three years, plus the trustees were all dead too. The claimants failed in their request, with the judge failing to see any correlation in the prices thirty five years apart due to the higher value in licenses and the proliferation of houses in the area.
Other licensees included: 1886, Frederick Curtis. 1898, James Cramp. 1900, Annie Cramp. 1902, Fred Smith, 1903. John Tow, 1905. William Jones, 1909. Albert Beadsworth, 1918. Frances Beadsworth. (Alberts daughter) 1952, Colin Fitzgerald.
On at least four occasions it seems that the wife or daughter was to take on the licence after the landlord.
Prior to 1898, when Strettons supplied the beer, the Earl of Leicester was a home brew pub. Strettons were acquired by Sam Allsopp, which became Ind Coope and Allsopp. The pub was altered in 1930.
The Earl of Leicester was granted a Music & Singing licence in 1951, but only a wireless could be used on a Sunday.
The pub closed on the 20th of August, 1954 and the licence was transferred to a new pub on the Beaumont Leys Estate.