Photo credit Chris Pyrah
1750’s kept by George Croxton, 1758 Samuel Tupman a sergeant in Colonel Boscawens Regiment of Foot stated to have drunk three pints of ale and using ill language struck Croxton of the Fish & Quart.
This Georgian building was in the news in 1759 when the landlord George Croxton was summoned for swearing and striking a customer ‘a violent blow on the head.’ The customer claimed ‘after I had had three mugs of ale I asked the landlord how he was, he took offence and struck me.’
Jan 1815 The Fish & Quart up for sale.
Thomas Cox had been victular for many years, Reuben Stevenson was landlord c1820, in 1829 Reuben was to auction all F & F and brewery equipment by order of the Sheriff. c1830 Charles Goff became licensee, 1832 Charles Palmer, who was to auction F & F two years later. Joseph Birchnall seemed to follow as licensee, 1836 saw a case of assault by John Mee a hawker who the bench described as a ‘victim of strong beer and weak women’ Mee had been in the Fish & Quart with a fellow hawker, where they got drunk on the premises they sallied out to a still worse place of resort than a public house, Beckoned by Ann Burney ‘ a frail fair one’ they entered a house (brothel) in Cannon Yard, where a row was in a few minutes kicked up ending in a scuffle, the outcome was Mee was found guilty of assault on Ann Burney, fined 5/-or 7 days imprisonment in default,(LC)
1849 Joseph Birchnall transferred the licence to Samuel Birchnall. by 1855 Thomas Allen was licensee but Samuel Birchnall continued to own the brewery. Thomas Allen died March 1865, Samuel Birchnall would auction the brewery a couple of months later. Below is the sale which includes a dwelling house adjoining the brewery.
After Thomas Allen died his widow Annie Marie would take the licence, and in 1866 she transferred the licence to Thomas Fox.
Thomas Fox would be owner and licensee for over 50 years, he would also later hold a wine & spirit warehouse in Humberstone Gate, Thomas would pass the licence to Thomas Fox Jnr.
The next licensee would be Frederick Scotney in 1920, he would be in charge when the Bostock Circus would come to the Palace Theatre whose stage doors were in Mansfield St which backed on to the pub, where some of the animals would be house at the Fish & Quart Stables including Moya the Elephant who was partial to a pint of bitter or two, Moya would share the stable with a zebra and donkey. Moya was to be on one occasion exceedingly inconsiderate to the Fish and Quarts property when she damaged the stable ceiling and door. (LM) (below Elephants arriving near the Station and ad for the Circus)
Cameron Rice would be licensee 1927, Thomas Edward Coleman 1929. The 1930s would see a popular Gymnasium at the pub Reggie Meen would train at the Gym together with Italian boxer Salvatore Ruggirello when he was fighting at the Granby Halls
Marstons bought the pub in 1900 from the Fox family, one of only a few that they owned in Leicester. The inn was altered in 1933 and again in 1944.
In the 1950s, the Fish & Quart was one of the first pubs to have a large television screen. The idea was two-fold: one, to provide programmes for those who hadn’t a television at home and two, for those who had and were tempted to stay at home to watch their favourite programme instead of going out.
The Fish and Quart was again a forerunner in pub fashion when it became one of the first eating out pubs under the Berni Inn banner. The main choice was a prawn cocktail starter, steak and chips for main followed by black forest gateaux, together with a few pints of Pedigree – ‘a real treat’.
The Pub was owned for a period by Arden Taverns but in the mid 1980s attracted some bad headlines. These from 1984.
The pub closed c 1985 and was put up for auction, became the After Dark night spot ,followed by Gatsby’s and Brannigan’s after the building was gutted by a fire in December 1990. Which was a sad end to one of Leicesters famous inns.
Brannigan’s
By 2004, it had reappeared as After Dark again, but by 2009 was known as Emperie Night Club.
Epsilon nightclub c2011-2016 eventually became Emperor Shisha Lounge c2019, fell foul of LCC on breaking smoking laws 2023 opened as Doen Hooka and Shisha Lounge
It does seem a fashionable trend since c 2000 to use closed or disused pubs in Leicester as Shisha bars or lounges, mainly popular and ran with and by the Asian community. Some are still licensed but we do not list them as public houses but show how the changes have affected our pub history.
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