This photo was taken when the gable end was shorn up: only the top is now visible from the passageway.
One of the most famous of Leicester’s inns, first recorded circa 1500, with parts still standing after five hundred years.
The Angel’s address has over the years been given as Eastgates, Cheapside, Gallowtree Gate and Market Place. Part of the timbered gable end is still visible from the Angel Gateway leading from Gallowtree Gate to the Market Place.
It was mostly demolished circa 1854, when it was auctioned off due to the bankruptcy of its landlord. Described as the most famous of all Leicester’s hostelries, standing in Cheapside, stretching back to the town wall overlooking Gallowtree Gate.
The Angel was known for its distinguished guest lists over the years, including Mary Queen of Scots, when on the way to her trial and beheading at Fortheringhay Castle in Northampton. She lodged at the inn for a couple of nights from the 23rd of September 1586.
Both King Charles I and Oliver Cromwell reputedly stayed at the Angel. The Leicester Mayor and Aldermen were used to entertaining Royalty including Elizabeth daughter of King James, and Prince Rupert who established his headquarters in Leicester in 1642.
A year after King Charles had lodged at the Angel, the Mayor and Aldermen fêted his conqueror and successor Oliver Cromwell with ‘wine, biscuits, beare and tobacco’ as noted in the corporations accounts.
In 1688, a feast was held at the Angel by the mayor, who also by now owned the inn, to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Wales.
A year later, when William and Mary were crowned, the corporation again celebrated by dining and entertaining at the inn – at the expense of the town. So it continued: celebrations and feasts for any occasions. The Leicester Corporation and Aldermen were always ready and the Angel was the place, changing allegiances was perhaps the most expedient choice and they were going to enjoy the occasion, who and whatever it was for.
Part of the inn was demolished late eighteenth century and another building erected on a portion of the ancient site, occupying the centre of the large courtyard. This remained, together with the hanging sign of an Angel in vivid colours, until 1854 when most of the inn disappeared.
The cellars of the old Angel inn can be found underneath the adjoining building to the old Fountain Inn in the Market Place.
