CROWN & DOLPHIN – VICTORY, HOLY BONES

Photo above: Classic picture of the Crown and Dolphin at no. 1 Holy Bones, actually stood on the junction of Jewry Wall Street, Blue Boar Lane and Holy Bones.

Blue Boar Lane continuation of Jewry Wall Street, Holy Bones bottom of map (204)

An old man named Mason, from Enderby, entered the Crown & Dolphin late one Saturday evening in December 1834, pleading for a room for the night.  He was crying and distressed, so the landlord took pity and offered Mason a room, refusing him a drink of ale due to his inebriated state.  Mason nonetheless somehow managed to procure a pint from someone in the pub, and as the night turned into Sunday morning Mason started to sing a hymn. Mr Neale, the landlord, asked him to be quiet as singing wasn’t allowed on Sunday and people may think he ran a disorderly house. Mason wasn’t having this so continued to sing his hymn and Mr Neale promptly threw him out into the street, where a passing policeman saw the altercation and charged Neale with assault.

At court, Mason admitted he was in a ‘beerified’ state, having been drinking in the Angel and Hat & Beaver before entering the Crown & Dolphin, telling the court to much amusement that it was a shame to spend the Sabbath without a hymn, so he sang a psalm hoping all around would join in. The landlord – ‘a profound sinner’ – disliked this mode of spending Sunday morning and promptly kicked him out. Mason couldn’t remember how much drink he had consumed, but it was always his rule to sing a psalm before bedtime. Landlord Neale counter accused the constable of wrongful arrest.

The court agreed that Neale shouldn’t have been charged but the constable acted within his rights as he saw the situation. As for the old man, Mason, they decided after much laughter that the three men should leave the court to sort out things out between them, as no one was guilty of anything!

Crown & Dolphin from Blue Boar Lane, St Nicolas in background, picture would during James Allsop’s time 1902-1918 . (His name clearly visible on the gable end.)

The ‘established 1874’ painted on the brickwork can’t refer to the building as we know it as much older. In fact a date of ‘1715’, was inserted in the brickwork.

Another Court case involved a lodger at the Crown & Dolphin in 1835, when Edward Wooley, alias Smith, was charged with robbery of goods and was sentenced to seven years transportation.

Elizabeth Reddell, who was landlady during the 1880s, was once fined 10/- for taking a soldiers’ overcoat in pawn, in breach of the 1856 Army Act.  

Circa 1890. The landlady at the time was Elizabeth Blower, more than likely she is one of the ladies in the doorway of the Crown & Dolphin.(photos LRO)
By Leicester born artist Albert Henry Findley
Mary Allsop’s name can be seen above the door so it dates the photo 1918-20 as she was licensee during that period James Allsop was landlord from c1902-18

Victulars of the Crown & Dolphin from 1815 Thomas Martin, 1827 Edward Bass. 1831 Issac Gray, 1840 Ann Wilkinson. 1841 James Groocock. 1850 Thomas Gifford. 1862 Edward Cuff. 1867 John Moore. 1874 Joseph Grimes, 1876 James Grimes, 1882 John Green. 1887 Wm Loyeley. 1892 Eliz Blowers. 1894 Alfred Blake, 1899 Henry Morris, 1902 James Allsop. 1918 Mary Allsop. -1926. (From Diectories JR)

Around this time Everards bought the pub, only to demolish it, circa 1926, with the new modern Victory, named after victory in the World War I, built in its place. 

Everards ad for the Victory

Victory from Holy Bones

The new Victory Hotel, with its many rooms, the latest in pub design.
 
One of the Victory’s two panelled smoke rooms.  It also had bars, coffee lounge and a ball room. (photos Everards)

The Victory in the 1960’s one of the few bars in Leicester that had a ‘gay’ presence.

Tragically this classy inn was only to last around 50 years, as it was deemed in the way of the newly planned Vaughn Way underpass, so was duly demolished during the 1970s.

Road work being prepared.  The building to the left still standing in 2017.(photos Jack Graves collection)

1 Comment

  1. Seems to be a mixture of establishments in the article. One in Holy Bones and the second at the junction of Great Central and All Saints. The establishment at Holy Bones is still there but no longer a pub. The latter, on Great Central is the Everards pub that was demolished

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