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.
Listed mostly as The Dolphin pre c1830s, after that date The Crown & Dolphin.
1759 ad in LJ ” Leicester & Hinkley Carrier removed from the Angel as Mr Mason is leaving the business comes to Mr Goodwins The Dolphin in Leicester every Wednesday and returns from Hinkley the same day”
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. The Dolphin is listed in the Recognizance orders 1716 which would tie in with brickwork date.
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.
Victulars of the Dolphin from 1814 James Slack (died ), Slacks estate was sill being sorted a decade later. c1815 Thomas Martin (also described as a printer) 1818 Edward Bass. 1831 Issac Gray, Now Crown & Dolphin 1835 John Neal c1836 Thomas Wilkinson (died 1839 aged only 28) 1840 Ann Wilkinson. 1841 James Groocock. 1849 Thomas Gifford. ( The LJ reports that the licence was transferred from E Bass to to T Gifford in 1849) Possible that Edward Bass was the owner, so the licence would revert to him when relinquished by victular.
1855 Christoper Scott, 1857 Edward Cuff.-Elizabeth Cuff 1864. John Moore. c1866 John Doleman , 1869 Emma Palmer. 1874 Joseph Grimes, 1876 James Grimes, 1880 John Green. Elizabeth Reddell 1882. Thomas Hick 1883. 1887 Wm Loyeley. 1892. Elizabeth Blower. 1893 Alfred Blake, 1897 Henry Morris, Clara Morris (Henrys widow) 1900. 1901 James Allsop (deceased) 1917 Mary Allsop. 1924 Alfred Blake. John Brown is listed as the owner pre c1870 with Everards c1890.
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. Alfred Blake still listed as licensee, 1934 James Cox, 1940 Reginald Smith, 1944 Frank Rigden, 1951 George Wesselby, 1954 Henry Morris.
Victory from Holy Bones
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.
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