Recorded in 1754 in election expenses (LRO). Alehouses were the main assembly points for most. During election time it was easy for parliamentary candidates or their agents to visit the locals and bribe the voters with free drinks, food and money in return for their votes.
A fascinating document exists of the expenses of two candidates, George Wright and John Wigley in 1754: a total of £3,104 was spent in pursuit of being elected (laws limiting expenses and preventing bribery were some hundred years away).
Even if they didn’t have the vote, many were provided an inducement to ‘show the colours’ by wearing of rosettes in the candidate’s colours.
The Fox and Goose is included in an expenses list that varied from one shilling and one penny spent in the Taylors Arms to £323-13 at the Three Cranes. What seems today as blatant corruption was perfectly normal during the 18th century.
In 1787, the LC recorded that the Fox and Goose beerhouse on Humberstone Gate had a salt warehouse.
In November 1812, a notice announced the auction of the Fox & Goose in Humberstone Gate, the house of Mr Ward.
The whereabouts of the Fox & Goose can be gleaned from auction sale of 1833, featuring a warehouse stable, plus outbuildings and cellar on Fox & Goose Lane, reached by carriage rd to Humberstone Gate. All indicates that the Fox & Goose sale of 1812 and the building of the Fox Hotel by 1815 are on the same or nearby site. Fox Lane still exists today.
One interesting case from 1834, when William Smith stole six silk handkerchiefs from Bosworth & Parr’s shop. He was apprehended in Fox & Goose Yard, found guilty and sentenced to fourteen years transportation.