Stood on the corner of Ruding Street and Charlotte Street. Very little is known of the Sir John Barleycorn, – the name derives from a jocular name for beer, ale or liquor – as in ‘he spent the night with Sir John Barleycorn and made merry.’
Sir John Barleycorn was recorded in LC in July 1853, when a man was arrested in the beerhouse after a theft of money.
Laban Leeder, a blacksmith was victualler of the Sir John Barleycorn from late 1860s, until the licence was transferred on his death (aged fifty-eight), to his son, Lewis Leeder in December 1879. Lewis kept the beerhouse until 1896, when the licence wasn’t renewed. Together with the brewhouse, it was demolished circa 1897 to make way for a new railway.
In 1893, the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway Co. had received Royal Assent to build a railway from Nottingham to London, via Leicester. The next few years saw much destruction in Leicester’s old quarter, affecting Charlotte, Blackfriars, Ruding and Alexander Streets. The company eventually became known as The Great Central Railway.
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