Often recorded as North St Margaret’s Inn, as it stood on the North side of the church.
St Margaret’s Inn was situated opposite St Margaret’s Coffee House above no. 181, the furthest away of the two properties. Next door, no 2 exactly opposite the coffee house was the Plough, also recorded as 2 Lower Church Gate as it was on the corner of both streets.
The 1860s saw a couple of assault cases taken place in the St Margaret’s Inn. There was an odd case in 1866, where George Youston was charged with assaulting John Bullivant and Bullivant charged with assaulting Youston. It all kicked off when someone threw some cayenne pepper on the fire resulting in accusations of who did it. The pair fought for a full two to three minutes after which others joined in. The upshot was one had two teeth knocked out, the other was slumped against the wall with a black and bleeding eye. Who started it was unclear, so the court fined both 7/6 or ten days in prison.
In 1867, Fred Wragg was charged with assaulting Charles Crane in the St Margaret’s Inn. He was fined £2 or 1 month in prison.
The St Margaret’s Inn only lasted until circa 1870, when it was purchased by James Ragg, a butcher. He sold off at auction all the fixtures and fittings, including the brewing plant, beer engine, two horses, phaeton (a four wheel carriage), other carts, harnesses and saddles.
Ragg’s butchers were there for many years, run in 1920 by Wilson V Ragg. Barry Lount adds: Incidentally, I worked for Oadby butcher, Wilson B (Bird) Ragg, as a butcher’s boy delivering meat on the old fashioned butcher’s bike in 1956.
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