Next to the Shakespeares Head, the Holly Tree little is known, although a Holly Bush is listed in the 1727 orders.
In December 1834, Charles Goodfellow of the Elephant & Castle, was charged with out of hours drinking on information of Moses Pegg. This was disputed by Goodfellow as a pack of lies and the bench decided to halt the case due to the conflicting evidence.
At the same court, Moses Pegg also informed on a miller who was driving a horse and cart without reins, and a hawker informed upon as he couldn’t produce his licence. Moses Pegg made a living out of informing as he would get a cut of the fine.
In April 1837, Thomas Hack, landlord of the Elephant & Castle died aged 39.
In November 1837, it was announced that Mr W. Webster of the Elephant & Castle, Leicester had married Charlotte, second daughter of Mr William Simmons, of the Dun Cow, Knighton.
In March 1839, Robert Hartless stole 30lbs of lambs’ wool waste from a nearby warehouse. He was followed to the Elephant & Castle, and when questioned he claimed he had picked it up to meet a man in the pub. He was apprehended at the Elephant & Castle until the police arrived.
In Court Hartless was found guilty. Hartless fell to the floor extremely agitated and exhausted when the sentence was read out: transported for life.
Records become a little murky from now on, as it was reported that the Elephant & Castle then closed, became two houses and then was demolished in 1843 to be replaced by a smithy. That falls in with the timing of Thomas Broughton’s time at the Shakespeare’s Head, with the recent building of the Shakespeare Brewery at 17 Southgate, with a smithy at rear.
The Pub History Project Leicester has a podcast. Please subscribe and have a listen with a pint of your favourite ale.