Listed Buildings
in Stoke-on-Trent and area
Leopard Inn, Market
Place, Burslem
Area
Burslem |
Street
Market Place |
Heritage No.
10a |
Grade
II |
Date Listed
19 April 1972 |
Building:
Leopard Inn, number
21 Market Place |
Location:
STOKE ON TRENT, Market Place, Burslem |
Description:
Late 18C, refronted in 1830,
Stucco with plain tile roof, 3 storeys |
Leopard Inn, number
21 Market Place, Burslem
photo: Steve Birks - March
2001
Public House. Late 18th Century but refronted
circa 1830.
Stucco over brick with plain tiled roof.
3-storeyed, 3 bays with central doorway flanked by full height
segmentally arched bay windows with wide tripartite sashes with
Doric pilasters as mullions and hipped roofs.
Central windows are sashes with moulded
architraves. Continuous sill bands, hood moulds and eaves
cornice.
Burslem's Leopard held in 1765 the first meeting between Josiah
Wedgwood and Thomas Bentley, Erasmus Darwin and the engineer James
Brindley which culminated in the cutting of the Trent and
Mersey Canal.
"On Friday
last I dined with Mr. Brindley, the Duke of Bridgewater's
engineer, after which we had a meeting at the Leopard on the
subject of a Navigation from Hull.... to Burslem"
– Josiah
Wedgwood,11th March 1765.
History of the Leopard
Sometimes known
as the 'Savoy of the Midlands' the Leopard Inn in Burslem certainly
holds a lot of hidden secrets. Local historian Fred Hughes uncovers
the past that makes this 18th Century public house so intriguing.
The Leopard Inn
is one of Stoke-on-Trent's hidden gems. A listed building in
Burslem, it is steeped in history and the recent discovery of
tunnels has brought it centre-stage again.
The owner Neil
Crisp has also re-opened part of the hotel which closed down in
the 1950s. There are over 50 rooms which he hopes to bring back to
their former glory.
The Leopard Inn
is famous as the place where Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley
met to discuss building the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1765.
Local historian Fred Hughes said
the meeting between Mr Wedgwood and Mr Brindley was "very important
to the development of the Industrial Revolution".
He said: "History was made here in
this pub and there's no doubt about that."
Serving since at least 1765
In his own words, Fred Hughes sheds
more light on the history of The Leopard Inn:
"For those who like to know these
things, the Leopard Hotel in Burslem has been a public house in
continuous use since at least 1765. This information comes directly
from the pen of the great potter Josiah Wedgwood whose
correspondence mentions he'd dined here with the canal engineer
James Brindley in March of that year. A framed facsimile of his
letter currently graces the wall of the room the celebrated duo
used.
The Wedgwoods were prominent
potters in Burslem throughout the 18th century, fathers and sons,
uncles and cousins all began their ceramic careers in this important
town of the Industrial Revolution.
Josiah was born in 1730 at the
Churchyard Works a short distance from the town centre. As a young
man he entered into partnership with Thomas Whieldon, (1719-1795)
returning to Burslem to manufacture at the Ivy House pottery
directly opposite the Leopard then owned by a relative, Ellen
Wedgwood.
Market Place inn
As the Wedgwood connection with
Burslem receded the Market Place inn exchanged hands frequently. By
the mid 1800's it was apparently in poor shape under the ownership
of a vicar from Porthill.
But high times were just around the
corner as the pub came under the ownership of an enterprising woman
named Mary Lees who quickly earned the respect of townsfolk as a
property owner of substantial means and influence. In 1857 she was
commissioned to prepare the banquet for the official opening of the
town hall serving up a five course dinner with over a hundred dishes
in a superlative range of meat, poultry and sweets.
The Leopard was purchased in 1872
by James Norris, a local brewer who'd built a bottling plant and
small brewery directly opposite next to the meat market and the town
hall. Regrettably the brewery and meat market were both demolished
in the 1950’s.
There are 120 foot
long tunnels from the Leopard, under Market Street
thought to lead to the Norris Brewery opposite
Classy hotel
James Norris decided that Burslem
needed a classy hotel to accommodate a lively commercial trade and
set about extending the rear of the pub into the confines of what
had formerly been a pot bank.
By 1878 Norris's new Leopard was
fitted with fifty-seven Victorian bedrooms to complement the half
dozen Georgian bedrooms at the front.
Overnight the Leopard became one of
Stoke on Trent's premier commercial hotels overshadowing the
accommodation provided by the neighbouring George Hotel, and
equalling the facilities of three other city railway hotels – the
Grand in Trinity Street Hanley, the Crown in Longton and Stoke’s
North Stafford.
Although it remained a popular
entertainment and accommodation facility the Leopard lacked the
necessary interest to keep pace with changing social needs and the
rooms were all closed in 1956 leaving just the ground floor Georgian
rooms open to the public.
Happily new owners Bass Breweries
undertook major regeneration work in the restaurant rooms which
reopened in 1965 as the Arnold Bennett Suite. But the bedrooms
remain closed-off along with the Georgian cellar vaults.
Bennett's Tiger
The Leopard is steeped in local
history and features notably in a number of Arnold Bennett's Five
Towns' novels where it is known as the Tiger.
I am asked many times whether
Bennett himself stayed at the hotel. I tend to think not as he left
Burslem in 1888 and on his infrequent visits he lodged at the family
home in Waterloo Road.
Nevertheless, the descriptions of
the Leopard interiors in his books indicate a knowledge that could
only be obtained first hand. So it does seem likely that the great
Potteries’ author would at least have visited to make notes and
perhaps to sup a pint."
© Fred Hughes – writer and
historian May 2007
Dark, forgotten
corridor in the Leopard Hotel
photo: Brian Deegan - October 2007
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