Last orders for long-standing city pub

The road which the tavern was named after vanished in Victorian times and the pub could now follow suit

A long-standing Leicester pub has called time for good.

The Bridle Lane Tavern, off Belgrave Gate, has closed to the public, with its owners stating a new tenant is not being sought.

A planning application submitted to Leicester City Council said the wedge-shaped pub has had a “fairly rapid turnover of tenants” over the past 20 years.

The most recent departed in June, saying its operation there had become “unviable” according to planning documents.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said owner Big Yellow Self Storage Company Limited is not intending to re-let the site, which has been an ale house since at least the 1840s, according to Leicester’s Pub History Project.

The owners said in planning documents the consistent turnover cast “uncertainty” on the pub’s viability going forward.

Big Yellow is seeking permission to erect hoarding around the pub for “security” as the empty building “presents a risk” of “unlawful activity arising”, the group said.

The company added that it had spoken to Leicester City Council to get advice on a potential redevelopment of the site.

This was likely to be a self-storage facility, the company said, with a planning application expected to be submitted later this year. Big Yellow also owns neighbouring land, and this could be included in any future development.

Any future development plans would have to be submitted to and approved by council planners before work could take place.