Bull & Mouth pub, Leicester Road, Mountsorrel now trading as “Slate”. The origin of the name “Bull & Mouth” is believed to have been ‘Boulogne mouth’ relating to the capture of Boulogne by Henry VIII’s forces as a route into France.It was built around the 1850s and was always a very popular pub, especially with the sporting fraternity of the village. In the 1950’s the licencee’s were George and Annie Davies.
The two photographs immediately below are of The Bull & Mouth in March 1984. Note the pub sign – compared with the later version further down the page. Also, note the arch which allowed access to the car park, behind, and to the Memorial Playing Fields where football and cricket are still played. A pathway to the fields was obstructed in 2013 by a new housing development.
The Bull & Mouth pub is understood to have had a painting on the outside wall depicting the battle. It is now in storage but will be photographed by Mountsorrel Heritage Group for display on this site
My parents were landlord and landlady from 1989 to 2000. This must have been after that time. The sign that hung there for a long time until the outside refurbishment was a jester/harlequin with mouth agape, within being the Bull (this is the one in the pictures of the Ansells livery). Following the refurb, the swing sign was changed to just read the name of the pub but there were two naval battle scenes added to the outer wall of the upstairs frontage to commemorate the origins of the name. This Bull and Mouth was named after one in the naval dockyards in London which was a bastardisation of the name ‘The Boulogne Mouth’. During the 1990’s for a period, the other was demolished leaving this one as the only Bull and Mouth pub in the country, although I understand two others now are in existence.
My parents, Bob and Sheila Cross,, were the last long term tenants of the pub and supported many football and cricket teams that played on the ‘Rec (Memorial Park), including Castle Cricket Club and the various Mountsorrrel Amateurs, Imperials and Rover’s Football teams. If you would like more content on this or any other pub during the late eighties and early nineties, I would be happy to contribute…
Many thanks, Rob, for your contribution. Separate email sent to you, inviting further contributions. Best wishes, Chris
I can remember you Rob, and your mum and dad, when all the lads went in the pub after football or cricket. I was married to Keith Houghton. then . Do you remember Karl , my son , I think you were the same age. I knew your mum very well. your mums mum used to look after me when I was little. and my mum went to work. A lot of years have passed. best wishes.