The Anchor Public house, originally a coaching inn (see picture below) was sold in 1896 by Mr Cecil F Scott to Mr Sharpe, brewer of Sileby. The bidding commenced at a £1000 and finished at £1900. It later burnt down in 1899 and was replaced in 1900 by the existing building which subsequently became a home for unmarried mothers in the late 1950’s until 1978. Ind Coope’s sold the building for £4000 to the Loughborough Housing Quaker Society and is currently in use as a home for people with learning difficulties.
The Anchor Inn (below) as it was prior to conversion from a pub to a home for unmarried mothers. Note the original doorway entrance to the pub, replaced in the present day photograph (above) by a large flat window for the home’s kitchen.
Anchor tales:
Probably soon after World War II, though subject to confirmation, The Anchor was linked to a tragic accident in which one of the regular locals, called Jock Thompson was leaving the Anchor in the evening to go home to his home. This was a cottage on land belonging to the Granite Company – part of Stonehurst Farm. As he stepped off the pavement outside The Anchor he was hit by a car and killed. The car was a Ford Anglia driven by a reporter employed by the Loughborough Monitor, a local paper of the time.
Locals of The Anchor in the early 1950s viewed it as a particularly nice building with stables at rear of the pub as it was a coaching inn. At that time the landlord was Harry Adcock (some people referred to him as Fatty Adcock) who was succeeded by an ex-army major who was over-generous in his landlording and consequently did not last long. Some entertainment was supplied by Jack Keightley: a self-taught pianist who could play tunes by ear used to play songs of the era.
As a matter of routine, Mondays was darts night which was always a busy night. Apparently (so the tale goes), one man used to take advantage of the lively evening: whilst a player was at the okey and spectators were all interested in the game in progress, he would take a sip or two from the pints sat on the bar. This continued through the evening with a consequence that the man spent very little and usually went home tipsy (at least) whilst the players and spectators spent plenty and went home less than tipsy.
Hi,
My mother and Aunt worked in the Anchor inn, during the war for the Adcocks. They came from Donegal, Ireland to work there, they were there for about 3 years and eventually moved to Clydebank in Scotland and retired back to Donegal. My mother is 89 and her sister 98. They told me a few stories about the adcock’s and the Anchor, so I thought I would see if it still existed and I was delighted that it is still standing.
Hello Conail,
I am glad you managed to find our site and The Anchor. We are in the early stages of putting the site together and have a lot more to add.
We would be delighted to hear about any stories relating to The Anchor
Regards
Keith Foster
Secretary Mountsorrel Heritage Group
Hi, I am doing some research into family history and I wonder if you have any
information on William Spittle who died in the Anchor Inn on 26th december 1900 of a
fractured skull.
Regards Denise.
I was a student who lived in the Anchor in the early 80s with many others in the various rooms and spent many a happy weekend exploring the attic and climbing onto the roof. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that the exit from the Anchor car park is on a blind bend (on the A6 at the time) and getting my Reliant Regal out onto the road towards Loughborough filled with fellow students was sometimes a hairy business!