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Built in the early 1600s, The Talbot was named after a breed of dog that is now extinct.

A Talbot hound was a snow-white hunting dog that was often used to deter highwaymen from attacking passing coaches.

Watch the video to find out more about the history of The Talbot...

Like many pubs in the region, The Talbot was originally a coaching inn that travellers would pass to reach the Toll Bridge into Leicester.

Originally standing three storeys tall, the pub was reduced to two floors in the 1950s when a fire raged through the building.

Despite the local authorities granting approval for major structural work, the top level could not be saved.

The re-building work had been completed when Sid Addison became landlord in 1960. It was around this time that the inn ceased to provide lodgings and became solely a pub.

A Sinister History?

The Talbot has a vivid history with rumours abound that criminals on death row were taken to the pub before their execution to be supplied with their 'last meal'.

These condemned criminals would have met their end either by hanging or by being burned at the stake.

Was this used as a morgue?

Those who were hung for their crimes would have been taken to Red Hill gallows that was located just past the old Toll Bridge.

Many innocent people accused of witchcraft and black magic were taken to Red Hill Island, not far from Belgrave, to meet a horrific end.

Some of the bodies would be returned to The Talbot to be examined in one of the outbuildings that, at that time, was used as a morgue. The bodies would be used for medical research before finally being laid to rest.

With such a chequered past, it is unsurprising that rumours of ghost sightings at The Talbot are rife. But is there any substance to the speculation?