SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Can i settle question once and for all ,THE MITRE WAS IN COMMERCIAL STREET and now is a toffe shop ,Thorntons??? I know thsi is true because I used nto frequent the pub in the 50s ,The landlord was a mr Simpson that used to wear the balck jacket .pin striped trousers and tie very smart and military type man that hyad two ladies helping behind the bar , Lunch times the bar would do buisness mens lunches which would be served in the cubicles and in the evevnings it was a GAY bar. yes a gay bar .It was a long narrow bar as you went through the doors with the long bar on the right hand side and the cubicles on thye left hand side with a large coal stove with marble top in the middle of the floor .The GENTS toilets,Yes gents ,no ladies toilets were at the far end of the bar and were very elegant .very heavy mahoghany and black and white marble ,Beautiful wash basins with a rams head snuff container (FREE) on the top . It was 10pm time 10.30 saturdays in those days and the police would come in around 9.45 go behind the bar into My Simpsons office have a couple of pints and then come out and say goodnight lads behave yourselves and leave . You were right about the large ornate cut glass mirror on the staircase .When David Whitfield was the Empire theatre we used to go in the Mitre and another by the stage door called The Golden Cock.which I think as gone also. But the above is correct in everything stated so hopes it helps

You're correct, except it has not been Thornton's shop for several years. On page 4 of the Lost pubs thread ( http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messag ... e=75&#3130 ) there is a photo I took of it in 2007.

pablo leedsUserLocation:LeedsJoined on:05-Jan-2012 16:12:15Posted:168 posts    # Posted on: 07-Jan-2013 21:04:49.      Quotedoes anyone remember this pub on Commercial Street? .............................................................. Location:LeedsJoined on:05-Jan-2012 16:12:15Posted:168 posts    # Posted on: 07-Jan-2013 22:10:42.      Quotei believe it was next door to today's Carphone Warehouse.is it true it was men only?

Phill_dvsn wrote: pablo leedsUserLocation:LeedsJoined on:05-Jan-2012 16:12:15Posted:168 posts    # Posted on: 07-Jan-2013 21:04:49.      Quotedoes anyone remember this pub on Commercial Street? .............................................................. Location:LeedsJoined on:05-Jan-2012 16:12:15Posted:168 posts    # Posted on: 07-Jan-2013 22:10:42.      Quotei believe it was next door to today's Carphone Warehouse.is it true it was men only? Yes I used to be a regular gay in that pub in the 50s ,Lunch time it was buisness men(not gay ) who had there cooked lunches there. and evenings it was a gay bar and quite select not like some of the gay bars today . I met a sailor from Harrogate in there on Boxing day night and we lived happily for 42yrs, The bar was in the basement down some steps and was quite a long bar,    

Regarding the GOLDEN COCK that had a back bar very near the stage door of the Empire Theatre was mainly gay on Sunday Nights . Again in the 50s I was regular drinker in there , Also there was the GOLDEN LION down Briggate where the front bar was normal and sleazy ,up the alley way the middle bar was gay but mainly for the lesbian girls that was all red flock wallpaper.and the back bar was for the gay boys ,very primitive with a small portable record player for the music but it had character, Good times was had by all . 10pm through week and sundays and 10,30pm saturdays, I think today its called The Queens and still very gay,

cobbydaler wrote: Regarding the GOLDEN COCK that had a back bar very near the stage door of the Empire Theatre was mainly gay on Sunday Nights . Again in the 50s I was regular drinker in there , Also there was the GOLDEN LION down Briggate where the front bar was normal and sleazy ,up the alley way the middle bar was gay but mainly for the lesbian girls that was all red flock wallpaper.and the back bar was for the gay boys ,very primitive with a small portable record player for the music but it had character, Good times was had by all . 10pm through week and sundays and 10,30pm saturdays, I think today its called The Queens and still very gay, Regarding the Golden Lion, it is still there today http://goo.gl/maps/6VoZZ and if you meant Queens Court that is on the opposite side of the road further up Lower Briggate http://goo.gl/maps/ikFe7.My apologies if I have read your post incorrectly and thank you for your anecdotes of gay bars in the 1950's                                             Edit: Golden Lion entrance in Blayd's Yardhttp://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIde ... SPLAY=FULL

cobbydaler wrote: Also there was the GOLDEN LION down Briggate where the front bar was normal and sleazy ,up the alley way the middle bar was gay but mainly for the lesbian girls that was all red flock wallpaper.and the back bar was for the gay boys ,very primitive with a small portable record player for the music but it had character, Good times was had by all . 10pm through week and sundays and 10,30pm saturdays, I think today its called The Queens and still very gay, The Golden Lion Hotel, as well as being a hotel with letting rooms also had a separately licensed bar known as the Golden Lion Taps. The Old George, across the road also had a similar setup.This had come about to stop the licensing law being circumvented by the claim that persons on the premises were either resident at the hotel or guests of any such resident [quite difficult to disprove] and therefore allowed to drink outside of normal licensed hours.It may have been the case that out of hours drinking, as opposed to just a “lock-in”, was quite common at that end of Briggate as to find two hotels with a “Taps” is unusual [no others in Leeds had it, although it was common in commercial hotels located in market towns and where premises – as a commercial hotel - also held a “Market License”]. All the other hotels in Leeds just had the usual “drink to be served only as an ancillary to food” condition.The Licensing Justices must have been wise to what was going on!Queens Court is a newish thing and didn't open until the mid 90's

I am speaking of the early 50s and there were three bars one at the from on briggate and two down a alley way on the left hand side of the hotel . Also the Metropole Hotel near city station had like a cocktail bar that was slightly gay,

I see this thread is rather old, but I'll give it a try anyway.

Question for anybody around in Ye Olden Times: do you remember a guy called Martelli working there? Or maybe Ettore? He is supposed to have been an Italian expat working as a waiter or maybe substitute patron for a time.

sedagive wrote: ↑

Fri 08 Jul, 2022 10:02 am

I see this thread is rather old, but I'll give it a try anyway.

Question for anybody around in Ye Olden Times: do you remember a guy called Martelli working there? Or maybe Ettore? He is supposed to have been an Italian expat working as a waiter or maybe substitute patron for a time.

YEP 6th Feb 1950 Edit- he passed away in 1957 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/227 ... i-martelli