|
Located in one of the yards off Duncan Street, the Whip got its name from its days as an old coaching inn of the 19th century. In 2002, it underwent a £350,000 refurbishment, and emerged, amidst angry objections from CAMRA, as another of Leeds’s ‘trendy’ bars. Prior to that, it had a somewhat chequered career. In the 1930’s, it sold more beer than any other pub in the city. In the 1960’s, it was a popular meeting place for Irish customers, and later gained a reputation as a haunt for dubious characters. Women were not admitted until the 1970s! In 1975, an interesting and intriguing discovery was made by some workmen carrying out tests on a nearby building. They accidentally broke through some panelling beneath a staircase, and found a huge arched cavern, which had obviously been used as stables at some point. Wooden troughs could still be seen on the walls, and there was much speculation as to who might have used it. In 1994, it was renamed the Fiddler’s Elbow by Tetley’s Brewery who owned it at the time, but it was renamed the Whip after being strenuously lobbied by the Leeds Civic Trust.
Yorkshire Evening Post, 17th August 1979, p. 4
|
2 of 15
|