Three Horseshoes Public House

The Three Horseshoes is a public house located on Leicester Road in Whitwick. It comprises two early to mid-18th century cottages, which were converted and extended in 1882 to create the front range of the public house. The building is constructed of red brick, with a hipped slate roof to the front and a plain tile roof to the rear. Various brick stacks are located on the sides and rear.

The front range, dating from 1882, features a three-window range at first floor, with six/six sash windows. Below are a front door with an overlight, and a tripartite window with one/one sashes on either side. Window openings and the front door have incised stucco lintels with keystones, and painted stone sills. Margin light sashes are present on the sides, with the exception of a one/one sash on the left upper floor. To the right rear is the earlier 18th century range, which has a truncated gable end stack. 20th-century windows have been added to the front of this section. Attached to the far right is a single-storey outbuilding projecting forward with a gable end facing the road.

The interior ground floor at the front is divided into two rooms, with a central servery. The front door opens into an internal, partially glazed timber lobby, featuring an off-sales hatch. The public bar, accessed through a doorway with an overlight to the left of the lobby, has red quarry tiles to the floor, late 19th-century panelled bar fittings, and two fireplaces with timber and tiled surrounds. Fixed timber benches line the external walls. The saloon bar, entered through a doorway to the right of the lobby, has a boarded floor and a hatch communicating with the servery. This bar also features a carved timber surround to its fireplace and a dado rail on the walls.

The building’s history is linked to the development of Whitwick, situated on the edge of Charnwood Forest and the Leicestershire coalfield. Following the opening of the Whitwick Colliery in the 1820s, development along Leicester Road occurred primarily between 1850 and 1900, and public houses like the Three Horseshoes were opened to serve the growing population. The colliery closed in the late 20th century. The Three Horseshoes, also known locally as "Polly’s" after a former barmaid, is a remarkably complete survival of a rare two-room working man’s public house from the later 19th century.