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Market Tavern

 

 


 
The Market Tavern was situated on George Street. This pub has now been demolished.
Source: Shaun Redman
 

 
From Leedslive, 2022
On January 16, 1995, when The Market Tavern, served its last pint there was a mixture of relief and sadness.
The pub had long been known as the "Mad House" and according to some, the "Bucket of Blood" such was the kind of evening, or afternoon, you could expect in there. The Market Tavern stood on the corner of George Street and Harewood Street.
Across the road from Kirkgate Market, it was popular with market traders but it was also a haunt of less savoury characters and misfits. David Oluwale, a Nigerian immigrant "hounded to his death" by racist Leeds police, drank at the Market Tavern although according to regulars, he did it alone.
The Market Tavern was originally a dwelling but was converted into a pub in 1850. By 1914, when four of five of the photos below were taken, the pub, then run by landlord Job Dixon, was looking worse for wear.
When plans were unveiled to demolish the pub, Leeds Civic Trust led a campaign to save it. The plan went ahead and the Tavern was pulled down to make way for an open car park.
On its last night, landlords John and Margaret Jackson sold the pub's remaining drinks at cost price. It is now the site of the upmarket Victoria Gate shopping centre. The irony probably isn't lost on some of the Mad House's old customers.
 

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