Loughborough, Town Centre c.1965

Photo ref: L197096

More about this scene

There was even a bomb plot! The Chartists held meetings behind the Unicorn Hotel and on one occasion a crude explosive device was found there. Fortunately, it was not detonated but it shows how serious matters were. After 1848, Chartism died away but politics continued to be fuel for Loughborough's lawlessness. Despite all the disorder, Loughborough's ratepayers petitioned that the 'new' full- time police should not be stationed in Loughborough. They said it was because there was little crime and adequate watchmen but really they did not want the additional expense of the police. Consequently, the police only came to Loughborough eight years after most of the rest of Leicestershire. Custody facilities were also bad and the 'house of correction' attracted complaints of severe overcrowding. However, it took 20 years before the first police station was built, in Woodgate. The imposing entrance doors were designed so that drunken Loughburians could be pushed straight through the doors on wheeled trolleys and tipped straight into the waiting arms of the station sergeant.