New Inn - Derby Road

Mentioned in Pigots Trade Directory of Leicestershire in 1828, when Charles Young was landlord, this pub was in a cul-de-sac originally, before the New (Derby) Road was constructed in the 1870s. Originally a flat fronted Georgian dwelling house, bay windows were added to it in the 1920s towards the end of the tenure of William Hopewell.

William came to the New Inn in 1880 and was the father of Harry Hopewell, who later opened a hosiery factory further along Derby Road. This hosiery business was to move into the old Wells brewery premises on Market Place in the 1920s.

WIlliam Hopewell died about 1934 and his wife, Elizabeth, continued the licence for a further year: Samuel Grudgings took over in 1936 and then Ernest Branson moved from the Oddfellows to take over: In the early 1950s Branson's daughter, Thirza, and her husband Reginald 'Benny' Breakwell succeeded to the tenancy to carry the pub through one of its most colourful and popular periods.

The New Inn was the local of Kegworth School's tall, thin, senior master, Percy Smart, who taught at least two generations of children. It was the regular haunt of the two elderly spinster Chaplin sisters for many years. Stuart Payne, the versatile Kegworth Rovers footballer and a painter by trade, was one of the last licensees before the pub was sold in the 1990s and became the Diamond City Chinese takeaway.