Residents are being encouraged to have their say on potential uses for a historic pub ravaged by fire.
A viability study into the future of Grade II-listed pub The Leopard, in Stoke-on-Trent, is taking place with a drop-in community engagement event organised for later this month.
Re-Form Heritage – which was chosen as the city’s Heritage Development Trust in 2023 via a national Architectural Heritage Fund/National Lottery Heritage Fund programme – is exploring options for the Burslem landmark which suffered serious damage in a blaze in January 2022.
The Market Place pub was the meeting place of Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley where they discussed building the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1765, and features in many of Arnold Bennett’s novels as The Tiger.
The viability study will allow the pub’s owners Daneets Developments, to determine whether to restore the building in partnership with another organisation or transfer ownership to an appropriate regeneration lead.
Funded by Historic England and the Architectural Heritage Fund, the study will also allow Re-Form Heritage to make an informed decision over whether they want to take on the regeneration.
Representatives from Re-Form Heritage and Daneets Developments have visited the site with structural engineers as part of the first phase of the study, although the building is too unsafe to enter.
The viability study will also involve a desk-based assessment of the site’s archaeological potential, as it sits on top of one of Josiah Wedgwood’s early potbanks, known as Brick House Works or Bell Works. It was here that Wedgwood perfected creamware, which he supplied to Queen Charlotte from the works.
Re-Form Heritage Chief Executive Dr Alasdair Brooks said: “We are quite excited by the potential for this well-loved historic building. It is a prominent landmark in the community and people feel very strongly about it.
“We are looking to identify a viable future for The Leopard and we want to hear what ideas come from members of the public.
“In addition, it is on the site of possibly one of the most historically significant potbanks in the entire city – and I don’t make that claim lightly – so we will be looking into what that could involve.”
The community event takes place at Burslem School of Art on Thursday, 24 April, between 11am and 3pm.
Zoe Sutherland, Heritage Officer at Re-Form Heritage, will give a talk and there will also be displays about the history of the building and drone footage of the site.
