John Fenton, a law abiding and church-going citizen, was proprietor of this pub. He was also the village farrier in 1860. Then a local farmer , an assailant took this person’s life, when he was shot on the street. Fenton was arrested and tried for killing him. Although the evidence was sparse, people found him guilty. John Fenton went to the gallows, protesting his innocence. It was the last person to be publicly hanged in Nottingham. His ghost still haunts the inn, as many local people will testify. The last public hanging in England took place in London in 1869.