He was a Brewer as well as an Innkeeper, and when an enquiry was made in 1585 by the Purveyor of the Queen's Buttery, Thomas Clarke undertook to supply weekly 40 "tune" (i.e., 240 barrels) of ale or beer, "or above if nede bee," at the rate of 2s. the dozen.
He was respected as a man of probity and public spirit, as appears from the high place which he held in the estimation of such worthy men as Robert Herrick and the wise Recorder of Leicester, Richard Parkins, both of whom join in holding him among men "of meet affection to the town." He must have had a reputation among his colleagues for shrewd judgment and knowledge of the value of land and houses, as we may conclude from his appointment as one of the Surveyors of town lands. The circumstances under which he was appointed were these. When the Corporation were about to carry out ambitious schemes of land purchase, they found that, in order to do so, they would be obliged to sell some, if not all, of the land which they already held. They agreed, therefore, that a survey should be made of all the town lands, "and such things as be out of lease to consider what value they be of, and what wood there is upon any land, and to value what every tree is worth and every farm and piece of ground." The report of this Commission is not extant, but a year or two later the Corporation began to speak of the "Twenty Pound Lands," and to declare that they had only £20 worth of land a year, which may indicate some result of the valuation. It is not to be supposed, however, that these "Twenty Pound Lands" were an insignificant amount of property. On the contrary, they comprised a very considerable area of land and extensive house property, both in the town and county of Leicester, the particulars of which are given by Throsby.
About the year 1585 these lands and houses were assigned by the Council to two of their number, George Tatam, who had been Mayor in 1580-1, and was elected Mayor a second time in 1594, and Thomas Clarke, the landlord of the Blue Boar. The arrangement seems to have been that Tatam and Clarke should, in consideration for the lands, advance £600, thirty
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