Coventry Pubs

One of my favourite memories of growing up in the early 80s was going to the free 'n easy nights at the Cottage on Saturday & Sunday nights. A group of us would gather there after playing rugby or cricket in the afternoon & a fab time was had by all. I remember well the old couple who ran the place - he could get a bit grumpy!!! If I remember correctly there was a guy on drums & a guy on piano & various locals took turns to sing, one old lady was called Nat or Nan & always sat in the same place on the back wall & there was a skinny guy who did a Mr Universe routine. The evening ended with "Delilah" & "Red Feathers". The gents toilets were a sight to behold - out the back & basically a drain in the ground. We started off my stag night in there before wandering down through Spon End & ending up in Park Lane Happy days! John

Wally Hayden, jazz fan. Wally's ability to make Draught Bass presentable was legendary in the pub trade, the stuff is notoriously difficult to condition. He was previously the landlord of the Coombe Abbey Inn in Craven Street but moved to Earlsdon in 1967 after the nearby Four Provinces was granted a license.

I grew up in Earlsdon and I used to frequent the Cottage in the 1960s and again, occasionally, in the the 1990s. I always thought the Draught Bass was OK. The Cottage was generally a quiet venue, not as quiet as the Nursery Tavern in Chapelfields (a strange place indeed), but quieter than the Royal Oak and Ma Cooper's (the City Arms). In the 1990s, the Cottage had live jazz on a Saturday night, quite a lively change from its usual ambience! The beer in the Royal Oak was good and Ma Cooper's was rather old-fashioned, with a smoke room and a lounge. The beer in the lounge was 1d more than in the other rooms. I didn't have a great range of Coventry pubs. I occasionally went to Ma Brown's (the Windmill in Spon Street) but mostly, when in the city centre, I used the Coventry Cross, which had a men's only snug. The Nursery Tavern front bar was also men only.

My late husband grew up in Moor Street, Earlsdon, and when we were courting we used to visit the Cottage regularly. The couple who ran it at that time were Mr and Mrs Knott, they were helped by relatives of theirs, a man named Harold, his wife and their daughter. We always found Mr Knott, I think his first name was Reg, to be very disagreeable, told me off once for putting my feet on the struts of the chair and not the floor. We also used to frequent the Oak and Gary my husband was a member of the darts team, they called themselves the Red Barrel Club. Earlsdon has happy memories for me as I was working in the Sketchley Dry Cleaners shop when I met Gary. I wonder if you knew Bert Wilson, he was the father of one of Gary's friends and if we bumped into him on the way to the pub he would say "I'm just off to get my medicine", he was a Special in the Police Force. Earlsdon has changed such a lot since those days.

That was Electronic Services which in the mid 60's when I worked in the City Arcade was owned by two brothers. I seem to recall they sold up in the late 70's or early 80's. It finally closed some years ago.

It has now re-opened, but when I looked in and saw just two people in there on Tuesday evening, that says it all.

Anyone remember "The Baginton Oak" in the late 60's (67 - 69) I'm sure they were one if the first "discos" - they had a small dance floor, with a jukebox at one end, and black (ultra-violet) lamps which lit everybody up like Christmas trees. i.e. any lad with dandruff - and any female wearing light coloured underwear The queues were way out of the door ages before they opened at about 6:30 - and the place closed when management unplugged the jukebox (often on mid-record!) at 10:45! Vodka & lime was a snip at two shillings and we often had to walk home cos we'd either spent our busfare on drink or the jukebox (or stopped until the jukebox finished in which case there were no buses anyway!!) Happy Days

I certainly remember the Baginton Oak in the late sixties, I lived about 200 yards down from the pub next door to the post office and had spent a lot of money on the the large open plan front garden. On the Sunday mornings after the Saturday nights disco I would find all my newly planted shrubs scattered all over the road after being ripped out by the homegoing revellers. This went on for a while until in despair I wove fish hooks into the plants. I never heard any screams but strangely enough after that peace returned to my garden. (I hope you don't have any scarred fingers, Tony). Alan.

Oh My Goodness!! - It was YOUR garden! .... only joking!! Seriously - definitely NOT me/us. That is an awful thing to do I do recall, on hearing a scream one night on the way home, myself and my two mates discovering what we thought was an assault about to happen. We shouted to this lad to "leave her alone" - only to realise, as he got closer to us - that he was built like a brick out-house - and heading our way He started to explain to us that he was simply arguing with his girlfriend - which she confirmed as she called for us to stop running away! - we got home rather quicker than normal that night!

Wally Hayden - that was his name as you say. Fabulous memories!

The Baginton Oak bar that had the ultra violet lights was called 'The Skyliner'. The lighting used to shine straight through nylon fabrics! Does anyone remember the General Wolfe in the sixties? It used to be up Foleshill Road, I think. I saw The Small Faces there. Another good pub was 'Ma Brown's' somewhwere around Spon St.

"Ma Brown's" was the Old Windmill sandwiched between various Rotherhams office buildings: There was another "Windmill" at the other end of Spon Street on a site which is now occupied by Spon Gate School.

Hi, I think the Windmill closed down in about 1970. I recall as a child, in the fifties, sometimes visiting the Windmill, with parents and family relations. There was a large back garden there, with two sloping green areas of grass, which we kids could roll down. Then we would run down to our parents who would be seated outdoors looking at us playing. Happy sunny days.

I'm sure I recall visiting the Windmill in the late 80's?

I used to visit the pub when I worked at Coventry Uni during the 80s, if we are talking about the same place. I am sad to hear it has closed, as it was a great little pub - a proper one.