Coventry Pubs

"The Windmill" 105 Spon Street closed in 1970 "The Old Windmill" 25 Spon Street aka: "Ma Brown's" is still trading successfully.

I spent a lot of time in Earlsdon with my grandparents in Newcombe Road (and have just moved back to the area!) I used to go to the Cottage in the late 80's especially to the Free'n'easy. My old mate from Peugeot Talbot Tony 'Nobby' Kennedy used to 'comp

Was it once called Trumans?

Hello Adrian 'Trumans' was the name of the brewery which owned the pub.

Hello to you both. Trumans was a lovely beer. Brewed in London (I once visited the brewery) the company had resisted all attempts of amalgamations & takeovers until Grand-Met came along in the early seventies. Trumans themselves had previously had inroads into Burton Ales, but their business suffered as did so many in the seventies business down-turns. It's funny how someone like me who has never drunk more than two pints ever in a day, can actually taste a Truman now just as if it was in the glass that I am drinking now, which happens to be a Worthington Creamflow.

Hi Dutchman and Philip. Thank you for that information. In the 50s, my dad worked nights at the Renold Chain in Spon End, and many a time I would meet him outside Trumans, as we called it, or the large black and white pub that was at the opposite end of Corporation St, I think the end of the old Smithford St. I don't know the name of it, but I'm sure some of the readers on here will. Love the site, it's brilliant.

When you say "opposite end" Adrian do mean opposite end to the Renold or opposite end to the pub we were discussing earlier? This is The George IV in Fleet Street which was between Smitford Street and Corporation Street: The much bigger pub owned by Truman's at the other end of Corporation Street was known as The Wine Lodge.

Hi Dutchman, A big thanks for the photo. I am sure that's the pub. I thought it had a royal name, but could not think what it was. It seemed to be more guilded, and with the name more prominent, than in the photo, but that is probably just my imagination. As you came to the end of Spon St, the pub was slightly over to the right across the road. Do you know what year they pulled it down?

Hello Dutchman, In the old photo of the pubs with the gentleman standing to the left, is it possible to blow him up in size but retain good imagery? I have tried but it is too grainy. That is either my dad or his double. What a find if it is. Could anyone help please?

Afraid not Adrian. The pub ceased trading in 1964 but pubs were often left standing for some time before being demolished. In this case it was to create the extension to Corporation Street which people often mistake for Queen Victoria Road.

I'm afraid I don't have access to the original print. Pictures of Coventry charge £8 for a 10x8 print but I don't know if this is taken from the original negative or just zoomed from the existing scan as seen above.

Thanks Dutchman, I will make enquiries. It is an uncanny resemblance to my dad. How he dressed and his composure. My mum and dad spent the night in an air-raid shelter the night of the blitz, the following night a bomb went down the steps of that shelter and blew it to bits. Killed nobody as there was no one in it that night. Me dad that day had managed to secure accommodation in a cottage on a farm near Barnacle and lived there for the rest of the duration of the war. LUCKY FOR ME.

Quite right and I remember the first landlord Charlie Goddard, a real gentleman, he was landlord of The Courthouse in the early sixties, he then went to the Stag and Pheasant and then the Thistle.

Talking about pubs does anyone remember the Gloucester Arms on the Stoney Stanton Road, my father's friend kept it in the 50s, I used to go on a Sunday with my dad. I would read comics and play games with the landlord's son while my father and grandfather had a drink, but I just cannot remember the name of the landlord.

I remember Wally Hayden too. The Cottage was one of my occasional haunts because I loved Draught Bass, especially when it was well-kept. I recall that Wally wouldn't have any coin-operated machines in his pub so there was no jukebox or fruit machine. Other pubs which kept superb Draught Bass included the Town Wall Tavern, Old Dyers Arms and the Admiral Lord Rodney. The Town Wall was kept by Ray Hoare, another cantankerous gaffer. I once saw him throw a bloke out for asking for Bass Shandy. 'I don't spend all that time looking after my Bass for you to put lemonade in it!' was his line. The Old Dyers was kept by Barry Ogden and his formidable wife, Mavis. Barry kept excellent beer and Mavis made real home-cooked food, her special being Steak & Cowheel Pie. Winter comfort food! The Rodney was a proper pub then, kept by Dick Morrissey, aided by wife and daughters. The best Bass of all, and he would often treat regulars to a free round on a Saturday night.