Coventry Pubs

Hi RadfordGirl, welcome to Historic Coventry forum, I'm sure someone here will remember The Heath pub, I myself do not recall it offhand. I do however know the name Lomas, not sure if it's the same relative who was head of housing in the 70s at Coventry City Council.

Was the Heath Hotel is now the Wonder Years Day Nursery

What a great facility for the children and a good start in life from what I read. It's ironic my two were born in pubs. Would that have been a good start in life, although they have done pretty well so far!

Morning Yes it's now a children's nursery. My father also mentioned the rainbow room which was apart of the pub. Sounds interesting! No relatives working at the council.

The only Heath pub I knew was the Barras Heath, big and very busy.

If it is the Barras Heath you mean then I am sure it was Alfred Herbert's local watering hole. The employees that is! Also Christmas drinks.

Hello everyone. I think The Heath was so called because of its relationship with Little Heath. They had a half decent `Ding Dong` there on Saturday nights many moons ago

I'm certain it was The Heath Hotel. Many bands used to play there and my family were more than likely taking part in the ding dongs

The Heath was in Foleshill Road on the right leaving the city, about half way between the fire station and the bridge further up the road. When I frist came to Coventry in '67, I lived next door to the pub, in a couple of rooms above Dodds bicycle shop. The flat was not too damp, but fresh mushrooms for breakfast was a speciality, freshly picked while the bacon was cooking!! Saturday nights was sometime quite active around the pub!

When I lived near to the Navigation, I used to go in for a Friday night pint, and recalled it had an open fire, this was circa 1985. No poseurs or jack-the-lads, just locals having a pint and minding their own business. The back room had a live band now and then, but in 1989, it was sold to someone who revamped it. The backroom dispensed with bands and installed several pool tables and entered into leagues, which, in turn, attracted rabble from rival pubs. He revamped the front and installed a DJ box and a dance floor and festooned iconic B&W photos of John Lennon on the walls (didn't see where an ex-Beatle fitted in with the decor myself!). Unfortunately, the 'clientele' he hoped to attract were hell-bent on causing fights, and regular riots ensued. Even the pool cues had the weights taken from the holding handles so damage was 'minimal'. The landlord then recruited several 'known villanous' doormen led by Geoff Thompson who tidied the nonsense up over 3 nights, this was documented in Geoff's excellent book. The landlord decided the trouble was 'sorted' and dispensed of Geoff's services, and withinn a few weeks, it had all kicked off again. The landlord sold it on to an Irish family. This genial but woefully inept family had no idea how to run a boozer, and decided to install a restaurant, which was a disaster, the food was dire! But their saving grace was having pumped Budweiser on tap. I've never seen that before, or since. I think they had it less than a year and moved on. It was boarded up for what seemed years, housing the usual mix of junkies and squatters before it burned down - conveniently as the Gallagher Park was looking all nice and new opposite this eyesore

Anyone know why The Hope and Anchor's been bulldozed? (Sorry if I've missed a post about it)

Just found the answer to my own question. Is the Uni taking over the City?

I did go in there now and again in the late 80's for a gig or two. The Telegraph states about the land - "It is then expected to remain unused until it can be used to expand the university's health and lifestyle department based in Whitefriars Street." I was down there the other day and it's still just a flattened rubble pile.

The Horse and Jockey was a pub on the Tamworth road just on outskirts of Keresley and Corley, back in 1950 it was managed by Mavis and Arthur Socket, he was a soccer player for Coventry City, the comedian Reginald Dixon used to drink there and played the odd game of darts, I was only a teenager, used to drink the odd brown and mild and played darts along with my dad.

It's still there! I held my 50th birthday party there in 2004, when it had a lovely garden with lots to do for the kids. Now, it seems to use the land at the back for storage.