White Lion, Smithford Street

A zoomed in view

Now I know what I am looking for. This is 1937. I believe this is the White Lion in the centre of the image with the pointed roof. It looks like the roof went further back which is missing on the 1946 one. That must have been unusable so at some point was reduced to the flat roofed building we see in later pictures. Now I know why the flat roof has chimneys!

The building to the right was at one point the Post Office. Dial the images back a bit further and you see them demolishing the previous White Lion. Court after court was being updated but there were still a fair number that weren't new build. Those were decimated by the bombs and fires. Stood alone, the White Lion looks quite small but it was a fair size compared to its old neighbours. The buildings at the rear had also been replaced with brick but they look like they were always flat roofed. It's the first time I've noticed what had happened to the Great Meeting House. I don't remember seeing the front before.

There does not seem to be any pictures of the middle bit of Smithford Street. I would love to find a picture of the White Lion complete. It is not what I imagined. I have a sketch of the Leopard Inn which was run by a Yardley distant cousin at some time and that is a black and white building but several floors up. There is a listing for some plans for the White Lion on Coventry Collections. Perhaps when Helen starts going in she could have a look. The Leopard Inn is number 8 on the Coventry Pubs topic.

The White Lion is on the right of this photo. More of the right can be seen in Rob's picture of the street.

I have zoomed in, best picture I have seen of the White Lion. You can clearly see the roof is damaged at the rear but it still has the roof on. I think I read somewhere that the part that was damaged was staff quarters. Obviously at that time they must have decided it was better to remove the roof than repair it. With development planned they probably did not know what the future would be for the building.

This is from the Midland Daily Telegraph, 25th November 1940.

From 'A Warwickshire Man's Diary' in the CET 29th January 1955, for the day the White Lion called time for the last time.

This photograph shows the last days of the White Lion. I took this in January 1955 together with a few others. I remember going upstairs in the White Lion in 1942 with my father to an exhibition on display boards of some future proposals. I'm conscious of being unhappy of the insecure flooring. I seem to remember we entered from the side of the building. The rear quarter of the building was missing.

Hello, Kaga. Regarding the White Lion signage, as far as I know those portions of the sign are all that have been discovered. I feel we are lucky the council decided to recover them and put them on display. They are a joy to see compared to the other ugly rusty so called 'works of art'. Art or Artifice? You decide.

Around a third of the White Lion disappeared in the blitz. The vacant space on the right of the door, there was a passageway leading to the smoke room and kitchens. The part of the staircase still visible led to the Grosvenor function room, and restaurant and staff living quarters. It all disappeared in the blitz, that third of the White Lion collapsed into dust and rubble. The partition wall between the bar on left that was the large bay window and the smoke room on right of front door was so extensively damaged that it was in danger of collapse, that is why they stuck the fence around the front for the whole duration of war.

The White Lion pub in Smithford Street in 1861 was called the Stork, and in 1926 it was called the Horatio Nelson for one year - but there are some doubts about this. When it was rebuilt in 1920/21 the effigy of the lion was so tatty after different colour painting etc, that it was also replaced. The brewery had rebuilt in 1920/21 and had all the intentions to rebuild after the war, so in 1942 when the rubble had been cleared, it temporarily repaired the second floor walls, making them a little more safe without a roof, temporarily replaced the stairs to the second floor and placed a small gallery of its future on the north wall.

Kaga, this is a report from the Midland Daily Telegraph in May 1925, showing the transfer of the pub's licence to one, Horatio Nelson - not a change in the name of the pub In April 1927, the Coventry Herald reported the transfer of the licence from Horatio Nelson

Some nice info for the pubs section, MR In 1919 the licensee was J Hains In 1920 they building was being demolished before rebuilding as a Tudor style building So it went from Arrmit Wallace Brown (who got in 1924) to a guy confusingly called Horatio Nelson in May 1925 Then from Mr Horatio Nelson to Sydney Burleigh Edwards in April 1927 By 1933 the licensee was A S Lane And so on.

I haven't been into the city centre for a very long time. When I am there again that White Lion sign will be a highlight, an actual piece of Smithford Street.