Chapelfields, 71 Craven Street (Beers, Laxton, Gorsuch)
| Address: | 71 Craven Street | ||
| Became: | Brewers Arms | ||
| At the end of the 19th century, Chapelfields had seven pubs. Since that time two have closed, the Sun Dial and the Brewers Arms.
The Brewers Arms must have opened soon after the building of Chapelfields in 1846. The first mention I have found is in 1868 when the landlord was the appropriately named John Beers! In 1879 it came into the possession of the Gorsuch family, who kept it until its closure. In 1909, Coventry magistrates closed three public houses and it seems that the Brewers Arms was one of these.
The attitude of the government to the liquor trade over the centuries has swung between restriction and liberalisation. As a response to the decline of the publican brewer and rise of the common brewer with their tied estates, the Duke of Wellington pushed through parliament the Beer House Act of 1830. Under this act any householder could sell beer on the purchase of a 2 guineas license from the excise. In the first year of the act, 24,000 new licenses were taken out. By 1836, 46,000 beerhouses had opened.
A reaction was inevitable. The 1869 Wine & Beerhouse Act began to reduce the number of pubs by bringing them under the purview of the magistrates and away from the excise. The 1871 Aberdare Act introduced the suppression of 'surplus' houses without compensation. This gave magistates a free hand to suppress houses, and the lack of compensation for the loss of livelihood involved caused much resentment in the trade. In 1904 the government brought in a system of compensation paid for by a levy on all public houses. The closure of the Brewers Arms in 1909 was no doubt due to its surplus status in such a small yet heavily pubbed area. There is no mention of the license lost being used to justify the opening of a new pub in the suburbs as with the Sun Dial. I have found no mention of brewing being carried out so is the name just a pun on the first owner's surname?
Note that William Laxton was also involved in the local watch trade, as a watch case springer, as well as running the pub. After 1909 it became a butcher's shop, retaining the pub frontage. It was a general store until the 1980s, when it was converted to a private house. It still retains the pub frontage to this day. | |||
LICENSEES:1868 John Beers 1871 - 1874 William Laxton Watch Case Springer and publican 1879 - 1896 William Gorsuch 1903 - 1909 Caroline Gorsuch | |||
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