The Definitive Guide to the History of
Pubs and Beerhouses in Coventry

Drinking in an Old English Town

Bantam, Hen Lane

These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
	1935	1936	Plume of Feathers
	1936	1995	Bantam
Opening in early 1935 as the Plume of Feathers, by March 1936 the name had already changed to The Bantam. This name came from the nickname of a local regiment in World War I, later also being applied to Coventry City F.C. The name Tom O' Bedlam also appears to have been considered, but the idea obviously discarded. The pub was often referred to as the Bantam Hotel. The licensee in the early 1960s, Tommy Wall, was an ex-fairground wall-of-death rider. In 1995 the pub was destroyed by fire and not rebuilt, instead being replaced by housing.
LICENSEES: 1936 - 1937 Robert Spicer 1937 - 1938 Percy Cappella (went to the Nags Head, Spon End) 1938 Bernard James Keough (moved from the Nags Head, Spon End) 1943 - 1951 Frank Thomas Bennett 1951 - 1954 Joseph German