These premises have been known by different names during their history:
FROM
TO
NAME
OLD BIRD IN HAND
The proverbial saying, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" is of great antiquity and may have suggested this sign, a popular one since the seventeenth century. Traditionally it was illustrated by a mailed fist on which a falcon was perched.
In 1756 six soldiers were billeted here and in a poem of 1800 it was already known as the Old Bird in Hand. One nineteenth century licensee was also a maltster. I wonder if his malt house was attached to the pub? It was bought on 19 July 1907 by Phipps Brewery for £1,800 from Mrs E. Gilbert and the tenant's annual rent in 1909 was £25. In 1935 it was advertising 'Phipps Northampton ales and stouts. Choice wines and spirits'.
In 1755 The Bird in Hand was the meeting place of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Warwickshire (Masons). In 1921 it was the headquarters of the Coventry Premier Homing Society. Presumably this was a homing pidgeon society, rather appropriate for the name of the pub!
It closed on 29.5.1961.
LICENSEES:
1822 S. Watson
1835 - 1851 Joseph Watson
1861 Thomas Bromwich
1868 - 1874 James Bates maltster
1879 Tom Garrett
1881 J. Garrett
1886 William Lloyd
1890 - 1894 Tom Garrett
1896 Mrs E. Garrett
1903 - 1905 Elizabeth Chapman
1909 Arthur Fennell
1909 A. E. Lucas
1911 - 1922 Albert James Lucas
1924 - 1931 J. Lucas
1933 - 1934 G. H. Greetham
1935 - 1938 Mrs W. L. Greetham
1939 - 1940 R. Spicer
1955 - 1961 George Taylor
The proverbial saying, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" is of great antiquity and may have suggested this sign, a popular one since the seventeenth century. Traditionally it was illustrated by a mailed fist on which a falcon was perched.
In 1756 six soldiers were billeted here and in a poem of 1800 it was already known as the Old Bird in Hand. One nineteenth century licensee was also a maltster. I wonder if his malt house was attached to the pub? It was bought on 19 July 1907 by Phipps Brewery for £1,800 from Mrs E. Gilbert and the tenant's annual rent in 1909 was £25. In 1935 it was advertising 'Phipps Northampton ales and stouts. Choice wines and spirits'.
In 1755 The Bird in Hand was the meeting place of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Warwickshire (Masons). In 1921 it was the headquarters of the Coventry Premier Homing Society. Presumably this was a homing pidgeon society, rather appropriate for the name of the pub!
It closed on 29.5.1961.