Bowling Green, 75 Spon Street
| Alternative Addresses: | Upper Spon Street | ||
| These premises have been known by different names during their history: | FROM | TO | NAME |
| c1829 | 1868 | VICTORIA VAULTS | |
| 1868 | 1871 | BOARD | |
| 1874 | ? | SPOTTED DOG | |
| 1879 | 1907 | MELBOURNE HOTEL | |
| 1907 | 1909 | MELBOURNE GARDENS | |
| 1909 | 1910 | GRANBY ARMS | |
| 1910 | 2002 | BOWLING GREEN INN | |
| 2002 | 2010 | NEW BOWLER | |
The name is a reference to a very popular pub game, advertising the presence of a bowling green.
This pub is said to have been built originally in c1829 as the Victoria Vaults, then becoming the Spotted Dog, the Board in 1868, the Melborne Hotel in 1879, the Melbourne Gardens in 1907, and the Granby Arms in 1909. It became the Bowling Green in 1910. The bowling green was sold and the old people's accommodation called Wellington Gardens was erected on its site. The pub was demolished and replaced with a new building in 1959.
In the 1960s, Albert Swain kept the Bowling Green. Up until 1947 he had been a professional heavyweight boxer and at one time rated fourth in the country. Swain was a Coventry man and in his younger days boxed for Cox Street Working Men's Club and was also Midlands heavyweight champion.
In 2002 the Bowling Green was refurbished and renamed the New Bowler. It closed in 2010 and was purchased by a local charity never to reopen. | |||
LICENSEES:1910 - 1912 Alfred John Jarrard 1912 - 1913 Henry Oswin 1921- 1922 W. Tranrer 1924 B. Woodward 1926 - 1929 F. A. Gregg 1931 - 1932 F. Dingley 1933 - 1936 R. J. Cooke 1937 - 1938 H. Cleaver 1939 - 1940 L. H. Pitchford 1960s Albert Swain (see below) | |||
OWNERS:1960 Mitchells & Butlers | |||
 Street plan of 1851 | |||
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