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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Foleshill Old Hall, Lythalls Lane, Foleshill

Alternative Addresses:	Foleshill Hall Lane c1887
These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
			FOLESHILL HALL
			OLDE HALL HOTEL
			YE OLDE HALL HOTEL
The Old Hall in the mid-1920s with then Licensee Percy Lewis. (Below, Percy with his family.) This name is purely descriptive. Foleshill Hall stood opposite Foleshill Hall Farm on Lythalls Lane. The oldest part of the building was said to date from around 1700, though there were suggestions that the west side was considerably older. It was the home of the Riley family in the early twentieth century (as far as we can ascertain there is no connection between these Rileys and the Riley family that owned the nearby car factory). In 1914 it was purchased by Phillips and Marriotts for £1,383. This was their response to the reform movement which encouraged brewers to open pubs with the atmosphere of country houses or country clubs and close down 'redundant' drinking dens in more central areas. Phillips and Marriotts also bought the Barras House at much the same time. In 1916 the license of the Horse and Jockey in Hawkesbury and the Shoulder of Mutton in Walsgrave were surrendered for Foleshill Old Hall. From British History Online: "The oldest part of the present 'Foleshill Olde Hall' public house is the east or garden front which dates from c.1700 and is of red brick with stone quoins and dressings. The central doorway has a contemporary stone surround and the windows were formerly of the mullioned and transomed type. A drawing of 1883 suggests that the west side of the building may have been considerably older. The house was later almost entirely rebuilt and internally its only ancient feature is an early-17th-century oak staircase which has been reset. The present west front dates from 1915 when the building was converted into a public house. In 1887 Foleshill Hall Farm was still in existence on the north side of Lythall's (then Foleshill Hall) Lane, but the whole area must have been much altered in 1850 by the construction of the railway which runs within 50 yards of the old hall." Foleshill Old Hall became part of Coventry in the boundary extension of 1928.There were a number of variants of the name over the years. I prefer to stick to the version it had after the Second World War. In 1983 it was described as 'a large pub with many rooms and good beer'. In 1989 it was demolished to make way for Phoenix Way, in what seems a particularly crude piece of vandalism. I always thought it was such a fascinating place. Google Earth shows the site as still undeveloped. In fact there doesn't appear to be any good reason for the Hall to have been demolished in the first place. The hall was originally a manor house and continued to be the centre of a small estate until its conversion into a pub during the First World War. The first landlord, Henry Sutton, took over what was to be known as "Foleshill Olde Hall" pub and hotel in February 1917. Big thanks to Mary Cheadle and "The Dutchman" from the Historic Coventry website and forum for some of the written content of this page.
LICENSEES: 1917 - ? Henry Sutton - Foleshill Hall c1926 - Percy Lewis tbc 1928 - 1932 William Phillip Parker -Old Hall Hotel 1932 - 1938 John Henry (Harry) Ward - Old Hall Hotel (see also Crow in the Oak, Foleshill, the Bell, Keresley and Castle Vaults, Market Place) 1938 - 1939 Thomas Victor King - Ye Old Hall Hotel 1939 - 1942 Albert George Maisey 1942 - 1944 Gertrude Maisey 1944 - 1950 Henry Clewlow 1950 Walter Henry Clewlow 1950 - 1961 Henry Walker - Foleshill Old Hall 1961 onwards Charles Henry Frost (Ye Olde Hall)
OWNERS: to 1914 Riley family 1914 - 1924 Phillips and Marriott, Coventry 1924 - 1956 Bass Ratcliffe & Gretton Ltd, Burton on Trent