Fox and Vivian, 48 Gosford Street
| Alternative Addresses: | 49 Gosford Street | ||
A vivian was a type of dog, so the fox and vivian means the fox and dog.
The earliest found mention of this pub was in the Coventry Standard in 1844.
In 1846 the Fox and Vivian is mentioned when looms were being sold in a nearby shop. In 1926 this was a Charringtons pub with an annual rent of £60. They sold it in that year, saying that it was 'practically surrounded by the important Morris works'.
In 1970 it was awaiting demolition for extensions to Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University). It had a fourteenth or fifteenth century cellar of massive stones. It closed on 7th january 1971.
From the Coventry Evening Telegraph special publication "Cheers - Pubs, taverns and alehouses of old Coventry", March 1992. "Thomas Hipkiss and his wife were the last licensees when the pub closed at Christmas 1970. Mr Hipkiss had been a butcher with the Co-op in Coventry before he entered the licensed trade, and had only moved from a Measham pub to the Fox and Vivian eight months prior to its demolition.
There has always been much conjecture over the origins of the name. The most likely explanation is that it has hunting associations. Vivian was, according to one source, the mythical god of hunting, but historian Charles Lines was probaby right when he said that the word referred to hunting horses in Warwickshire Tradition has it that the original cellars were connected with the Whitefriars, and could have been an old tavern where business was carried out years ago". | |||
LICENSEES:1848 Charles Twaites 1848 John Donald 1850 - 1851 Samuel Beesley 1868 - 1871 John H. Shillcock 1879 - 1881 Isaac Carter 1886 - 1896 J. Bayliss 1896 A. J. Lindon 1901 J. Taylor 1903 Arthur Toney 1905 Joseph Astley 1909 R. Pegg 1911 - 1922 Lewis H. Francis 1929 - 1932 R. Don 1933 - 1936 W. Lomas 1937 - 1938 F. Brown 1948 - 1950 Basil Benn (see also Dolphin, Sherrif Avenue 1950 - 60 and Live and Let Live, Wood End 1960 onwards) 1970 Thomas Hipkiss (see also Minstrel Boy in Allesley Park 1970 onwards) | |||
OWNERS:to 1926 Charringtons ? Atkinsons | |||
 Street plan of 1851 | |||
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