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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Golden Horse, Palace Yard, Earl Street

Alternative Addresses:	South Side Of Broadgate, Earl Street
These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
	1426	1426	Bell
	1471	1670	Crown (Le Crown)
	1471	1670	Crown (Le Crown)
	1471	1670	Crown (Le Crown)
	1779	1779	Bell and Crown
	1828	1841	Golden Horse
A name which seems most popular in Coventry, for some reason. In c1907 Mary Dormer Harris wrote. "What a medley of humanity have found entertainment in the courtyard and under the gables of that old Stuart house that falls daily into greater decay. There was the casual wayfarer, for it was once an inn bearing the sign of the 'Golden Horse', in proof whereof may be seen the board behind the door under the archway giving all kinds of coaching information. Lastly a king and courtiers, and many of the Royal Blood of the House of Stuart on sundry occasions, partook of the hospitality of the Hopkins family, who held the house for more than two hundred years.... and the noise of a factory mounts up from the place where in times past was a pleasant garden ground". In Local Memoranda Cuttings from the Coventry Times it is said of Palace Yard (pictured on the right in 1939) that "the mansion continued in the Hopkins family.... until 1822, when it was sold. The house has since been used successively as a school, an inn bearing the sign of the Golden Horse, and of late years as a builder's yard, and a portion let out as offices". This may be the same premises as the Crown Inn, High Street. In 1822 J. Quiney ran the Golden Horse in Bayley Lane. That cannot have been the same premises as the Golden Horse in Earl Street because Bayley Lane is on the opposite side of Earl Street. We can only surmise that when the Bayley Lane Golden Horse closed Mr Quinney took the name and his customers to new premises in Earl Street.
LICENSEES: 1828 Joseph Quiney 1835 - 1841 John Lloyd
Street plan of 1851