Hare and Squirrel, 1 Cow Lane
| Alternative Addresses: | Greyfriars Lane, Union Street | ||
| These premises have been known by different names during their history: | FROM | TO | NAME |
| 1765 | 1994 | HARE AND SQUIRREL | |
| 1994 | c2013 | FLANKER AND FIRKIN | |
| c2013 | present | SQUIRREL | |
This name is a rather odd combination of symbols. Perhaps it is just meant to convey a pastoral impression.
In early 1765 Thomas Edawrd and John Green, both of Stoneleigh, were in the pub after attending market day in Coventry. They entered at 10 o'clock and they spent about two hours in the company of two dragoons, John Floor of Stoneleigh and the innkeeper's servants, Richard and John Spencer. When they left they walked back towards Stoneleigh, but having reached Canley were set upon and robbed. Edwards was killed. The two dragoons, along with a wever, Thomas Moses, were found guilty of the murder and later hanged on Gibbett Hill.
The original Hare and Squirrel stood in the midst of what was mediaeval Coventry, an ancient timbered building surrounded by orchards and with plenty of stabling to the rear.In 1853 it was for sale, with the brewing plant and utensils, being on the corner of Cow Lane and Union Street. In the late 1920s the original pub was demolished and on doing so sandstone walls were found. These were interpreted as a part of a chapel belonging to Greyfriars Monastery. The new pub opened in 1931.
From 1955 to 1957 the Hare and Squirrel was advertised as a public house, restaurant and hotel.
The most notable feature of the new pub was when, after 1979, the ceiling had a huge classical scene place on it. The bar was compared to the Cistine Chapel.
Note how the earlier licensees were all maltsters as well and how many women kept the pub. There were four of them; Anna Maria Campion, Caroline Claridge, Lucy E. Stafford and Mrs M. Llewellyn between 1850 and 1905.
In 1994 it became the FLANKER AND FIRKIN and in 2010 the SQUIRREL. | |||
LICENSEES:1822 - 1829 J. Graham 1841 - 1853 Robert Campion & maltster 1850 - 1851 Anna Maria Campion & maltster 1861 Caroline Claridge & maltster 1868 - 1886 Edwin Broom & maltster 1890 - 1891 William Arnett 1893 - 1894 A. W. Hitchin(s) 1896 Lucy E. Stafford 1903 - 1905 Mrs M. Llewellyn 1909 W. H. Timms 1911 - 1924 Alfred Elton 1926 - 1929 A. Petty New Building 1931 - 1938 C. S. Melbourne 1939 - 1940 Ind, Coope and Alsopp Ltd, Proprietors 1960 Wallace Bennett (see above) 1960 - 1966 D. Maughan 1970 - 1971 Peter Gilbert | |||
OWNERS:1939/40 Ind, Coope and Alsopp 1962 Ansells | |||
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