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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Kenilworth Castle, 39 Hertford Street

These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
	1835	1835	Barrel
	1835	1939	Kenilworth Castle
Named after nearby Kenilworth Castle, this pub is typical of many properties in Hertford Street in the early part of the 19th century. This would have been a postcard produced for the proprietor, J.T. Woodward, who is proudly standing at the door. The Geisha Cafe can be seen to the right, this being a favourite meeting place for shoppers to have a cream cake and a cup of tea. In 1835 this was the BARREL. A mistranscription of the 1861 census incorrectly labelled this pub as the Hertford Cottage, instead of Kenilworth Castle. On the 1st April 1938 the Coventry Licensing Justices confirmed Mitchells and Butlers' application to remove the pub's licence. The intention was to transfer the licence to the proposed Cheylesmore in Daventry Road. This move was in anticipation of the widening of the lower west side of Hertford Street. It closed in 1939, with compensation of £3,850 being settled upon. However, ironically the intervention of war actually prevented the proposed demolition, which didn't happen until 1965. Photographed in 1912 advertising Thornley's beers.
LICENSEES: 1835 Thomas Beard 1841- 1845 James Ratliff 1849 - 1854 Henry (Joseph) Nicholls 1854 Thomas Stone 1855 - 1861 Henry Nicholls (died 13th Sep 1861, aged 51) 1861 - 1864 Charlotte Nicholls (widow of Henry) 1864 - 1868 William Bromley 1871 Henry Smith 1874 M. A. Smith 1878 - 1882 Richard Pickering 1882 - 1884 James Daffan 1884 - 1885 Henry Garlick 1885 William Carpenter 1885 - 1890 Jeremiah Medlicott 1890 - 1896 Elizabeth Medlicott 1899 - 1909 Jesse Tom Woodward 1909 - 1915 Walter Gawthorp 1915 - 1916 George Thomas Gawthorp 1916 - 1917 Walter Gawthorp 1917 - 1923 Percy Robert Cooper Wyatt 1923 - 1933 Bert Town 1933 - 1934 Percy Williams 1934 - 1936 Vernon Grove 1936 - 1938 Archibald Ernest Farren 1938 - 1939 Charles Sidney Fisher 1939 Leonard Atherton
Street plan of 1851