Leopard, 64 Smithford Street
Smithford Street 1900. Classic old turn-of-the-century view of Smithford Street looking westwards from the junction with High Street, Hertford Street and Broadgate. The Kings Head Inn is on the left.
In 1756 four soldiers were billeted here. An army recruiting office was set up at the pub in 1761 and in the following year a woman was whipped from the gaol to the Cross for stealing from the Leopard. In July 1785 the Aris's Birmingham Gazette reported an auction held here, at the house of Samuel Hams, who died in 1826 aged 90.
In July 1843 the Bell's Life in London and Sporting Chronicle described John Adrian's pub as the "Spotted Leopard", Coventry!
As early as 1936 the seeds were being sown for the end of this pub. On the 5th February the Northampton Brewery Company met at a Coventry Licensing meeting to apply to remove the Leopard's licence to a not-yet-constructed Three Spires Hotel in Grayswood Avenue. The application was refused, as the pub was ". . . doing a good trade, and there was no question of redundancy". The brewery again applied for removal almost exactly a year later.
The brewery must have eventually got their way, because the Midland Daily Telegraph of 6th July 1938 reported that the Leopard had been sold for £15,000, and by March 1939 Jackson the Tailor was advertising opening his shop at 64 Smithford Street.This name is probably a heraldic reference to the Weavers' Company, whose arms show three leopards' heads. | |||
LICENSEES:1785 - 1797 Samuel Hams 1820 - 1823 Thomas Grimes ? George John Lowe (insolvent, Nov 1828) 1825 - 1829 John Aston 1829 - 1832 William Wakelin (committed suicide 10th Jul 1832) 1841 - 1843 John 'Fatty' Adrian 1849 James Tayton 1849 - 1863 Thomas Aspinall 1863 - 1866 David Sanders 1866 - 1869 Thomas H. Davis 1869 - 1871 Harry Bishop 1871 - 1872 Mary Clarke 1872 - 1874 James Wilcox 1874 - 1875 Robert Higgitt 1875 - 1876 Samuel Newey 1876 - 1878 John Hobson 1878 - 1879 Henry French 1879 Mr. Colley 1879 Thomas Houghton 1881 - 1905 Henry Yardley 1909 - 1913 William H. Smith 1919 - 1922 Ernest John Sanders 1924 - 1932 Ernest Baron 1932 - 1938 Walter Judd | |||
 Street plan of 1851 | |||
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