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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Lord Nelson, 56 Smithford Street

These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
	c1800	1924	Lord Nelson
	1879	1890	Godiva Vaults
	1879	1890	Lady Godiva
	1910	1928	Empire Vaults
The premises are thought to date from c1800, and Lord Nelson visited Coventry in 1802 staying at the KINGS HEAD HOTEL. In 1801 JCM records the name ADMIRAL NELSON. By 1822 it was the LORD NELSON, but in 1846 an auction was advertised for "Several Messuages... situate in Smithford Street... partly known as the NELSON TAVERN, and an adjoining House, lately occupied by Mr. Stowe...". J. Stowe had been the licensee of the tavern around 1822. By July 1879 the name had changed to the LADY GODIVA, but between 1880 and 1890 it was variously called the GODIVA VAULTS or GODIVA SPIRIT VAULTS, before Joseph Baker took over the license from William Taylor on the 31st July 1890, returning the inn to the name LORD NELSON, while advertising it very heavily from August 1890 as a "Luncheon Bar". From 1892 it was leased by Phillips and Marriott for 21 years at £95 per annum, from J. Laxon, 2 Bath Terrace, Holyhead Road, Coventry. In 1903 Phillips and Marriott record that the cellar was taken away and they were allowed £5 per annum off their rent for this. By February 1910 the name EMPIRE VAULTS began to be used, although the name LORD NELSON was still being used in various directories until around 1924. It appears likely that the pub took the later name from the Empire Palace of Varieties which was on the opposite side of Smithfield Street (see Theatre Vaults). In February 1925 Walter Ernest Morley applied for the license of the EMPIRE VAULTS to be removed for the building of the MAUDSLAY HOTEL. The application was refused on this occasion, but in 1927 it was accepted, and the new pub, on the Allesley Old road opposite Maudslay Road, was completed in 1928 and opened on Friday 14th December that year. The ROBIN HOOD, Cox Street, was closed in consideration of this license removal. Horatio Nelson (1785 - 1805), 1st Viscount Nelson was probably England's greatest hero. There are more pubs named for him than any other person. He was born at Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, and died on board HMS Victory at Trafalgar in 1805. His naval career began in 1770, and by the age of twenty one he was a post-captain. He came to notice in the 1790s in the war with France. His destruction of the French fleet at Aboukir (1798) ended Napoleon's plan of conquest in the East. In 1801 he defeated the Danes at Copenhagen, but his greatest victory was at Trafalgar, where he destroyed the combined French and Spanish fleets.
LICENSEES: 1822 - 1823 J. Stowe 1828 - 1832 William Johnson 1832 - 1833 Emma Payne 1834 - 1844 Samuel Pearson (died in December 1844) 1844 - 1847 Elizabeth Pearson (Samuel's wife) 1847 - 1856 John Lydiatt (moved to the William IV, Spon Street) 1856 - 1857 Thomas Bottrill (moved to the White Lion) 1857 - 1861 William Kirkpatrick 1868 Joseph Barker 1868 - 1872 Abraham Jennings (lost license Oct. 1872 after convicted of allowing prostitutes to remain in the premises) 1874 - 1877 William Holt (committed suicide June 1877) 1877 - 1878 Mary Ann Holt (moved to the Watchmakers Arms) 1878 - 1880 Charles Alexander 1880 - 1884 George Frederick Lazenby 1886 - 1888 George Smail 1888 - 1890 William Taylor 1890-1892 Joseph Baker 1892 - 1893 John Padgett 1893 Thomas Henry Birch 1893 - 1894 George Rush 1894 - 1896 Harry Bowkett 1896 William John Jarrard 1896 - 1902 William 'Smiler' Raven 1902 - 1904 Charles Harry Parkes (declared bankrupt in March 1904) 1904 Herbert Henry Archer 1904 - 1905 Thomas George Porter 1906 Herbert Henry Archer 1906 - 1908 James Betts 1908 - 1909 Thomas Stone 1909 - 1912 Thomas Phipps 1912 - 1916 Alfred Hurst 1916 - 1919 Joseph Cross 1919 - 1922 Alfred Hurst 1922 - 1923 John Leeson 1923 - 1928 Walter Ernest Morley 1928 - 1929 Mark William Blackford
OWNERS: 1892 - 1913 J. Laxon, 2 Bath Terrace, Holyhead Road, Coventry 1913 - 1927 Phillips and Marriotts
Street plan of 1851