Melbourne Gardens, 75 Spon Street

These premises have been known by different names during their history:FROMTONAME
18621871WINE AND SPIRIT VAULTS
18711872BOARD
18741875SPOTTED DOG
18751924MELBOURNE GARDENS / MELBOURNE HOTEL
19081909GRANBY ARMS
19112002BOWLING GREEN
20022010NEW BOWLER
Melbourne Hotel 1902
The Melbourne Hotel in 1902. The premises on its left were demolished within a few years for the building of Windsor Street.
John Rowley took over the license of the pub as the SPOTTED DOG in May 1875, but by August that year it was already being called MELBOURNE GARDENS, a name largely kept until 1924. For a period between 1889 and 1907 it was also often referred to as the MELBOURNE HOTEL, Spon Street. However, for an even shorter period - 1908 to 1909 - the pub was known by a different name. Edwin Herbert Duggan took over as licensee of the Melbourne Gardens in November 1907, but by January the following year it was being called the GRANBY ARMS - a name used until at least August 1909 when the Coventry Herald reported a meeting of the Butts Albions Rugby Football Club at the pub. The brief name change might be connected with the fact that in 1907 the police objected to the renewal of the license for the Melbourne Gardens. The reasons for this objection are not clear, but the license was renewed by the justices anyway, so the the name change was perhaps as a result of the objection. By the time Duggan handed the license over to Jesse Tom Woodward in December 1909, the name Melbourne Gardens was once again being used. From early in 1911 the pub also took on the name The BOWLING GREEN, which was to stay until 2002. The name Melbourne Gardens persisted until 1924, though, and in July 1923 the Midland Daily Telegraph reported a fine for 'Herbert Woodward, the licensee of the " Melbourne Gardens Inn, " at the corner of Spon Street and Windsor Street - better known as the " Bowling Green ".'
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (1779 - 1848) was the prime minister who taught statecraft to the young Queen Victoria. Melbourne in Australia was named after him; it was earlier known as Dootigala. Melbourne was separated from his wife, Caroline Lamb, who wrote minor novels of little interest to the public and had an affair with Lord Byron, which was of much more interest to the public. There is a Melbourne Road in Earlsdon.

LICENSEES:

1871 - 1875 William Brennand 1875 - 1876 John Rowley 1876 - 1880 Richard Leggett 1880 - 1881 Henry Wilford and Thomas Henry Greasley 1883 Charles Robinson Adkins 1886 William Thomas Waters 1886 Jacob Nicholls 1888 Josiah Mills 1888 Joseph Johnson (Aug to Nov) 1888 - 1893 Claude Hampton 1893 - 1894 John Harry Smith 1894 - 1895 Lucy Emma Stafford 1895 - 1900 James Henry Tilley 1900 - 1901 Alexander Thomas 1901 - 1902 Arthur Goldsby 1902 - 1903 Henry Sanders 1903 - 1904 George Unwin 1904 - 1907 Thomas Henry Buckley 1907 William R. Viggers (May to Nov) 1907 - 1909 Edwin Herbert Duggan (as the Granby Arms) 1909 Jesse Tom Woodward 1910 - 1912 Alfred John Jarrard 1911 - 1913 Henry Oswin (died early 1913) 1916 - 1922 William Tranter 1923 - 1924 Herbert (Bert) Woodward 1924 - 1929 Frank Archibald Gregg 1931 - 1932 F. Dingley 1933 - 1936 R. J. Cooke 1937 - 1938 H. Cleaver 1939 - 1940 L. H. Pitchford 1960s Albert Swain
Melbourne Gardens
Street plan of 1851
Google map location
(Due to the scaling on old maps, the pin location might not be 100% accurate.)
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