New Star Inn, Jardine Crescent
| Alternative Addresses: | Jobs Lane | ||
| These premises have been known by different names during their history: | FROM | TO | NAME |
| 1959 | c2000 | NEW STAR INN | |
| c2000 | 2002 | THE WOODSMAN | |
The license of the New Star in Much Park Street, which closed in 1959, was transferred to these premises.
Following Coventry's period of greatest growth between 1901 and 1939, when the population of the city grew by over 160,000 and the blitz which destroyed a great deal of housing, it was felt that building large estates of between 15 and 20,000 people could best solve Coventry's housing crisis. Land was available as Coventry Corporation had acquired Tile Hill from the Stoneleigh estate of Lord Leigh as long ago as 1926. Off the shelf designs could be used and new building methods employed by contractors such as George Wimpey. The construction of Tile Hill began in 1953 and the license of the New Star transferred to the new estate pub in 1959. In fact the New Star opened on 2nd December 1959 with George Mason, a former Coventry City player as the first licensee.
 In 1982 the New Star was described as 'a comfortable modernised pub, with unusual alcoves. One of Manns' better pubs and well worth a visit'. However, recession began to bite in the 1970s and later the more prosperous sections of the working class abandoned the giant estates in pursuit of affluent individuality as home owners. Those that remained had to cope with worsening structural problems and an increased sense of inferiority. The pub declined and gained a reputation of a problem property, which lead to its rebranding as THE WOODSMAN.The star was originally as religious symbol, referring to the star of Bethlehem or to the Virgin Mary, one of whose titles is 'Star of the Sea' (Stella Maris). Since 1634 a six-pointed star also appeared in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Innholders, previously the guild of Innkeepers. The star as a pub name dates from the fifteenth century. | |||
LICENSEES:1959 George Mason 1985 Idris Reed | |||
| Previous page: New Star | This page: New Star Inn | Next page: New Tiger Moth |