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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Newt and Cucumber, Bayley Lane

These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
		2010	NEWTZ
	1993		NEWT AND CUCUMBER
	2010	2013	BAYLEY'S
	2015	present	BAYLEY LANE KITCHEN
The Newt and Cucumber, Bayley Lane. It became a trendy wine bar called 'Bayley's' before being a restaurant This was the name of a chain of pubs. Before the pub this site was occupied by St. Michael's Baptist Church, otherwise known as Hay Lane Baptist Church. It was destroyed in the blitz of 1940 and afterwards the cellars were filled with water and used as a temporary static water tank. This temporary measure lasted for 50 years. In 1990, whilst the lead-lined concrete base of the tank was being channelled for services and drains at over 3 metres below the surface of Hay Lane, the castle ditch to Coventry castle was found. It ran north-south parallel with the lane and under the listed houses on the east side of the lane and was said to be of a massive size. No other features survived at this immense depth. It opened on 18th May 1993. The NEWT AND CUCUMBER was later renamed NEWTZ, and later BAYLEY'S. In 2015 it became the BAYLEY LANE KITCHEN. The Newt & Cucumber was built on the site of St. Michael's Baptist Church (pictured on the right from the Illustrated London News in 1856) which was gutted in the blitz, the land it stood on left derelict for many years.