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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Nursery Tavern, 38 Lord Street

These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
			NURSERY GARDENS
The first real building on the land around the Chapelfields area was Chapelfields House with a nursery garden at the beginning of the 19th century. The nursery garden was called Weare's Nursery and lay on Thomas White's Charity Land. Thomas Weare, a nurseryman and seedsman, had a shop in Broadgate and it is because of him that the Nursery Tavern got its name. In 1845 an Act of parliament empowered the trustees of the charity to lay out roads and sell plots by public auction for development. The license for the 'Nursery Gardens' was granted to George Hands on 27th August 1852. The name soon became the Nursery Tavern. In the 1970s the Nursery was known as 'Kelly's' after the family that had run it for many years. When Tony Kelly retired, Manns took the opportunity to double the size of the pub by extending into the next door house.
LICENSEES: 1852 George Hands 1861 James Palmer 1863 Benjamin Archer 1868 Alfred Sutherland 1871 - 1874 Thomas J. Oates watchmaker finisher 1881 - 1886 J. Miles 1890 - 1893 Hannah Trueman 1894 - 1896 H. Shufflebotham 1903 - 1922 John Shufflebotham 1924 - 1929 W. A. Clews 1931 - 1940 T. J. Kelly c1979 Tony Kelly 1983 T. O'Loughlin