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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Old Mitre, 140 Much Park Street

These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
	1734	1767	New Star
	1734	1767	Old Star
	1822	1874	Old Mitre
As the New Star with Tom Brown in the 1920s. This name is a reference to the deeply cleft hat worn by bishops and some abbots. It is a symbol of a bishop's office. It is a convenient visual symbol and has been used as an inn sign since the fifteenth century, especially in cathedral towns. This was the OLD STAR until c1756 when Alderman Hewitt records two soldiers being billeted here. It was licensed by William Lloyd and William Hill, except for a period in the 1860s. In the 1861 census it is held by Mary Hands, a 39 year old ribbon dresser and wine merchant, and is described as a wine and spirit vaults. She was a widow with three sons and a daughter and appears to have resorted to other means to make a living, as in 1864 the then licensee, Barringer Hunt, was fined £2 for keeping a disorderly house, that is, for allowing prostitutes to assemble in his house. I imagine Barringer Hunt was employed as licensee to bring an aura of male respectability to the 'disorderly house'. In 1875 William Hill passed the license to Henry Hands, who had transferred from the Old Star Inn in Earl Street. It would appear that it was Hands who changed the pub's name to the NEW STAR.
LICENSEES: 1822 - 1829 William Lloyd 1835 - 1858 William Hill (moved to the Old Stag, Bishop Street, but license was not passed to W. Hands until Nov. 1859) 1859 - 1860 Walter Hands 1860 - 1862 Mary Hands (as The Mitre) 1862 George Albert Ohren (as The Mitre) 1862 - 1864 John Halford Ohren (as The Mitre) 1864 Barringer Hunt (as The Mitre) 1869 David Bonham 1869 - 1875 William Hill (again) 1875 Henry Hands
Street plan of 1851