Old Plough, 9 Spon Street
| These premises have been known by different names during their history: | FROM | TO | NAME |
| OLD PLOUGH | |||
| PLOUGH | |||
This is one of the commonest pub names in Britain, having been in use since at least the sixteenth century. Apart from the farm implement signs often show the group of seven stars in the Ursa Major constellation called 'the plough'.
The pub is thought to date to the early years on the nineteenth century. The land that it occupied would once have included a spacious garden that ran down to the River Sherbourne. By this time gardens were all being built on. As well as the pub itself there was a brewhouse, carpenters shop and cellarage that could accommodate 2,500 gallons of ale. This sounds like a substantial business premises to me. Also in the grounds was another large dwelling containing a brew house, a large garden suitable for further development and five tenements at the end of the garden. Bear in mind that a brew house was simply a place where water was boiled; it does not necessarily imply that beer was brewed there. The pub was advertised for sale in 1840.
The usual inquests were held at the Plough and in 1859 a Foleshill man committed suicide at the pub by shooting himself through the body.
In November 1940 the Plough was completely destroyed when it suffered a direct hit by enemy bombing. Six people were killed including the proprietor, Lilly Potter. On the site today stands a timber-framed building originally standing in Much Park Street and reconstructed in Spon Street in 1972.
See also PLOUGH, Spon Street. | |||
LICENSEES:1840 George Kent 1841 Eli Hartwell 1850 F. J. Wood 1850 Thomas Hughes 1859 Mr Feltham 1861 James W. Thompson licensed victualler & stone mason 1868 - 1871 Mrs Sarah Ann Warwick dressmaker & licensed victualler 1874 J. Malin 1879 Mrs Mary Ellen Malin 1881 - 1886 Charles Jones 1890 - 1900 John Horobin 1903 - 1912 William H. Jackson (see also at The Old Dyers Arms 1919 to 1922) 1912 - 1919 James Thomas Stringer 1921 - 1922 A. C. Maiden 1924 - 1929 F. Garner 1931 - 1940 E. C. Potter | |||
 Street plan of 1851 | |||
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