Plough, 9 Spon Street
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, carpenter's shop, and cellarage that could accommodate 2,500 gallons of ale - very substantial business premises. 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. A brew house might only be a place where water was boiled, though; it does not necessarily imply that beer was brewed there.
On the 30th September 1836 a new licence was granted to Charles Bagshaw, who sadly died less than four months later.
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. The timber-framed building originally standing in Much Park Street was reconstructed in Spon Street in 1972.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'. | |||
LICENSEES:1836 - 1837 Charles Bagshaw (died Jan 1837) 1840 George Kent 1841 - 1842 Eli Hartwell 1842 Thomas Tuckey 1844 - 1848 Daniel Cotton 1850 F. J. Wood 1850 Thomas Hughes 1858 Elizabeth Wetton 1858 - 1859 Thomas Feltham 1861 James W. Thompson, licensed victualler & stone mason 1867 James Hall 1867 - 1871 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 Henry 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 | |||