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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Queen's Hotel, 66 Hertford Street

The Queen's Hotel in the 1930s. A proposal to build the Queens Hotel was made in February 1878 (reported in the Nuneaton Observer, 22nd February), a site being "secured in Hertford Street, comprising the well-known Red Lion Inn and adjoining premises, with frontage to Hertford Street of 70 feet, also a large frontage to Grey Friars and Warwick Lanes, with a good carriage entrance." By October that year building had begun on the site of the now demolished Red Lion. The hotel opened on the 11th December 1879 to much local attention, and Lord Leigh's cab was the first vehicle to drive into its courtyard. From time to time the Midland Daily Telegraph reported it as the "Queen's Head Hotel", but this appears to be erroneous. In 1896 Harry Lawson, Chairman of the British motor Syndicate, brought Leon Bollee over from Paris with one of his his motor tricycles and lodged him at the Queen's Hotel. This was at a time when the Red Flag Act was still in power. The Red Flag Act forbade any vehicle on the open road from travelling at more than 4 m.p.h., that is unless it was preceded by a man carrying a red flag. This was fine when the only motorised transport on the roads was traction engines but by now it was holding back the British from establishing a motor industry. In what appears to be a deliberate act of defiance the Lord Mayor, Alderman London, with the assistance of six policemen, drove the motorised tricycle from the Queens Hotel through the streets without a red flag. It was definitely capable of much more than 4 m.p.h. Unfortunately, the Hotel was hit by an incendiary bomb during the blitz of November 15th 1940 (right). Although firemen tackled the blaze on the top floor, it was decided to blow the building up to create a fire-break to prevent the fire reaching the next door Central Post Office. So, in effect the Queens Hotel was bombed by its own side! All that remained were the dining room and kitchens which continued as the Queen's Hotel, being improved and modernised in 1954. I can well remember the pub in Hertford Street in the 1950s although I did wonder why it didn't have a frontage like the rest of the street! It closed c1966 and was demolished in January 1967. This could refer to a number of queens, Elizabeth I, Victoria or Anne being the usual candidates.

LICENSEES: 1879 James Tomkies 1879 Emma Yates 1886 - 1887 John Bernhardt Brenmehl 1887 - 1890 James Thompson 1890 Laura Thompson 1893 - 1901 Albert L. Liddiard 1901 - 1902 Louisa Emmeline Liddiard 1902 - 1908 Thomas Henry Cooper (died 29th May 1908) 1908 - 1909 William Cooper (brother and executor for Thomas) 1912 Edward James Robinson 1912 - 1915 Richard Henry Smith 1915 - 1922 Arthur Henry Tyack 1922 Charles Thomas William Finch (Jan to May) 1922 - 1923 Edward Powys Harding 1923 - 1939 Robert James (Bob) Oxley (retired) 1941 Lawrence Stockdale Parker (joined the army) 1941 Harold John Redfern 1951 William Felton (moved to the Phantom Coach) 1951 Maurice Eldridge (moved from the Phantom Coach) 1960 - 1963 Mr. and Mrs. Philip North 1963 - 1965 Frederick Brown