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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Radford Hotel, 290 Radford Road

These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
	1929	2002	RADFORD HOTEL
	1968	2002	RADFORD
This was a large private house. It started off as a Roman Catholic School. The predecessor of Sir Roger Tichborne attended the school and married Miss Petre of Whitley Abbey at St. Osburg's Church. Sir Roger Tichborne was the person whose disappearance led to the case of the Tichborne Claimant, a notorious Victorian case. The school's chapel became the function room of the pub. In the 19th century, after alterations, the building became the home of the De Cresse family, who were associated with the Dunlop Rim and Wheel Company in Foleshill. Then in 1900 the house was bought by the Pughs. Vernon Pugh was managing director of the Rudge Whitworth cycle works in Spon Street. His son, Lieutenant 'Dick' Pugh, was a shipmate of Prince George in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Fleets and as a result Prince George, Duke of Kent, stayed at Radford Hall on a number of occasions. The Pughs lived here until 1929 when it was purchased by Atkinsons brewery. In March 1927 Reginald John Porter applied to have the license of the BUCK AND CROWN in Radford removed, to be transferred to premises proposed to be built "within the curtilage of Radford House, Radford, and intended to be known as the Radford Hotel. The owners of the property are Atkinson's Brewery, Ltd., Aston." (Midland Daily Telegraph, 9th March 1927.) A Grand Opening Concert was held on Saturday 5th October 1929. In the early days, locals played cricket behind the pub and sat in its huge garden whilst the summerhouse gradually fell into decay. The pub was later put up for sale by Atkinson's. The nearby St. Nicholas parish church considered purchasing it to use as a vicarage but in the end decided to build a smaller dwelling at the end of Tulliver Street. The pub was sold to Mitchells and Butlers. From 1968 the hotel began to be known as simply THE RADFORD. The last large building from the old village of Radford was vandalised and demolished in 2002.
LICENSEES: 1928 Reginald John Porter 1928 - 1935 Charles Henry Phillips 1935 - 1936 Charles Hayden George Sanders 1936 - 1939 Frank Allen 1939 William Harold Spinks 1950 - 1956 Herbert Joseph Clowes (Died Jan 1956. See also the Hop Pole, Leicester Row, Gosford Park, Northfield Road) 1956 Kathleen Mary Clowes (widow of Herbert) 1960 - 1962 H. Chamber 1969 Albert Douglas 1973 Mr. Ratcliffe 1975 Mr. R. Hodges 1983 Ron Freemantle
OWNERS: From 1928 Atkinsons ? Mitchells & Butler