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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Red Horse Inn, 87 Woodway Lane, Walsgrave On Sowe

The Red Horse. Immediately to its right is the Craven Arms. In 1844 an inquest was held at the pub into the death of Clive Elton after a wagon had run over him at the local colliery. From 1874 to 1876 see BEERHOUSE, Walsgrave, Liggins Two pubs stood side by side on Woodway Lane until just after the Second World War. The Craven Arms still stands but its one time neighbour, the Red Horse, was demolished it is said on the grounds of redundancy. With the demise of the coal industry locally and the introduction controls on the numbers of pubs, one had to go. The Craven Arms had been completely rebuilt in 1925 and was, on the whole, the more popular venue so it was the Red Horse that went. It closed in 1937. Jane Ellen Clarke, the licensee in the early years of the twentieth century, wouldn't let anyone have more than two halves of beer. She wouldn't serve anyone any more. The coal miners would drop in before their shift at the Alexandra pit and buy a mug of coffee with a tot of rum in it for 4d. In later years the miners drank rather larger quantities in the Red Horse and on pay day the wives would send the children to the pub to get their father's wages off them. The horse is one of the most popular animals for pub names.

LICENSEES: 1879 Thomas Penney 1880 John Liggins 1900 - 1912 Mrs. Jane Ellen Clarke 1924 - 1938 James W. Atkins