 The earliest record found for this pub is 1676, when it was leased by R. Hopkins to J. Washington.
On the 22nd July 1754 the Aris's Birmingham Gazette reported that "On Saturday Morning [20th July] was discover'd by some Hay-makers in a Field near the Seven Stars Inn, about two Miles from Coventry, the Body of a well-dress'd Man, with his Skull fractured, and Head greatly bruised, and by him a Hedge-Stake, with which he was supposed to be murder'd. His Pockets were emptied, his Knee, Stock, and Shoe Buckles, and Shoes, were taken away, and a very old Pair of Shoes left by him."
During the eighteenth century the Seven Stars was a stopping place on the turnpike road to London near Willenhall Bridge. At that time the main London Road followed the route of the present Abbey Road. In 1763 it was briefly involved in the affair of the 'Coventry Gang'. During the 18th century large gangs of lawless criminals roamed the country. One such gang, although based in a quiet backwater near London, arrived in Coventry on Great Fair Day, June 3, 1763, intent on picking pockets and robbery. They robbed the Caste Inn on Broadgate of £200 and some silver items. One robber was apprehended close to the Castle whilst another three escaped towards Leicester and were caught by their pursuers. Yet most of the gang slipped out of Coventry undetected and met at the Seven Stars Inn on the London Road before departing for their headquarters near London.
However, four gang members lay in prison in Coventry and it did not take long for Alderman Hewitt, three times mayor and renown thief-taker, to track down the hide-out and arrest more of the gang. Interestingly the gang members were charged not only with the robbery of the Castle, but also of premises in London, Lichfield, Worcester, Manchester, Derbyshire and Cheshire. Although their base was near London, they were always referred to as the 'Coventry Gang', as they were apprehended, tried and hanged there.
The Seven Stars appears on the O.S. map of 1834. The inn is a block with two projecting arms whilst the outbuildings are an L-shaped structure. The decline of coach travel with the expansion of the railways had sealed the fate of the Seven Stars as an inn by the middle of the 19th century. By the 1860s the licensee, Richard Kimberley, was also listed as a farmer. In 1905 the Seven Stars was demolished, although an Edwardian replacement, called Seven Stars House, was built on the same site and continued to hold a license until 1927.
It is now No. 401 London Road. The only remains of the Seven Stars Inn-cum-farm today are its outbuildings which are now the Folly Lane Old Boys' Social Club. In recent decades an industrial estate has been built just off Humber Road (Folly Lane) and named the 'Seven Stars Industrial Estate' even though it is some distance from the site of the Seven Stars Inn.
In 1841 the premises were recorded as Whitley Lodge!
The Seven Stars is a common pub name referring to the group of seven stars in the Ursa Major constellation which are usually called 'The Plough'. |