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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Smithfield Hotel, 33 Hales Street

Alternative Addresses:	10 Hales Street
These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
			SMITHFIELD INN
			SMITHFIELD TAVERN
This name is a reference to Smithfield Market in London which specialises in meat and poultry. The pub was built on the site of Coventry's similarly named one-time cattle market. This had been opened by the City Council to bring the city's previously scattered livestock sales to one place. In 1859 there is a record of the sale of wood in ground adjoining the Smithfield Hotel. In 1862 the land belonged to the estate of the Free Grammar School. It was leased to a Mr. King for 42 years for £5, the lease ending in 1900. Mr King had erected a public house on the property called the Smithfield Tavern. There was also a small portion of the land once occupied by the cattle market that was leased by Coventry Corporation. In 1906 the Grammar School still owned the site and leased the pub to Phillips and Marriott for 14 years for £205 per annum. In 1914 the lease was extended for a further 14 years. In 1985 it was described as a 'city centre mock Tudor pub'. In 2010 it was demolished as part of the Phoenix (Millenium) project, and on the site now stands a student accommodation block.
LICENSEES: 1859 - 1868 William King 1871 William Johnson 1874 W. Thompson 1879 Guy Fowkes 1886 George Sumner 1890 - 1891 S. Redgrave 1893 - 1894 E. Redgrave 1896 - 1905 William B. Viggers 1906 - 1912 Thomas Pegg Turman 1912 - 1913 Henry Rowbottom 1914 - 1922 Reuben Watts 1924 - 1929 W. L. Eggington 1931 - 1938 S. W. Bennett 1939 - 1958 H. V. Taylor see also at The Bell, Tile Hill
OWNERS: 1862 - 1914 Free Grammar School