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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Volunteer, 29 Cross Cheaping

Alternative Addresses:	Burges
These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
	1864	1867	VOLUNTEER
	1867	present	COVENTRY CROSS
This almost certainly refers to the volunteer Fire Brigade, which was established in Coventry around this time. There is a possibility that this pub was once the BREWER'S ARMS (also referred to as the TWO BREWERS) at the bottom of Cross Cheaping in the Coventry Mercury of 20th August 1792, which appears to have closed in 1803. Whether that pub actually became the Volunteer has not yet been established. On 31st August 1864 Edward Cardall was granted a license for his new pub, the Volunteer, 29 Cross Cheaping. Exactly two months later Cardall handed over the Volunteer's license to Thomas Goode, and two weeks after that was declared bankrupt! The address was regularly reported in newspapers as the Burges. In May 1867 John Moore had put the Volunteer up for auction. The following month his license was transferred to William Whitehead who, in September that year, changed the pub's name, reopening as the Coventry Cross.
LICENSEES: 1864 Edward Cardall (Aug to Oct) 1864 - 1866 Thomas Goode 1866 - 1867 John Moore 1867 - 1875 William Whitehead (from Sept 1867 as the Coventry Cross)