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

Drinking in an Old English Town

White Lion Hotel, 13 Walsgrave Road, Gosford Green

Alternative Addresses:	7 Gosford Terrace, Gosford Green
These premises have been known by different names during their history:	FROM	TO	NAME
	c1713	1841	WHITE LION
	1841	?	BEERHOUSE
	1926	1987	WHITE LION HOTEL
The White Lion can be made out on the left with the prominent ground floor bay. In 1713 the CCP shows that a fine was given for 'Non repair of ye Causey lying between ye White Lyon and Stoak Lane.' Included in an abstract relating to the title of John Johnson dated 1731 there is a reference to "... a cottage used as the WHITE LION inn at the eastern end of Gosford St, near Gosford Green." White Lion Hotel was a prominent three-storey building facing Gosford Green, which was the site of the challenge between the Duke of Norfolk and the Duke of Hereford (later Henry IV) for which both were banished. Apparently, the stretch of Walsgrave Road North of Gosford Green was called Gosford Terrace in 1851. From 1841 this was the BEERHOUSE, Gosford Terrace under David Harris. This was the first ever 'home' of Singers F. C., who later became Coventry City Football Club. The club was formed in August 1883 at the LORD AYLESFORD INN in Hillfields, by a group of workmates from the Singer cycle factory.. The White Lion Hotel, in 7 Gosford Terrace was a short walk from the club's first pitch in Dowell's Field, where Gosford Park Primary School now stands. Licensee Henry French gave the players a backroom to use as a dressing room, and a water pump and a tin bath to wash in. To reach the pitch players had to cross Gosford Green and Binley Road and walk along a public footpath. The first match was a 9-0 defeat against Coventry Association FC. Gate receipts were obtained by "going round with a hat" with revenue varying from two shillings (10p) to five shillings (25p). In 1887 the Singers moved to a new pitch between Paynes Lane and Swan Lane, called the Stoke Road ground, and relocated to the BINLEY OAK HOTEL on Paynes Lane. In 1912 this was the meeting place of the 'Society of Yorkshiremen'. The original White Lion Hotel, above, was demolished in 1926 for a pub (left) bearing the same name. In 1985 it was 'a large pub threatened with demolition to make way for a new road scheme'. People were urged to take the chance to visit it whilst they still could. It closed in 1987 and was demolished; the site is now under Sky Blue Way. This is a heraldic reference to Edward IV, or the Earls of March or Duke of Norfolk.
LICENSEES: 1850 - 1851 David Harris 1863 Charles Mann 1863 James Whitehead 1868 Levi Chapman 1871 - 1881 James Whitehead & bricklayer 1886 H. French 1890 - 1896 Samuel Dunlop Adams 1903 - 1910 Arthur G. Sage 1912 - 1913 Arthur Hands 1919 Joseph Morris 1921 - 1922 E. Talbot 1929 - 1932 S. Rayment 1933 - 1936 G. F. Rigby 1937 - 1940 W. H. Keen 1955 - 1957 Frank G. Standen 1960 - 1962 J. T. Parker 1983 - 1986 Pat O' Flynn
Street plan of 1851