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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Golden Horse, Earl Street

Alternative Addresses:	Palace Yard, Earl Street
A name which seems most popular in Coventry, for some reason. In c1907 Mary Dormer Harris wrote: "What a medley of humanity have found entertainment in the courtyard and under the gables of that old Stuart house that falls daily into greater decay. There was the casual wayfarer, for it was once an inn bearing the sign of the 'Golden Horse', in proof whereof may be seen the board behind the door under the archway giving all kinds of coaching information. Lastly a king and courtiers, and many of the Royal Blood of the House of Stuart on sundry occasions, partook of the hospitality of the Hopkins family, who held the house for more than two hundred years.... and the noise of a factory mounts up from the place where in times past was a pleasant garden ground." In Local Memoranda Cuttings from the Coventry Times it is said of Palace Yard (pictured on the right in 1939) that "the mansion continued in the Hopkins family.... until 1822, when it was sold. The house has since been used successively as a school, an inn bearing the sign of the Golden Horse, and of late years as a builder's yard, and a portion let out as offices". Until 1826 Joseph Quinney ran the Golden Horse in Bayley Lane. Around that time the pub and adjacent properties around Hay lane, Cuckoo Lane, Derby Lane and the south side of Trinity Churchyard were demolished in order that the Gaol could be enlarged. By 1827 Mr. Quinney had taken the pub's name and his customers to a new location, Palace Yard on the south side of Earl Street.
LICENSEES: 1827 - 1829 Joseph Quinney (until 1826 at the Golden Horse in Bayley Lane) 1829 - 1841 John Lloyd
Street plan of 1851