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

Drinking in an Old English Town

Whitefriars Olde Ale House, 114-115 Gosford Street

This was named after the nearby monastery, although there is no known connection between the two buildings. When the building was the site of an archaeological dig in 1987, the remains of twelfth century ridge-and-furrow cultivation was found beneath. The furrows contained the hoof prints of the ox team that pulled the plough preserved in the heavy clay. This suggested that, in order to turn the ox teams at the end of the furrow, there could not have been any buildings, nor even a roadway at that time. At the most there could only have been a footway or track down to Goose Ford at that time. The present building has been dated to c1350 by tree-ring dating and by its crown post roof supporting arched rafters with a central beam. Medieval wall paintings were also discovered. It originally consisted of a two-bay hall, which subsequently had a floor inserted creating two rooms, one upstairs, one down. Apparently this happened in the sixteenth century when chimneys were inserted to enclose the fire, which until then would have sat in the middle of the hall and vented through the roof. The building has not been over-restored and has a reputation for its authentic atmosphere. The building has only been used as a pub in recent times, however, and spent at least a century in use as a butcher's shop, although coincidentally a newspaper advertisement for the auction of the premises in 1864 described the butcher's as also including a brewhouse (as well as dwelling house, stable, cart-shed, piggery & slaughterhouse). The first plans to turn it into an Ale House were made public in February 1988, when Hans Kleiner planned to renovate it sympathetically. Hans had initially bought the property with the intention of demolishing it, but the medieval revelations changed all that. In October that year the opening date for a pub selling traditional home-brewed ales seemed to be on the horizon, but ongoing problems and further excavations continued, and eight years later in 1996 the Coventry Evening Telegraph still reported the renovations as "nearly there". The premises appeared to have needed some kind of usage to keep it viable, and in 1997 it was advertising the lease, hire, sale, service and repair of catering equipment! Finally, in April 2003 we begin to see Whitefriars Olde Ale House advertising various events, and the pub continued as a popular place to drink until around December 2016 when it closed. Happily, reopening is planned for the 28th August 2026.

LICENSEES: 2003 - 2004 Michael Luke