Former Exhall pub may now become a shop

A once busy pub on the outskirts of Bedworth could be pulled down and replaced by a convenience store.


Photo by Ian Gardner

Up to 20 full time and part time jobs could be created by the demolition of the Lord Raglan at Exhall.

A planning application has been lodged with the borough council to replace it with a large A1 retail unit.

The application also includes two first floor apartments above the store Now closed and shuttered, the pub at Coventry Road, Exhall, has become another victim of the recession that has devastated the licensed trade.

The pub was once one of the most popular drinking places in the Bedworth and Exhall area.

Situated on the edge of the Bayton Road Industrial Estate, it provided food and drink for workers in the factories.

As well as that, it also drew customers from the sprawling Exhall Cedars Estate.

The pub also produced some of the leading pool players in the area.

Players and teams from the Lord Raglan won all of the trophies on the local pool scene.

In recent years it was also the home of some of the top local bands, who ‘rocked it at the Raggy.’

But trade declined and a succession of landlords fought a battle against rising costs and falling sales.

It closed and reopened several times before the last pints were pulled at the pub a few months ago.

The building is now locked and boarded up with a large ‘For Sale’ notice above the front door.

Its sad decline is described in an architects’ report which says: “Like many of its contemporaries, it has suffered in the economic climate and from the change in leisure activities.”

The report also points out that there are two other pubs nearby so its demolition will ‘not cause any social or economic loss.’

The Lord Raglan covers a substantial site and has a large beer garden fronting on to Coventry Road.

Because the area has become overgrown concerns were expressed about the possibility that it had become a haven for wildlife, particularly bats.

But a study has been carried out by expert ecologists and no evidence of them was found.

The Lord Raglan is one of many pubs in the country named after the military commander, whose misinterpreted order led to the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade on October 25, 1854 during the Crimean War.

Another former drinking site in the borough may also be redeveloped.

Planning permission is being sought to build a care home facility in three, two storey blocks where the former Arbury Tavern once stood in Webb Street, Stockingford.