Dun Cow Inn, Jordan Well, 1963

[dutchman]

This is prewar painting of the pub by Coventry artist Sydney John Bunney:



The right hand side, although attached to the pub, was occupied by John Wm. Leavesley, confectioner and was destroyed in the war. The archway between was the entrance to Court 12. As yet I have little idea what the huge building to the right of that was used originally for? At the time of painting it housed a number of retailers including Smith's house furnishings. The shop front visible on the right of the painting was a fancy draper's owned by a Miss Neale.

[LordHank]

Now there's a thing
While looking for something completley different I came across this forum & thread.
My Grandparents were also "Floss" & Harry Gould who had a pub near Evesham called "The Eyston Arms", actually in abbots salford. When they were younger they ran a pub in Jordan Well BUT, I was always told it was called "The Fox & Vivien" In the Telegraph article it mentions a son Len and yes I have an uncle Len. It must be the same people. My mother is Julie Gould daughter of Harry & Florence.

[dutchman]

Hello LordHank and thank you for posting

There was a 'Fox & Vivien' but it was further down the road in Gosford Street and run by a rival brewery so I think your are right.

[LordHank]

Hi Dutchman
After posting I did a quick peek at "the Character of Coventry". I see there was a fox & Vivian in Gosford St. When I was younger I stayed at my Grandparents pub in Abbots Salford during the school Holidays etc.. (I think my parents were glad to see the back of me for a while). I often heard mention of the Fox & Vivian but never any about the Dun Cow. I know the Eyston Arms and the Dun Cow were both "Flowers" pubs (later part of Whitbread I believe) so It's quite probable that Harry & Floss would have managed pubs within the same company.

It may be that they ran the Fox & Vivian before the dun cow (?). A friend of mine who sadly passed away a few months ago also told me that when he was younger he delivered the fresh meat to my grandparents at the Fox & Vivian.

[LordHank]

Quick update
By sheer coincidence my wife came across a little snippet about the Craven Arms on Wiki. Here it mentions former landlord "Harry Gould recently of the Dun Cow". Seems Harry had a few pubs!!!

And there's more it seems he had "The Chequers" (now The Ferryman) in Bablock Hythe, Oxfordshire in 1957 then returned to the Dun Cow for a second time.

[dutchman]

Thanks for that LordHank

Do you have an approximate date for when your parents kept the Dun Cow?

(Please note also that I've now fixed the first picture in this thread).

[sjinks]

Hi , this is really interesting! I am just doing some research on my family, and my grandparents also ran the Dun Cow, in Coventry. I have managed to find the record, and they ran it from 1950 to 1954. My grandfathers name was William Boylan, and his wife was Sarah. I believe he ran the Conservative Club in Priory Row before this. My mum remembered playing amongst the bomb site of Coventry cathedral as a child. After the Dun Cow, I believe the brewery gave him an opportunity to run a pub in the south, and they moved to south east London. Really intestering to find this information on this pub, as in my mum's house all her childhood books have the address of this pub in them!

[Blitzkid]

Blitz-kid.
This is a surprise to me as the Dun Cow was well known for it's legendary tale of the 'Dun Cow Ribs'.
The beast was 40 feet from nose to tail, it caused so much havoc that the village residents asked GUY of Warwick to slay this mighty animal, he did, sent half to Coventry, half to Warwick, one of the ribs hung in the Inn, one sent to Warwick Museum.There are at least two books printed of the legend, one in the 19th century, one about 1980 called 'The Dun Cow Rib'.