Medieval Coventry pub reopens after a decade

A couple in Coventry are to reopen a well-known historic pub in the city centre.

The Whitefriars Old Ale House, on Gosford Street, is one of the city's oldest buildings, dating back to the 14th century.

It originally served as part of the Whitefriars monastery in the 1300s, before operating as a butcher's shop until 1990 and later converting into a traditional real ale pub.

The venue shut in 2016, but the owners say it has now been restored to its former glory after they spent the last seven years renovating it.

Rongguo Fan, known as Jimmy, and his wife, Congwei Shi, bought the building in 2019 after their Chinese restaurant was knocked down for the University's Civic Centre redevelopment.

Shi, who will manage the pub, explained how they had sold their home and took out a bank loan to purchase Whitefriars – but due to the state of the building and the Covid-19 pandemic, it has taken years to get it in order.

Shi said: "Everything was built by my husband. Everything was handmade. He wanted to make it as old as before, to get more local people coming in and wants them to enjoy this place.

"We want to make it as a pub, but we will serve Chinese meals as well because we originally came from the Chinese catering sector. So, we want to continue that business.

"But for the pub, because it's a local pub, it's very famous, especially for the older Coventry people. They have so many good memories here and we really want to continue to make them happy."

The pub manager says they have been focusing on preserving the history of the site and will eventually create a museum upstairs.

Shi said: "We want to make one room as like a local small museum.

"My husband wants to have all the pictures and artifacts here, to let all visitors know the history of this old pub."

The reopening of Whitefriars Old Ale House follows the closure of several pubs in the city centre, including The Town Wall Tavern, the Aardvark, and more recently, the Phoenix.

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