please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
The Town Wall Tavern is hidden away just behind the city centre shops. But enough people seemed to know about it to make it really busy on a late Saturday lunchtime. There is a bar area, a lounge area and the tiny 'Donkey Box'. I sat amongst the diners in the lounge. Ales are spread across handpulls in the main bar and the Donkey Box. Regulars are Adnams Bitter, Brain's The Rev James, Bass & Theakston Old Peculier. Guests were Goff's Lancer, Sharp's Winter Solstice, Woodforde's Tundra & Wye Valley HPA. The cider was Old Rosie. Certainly one of the better pubs in the centre.
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My favourite of all the GBG pubs inside Coventry's ring road.
Packed bar, full of friendly locals with good banter. More room around the back. The highlight is the little donkey box room, with its own front door and bar serving area that is just about big enough for a.... donkey. Only way to get to the loo is through the front door.
Bass and Purity Ubu in tremendous condition. Perfect pub. 10/10
Visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2P0EwkX
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Nice enough pub with a decent choice of beers. Small and friendly bar and a more food-orientated lounge. There are better pubs in the vicinity but this is a perfectly acceptable one to pass the time.
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Respectable pub frequented by Coventry people - reasonable selection of ales but more of the ubiquitous brands than any local or micro ales - still the Adnams Broadside was perfectly acceptable - would visit again.
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Close to the Gatehouse and more traditional, with public bar and snug, but a poorer range of beers. A worthwhile component of a crawl - Gatehouse, Old Windmill and Whitefriars
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Has one room more food orientated and another more barlike along with a tiny snug at the front. Ale was okay and drinkable.
anonymous - 18 Jan 2013 17:26 |
liked this pub
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Nice pub, although I had rather an odd pint of Brewdog Trashy Blonde (couldn't work out whether it was meant to taste like that, but if it was, I didn't like it). Even so, one I'd like to try again when I'm next in Coventry.
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Our second pub on our recent football visit to Coventry. Super little pub which still survives despite the building works going on round about. Good public and "snug" bar with a little serving hatch for the lounge. The beer range was a little disappointing (Adnams Bitter is a fine beer but it was a shame that there were no local ales available) but the quality was excellent so we all enjoyed a few pints before heading up to The Gathouse. Some of our party had lunch in the TWT and it looked pretty good for the money.
An excellent little pub which will get our trade again in the future.
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Best pub in Coventry by some way. Just down from the Gatehouse (another goodie for real ale fans) and serving really good pub grub and serving some fantastic ales. The Adnams Broadside is one of the best pints I have ever tried although the locals swear by the Bass. Give it a go; you won't be disappointed.
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Great pub surviving in an area that is undergoing regeneration. Not easy to find but worth the effort once you arrive. Deuchars superb. Worth missing a few trains back to London for. Will definitely return.
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Saved this one til last and we really enjoyed the tiny snug in the front. Lovely old pub with a good range of real ale. Suggest you don`t miss the 9.30 back to London!
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Not the easiest to find, had to ask directions in the Tudor Rose. My favourite of the pubs we visited, we sat in the modern extension at the rear and it was very pleasant. The ever reliable Doom Bar was good.
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Deceptively large pub that now stands alone as a traditional boozer in an area of modern developments. As it's name suggests this was once an historical area but no trace remains of any walls here. However this modern encroachment disappears as soon as you're through the door. It's very unspoilt, with a bar room, snug and a large lounge area at the back that seems to have been extended, as there is a bay window complete with seating seemingly in the middle of the room! Bar room is probably the most characterful room, with its mirrors, Tv and regulars on the stools. Good choice of real ale including microbreweries but I plumped for good old reliable Deuchars which was as good as ever. Really enjoyed my Saturday afternoon visit here, it wasn't very busy but not dead. This area contains most of Coventry's best pubs and I suggest you don't miss this one.
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This place stands as some kind of bulwark against the rapidly-encroaching Belgrade Plaza development. A lovely old-fashioned feel to the place, with customers of all ages it would seem by those who were in last night.My pint of Adnams Broadside was in superb condition. I wish I hadn't eaten in my hotel because the food that several people were tucking into looked very good.If ever I am in Coventry again I shall be sure to pop in again. I hope it won't be spoiled by the effects of the adjacent development.I know good pubs should be clean but my only gripe was the the place smelled strongly of disinfectant.I think the smoking ban has something to do with this as the smoke used to conceal the clinical smells.
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Timely visit on 28th October - the night it snowed. Wonderful atmosphere afforded by regulars of all agegroups; very pleasant drink enjoyed while standing at the bar. Deuchars IPA was on its best form, guest ale "Lady Godiva" was "good not great". Could not leave without a sip of Brew XI - the first beer I ever drank in that pub when visiting in the mid-1990's. Of course it's not what it is but I would have regretted not having a half-pint.
Same guy behind the bar as my previous session a year or so back - keep it up this is a great pub in many respects.
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great pub altough the foods not what it used to be
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Not overly impressed with the broadside or the spitfire last time i was here. Turn the jukebox off or turn it up so that you can hear it. Why the intterogation style lighting?
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This is one I love to visit while in town for the beer festival, and never disappoints. It has character and is a friendly place to visit too.
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Town Wall Tavern
Mutton and rabbit are rarities on country pub menus in the 21st century. All the more remarkable, therefore, that they should reappear in the middle of Coventry. Mutton cobbler and even spicy Moroccan mutton are regulars on the specials board at The Town Wall Tavern.
A "cobbler", since you ask, is a scone-like topping with the density of suet pudding. "It takes the flavour of the meat and the accompanying capers so well," says Lesley Jackson, a local hotelier whose recent venture into the pub trade coincided with the reopening of the nearby Belgrade Theatre after extensive renovations.
Among the pre-show and lunchtime offerings is rabbit crumble (�5.95), with a deliciously cloying crust liberally dusted with Parmesan. Gamey meat is cooked with slivers of carrot and prune and a dash of Deuchars bitter.
That ubiquitous Scottish brew is one of six hand-pulled beers with the cask marque stamp of consistency. Adnams Best and Broadside are also regulars, along with Bass, the long-standing stalwart.
An original Bass mirror shimmers in the heat from an open fire in the public bar. Another welcome blaze warms a lounge filled with alcoves. One of them harbours a piano that bursts into life occasionally when actors or musicians want to carry on performing long after the curtain has come down at the theatre next door.
The Town Wall has traditionally been a haven for thespians, journalists and rugby lovers. Not that too many Coventry prop forwards, past or present, could fit into one of the country's most intimate snugs.
The "Donkey Box" measures 7ft 8in by 5ft 5in: standing room only, apart from two high stools. One carries a brass plaque to mark the last perching place of the late editor of The Coventry Citizen, a popular figure with a prodigious capacity for Bass and a squawking laugh that threatened to shatter glass.
The pub he loved remains a Victorian gem, currently hemmed in by building work for a new "plaza" of restaurants, caf�s and bars. Mutton and rabbit are unlikely to feature in any of them.
The Town Wall Tavern, Bond Street, Coventry (02476 220963)
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The best pint of draught bass in Coventry - shame about the jukebox squeaking in the background
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Just for the record, the Wall has recently been awarded the "CASK-MARQUE" seal of approval. Speaks for itself.
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ONE of Coventry's traditional city centre pubs has been given a new lease of life.
The Town Wall Tavern in Bond Street, along the line of the town's wall and home of the famous 'donkey box' bar, has changed hands and is now co-owned by Wendy Parker and Lesley Jackson.
Soon it will be surrounded by the new and modern Belgrade Theatre - but the pair are determined to keep the pub as it has always been - with a few twists.
The pub is still home to seven real ales, and 54-year-old Lesley Jackson - who owned Brooklands Grange Hotel and Restaurant, in Holyhead Road, Allesley, Coventry until last January - wants to add 'real' English food to the menu to complement it.
Ms Jackson, who has owned a string of establishments in the city, including Herbs vegetarian restaurant, said: "I wanted to retire and enjoy pub lunches but I couldn't find any that were different and fresh.
"What we are trying to achieve is to provide good quality real food to go with the real ale - not frozen or microwaved food."
Already the pair have started to introduce a new menu - including beef, mushroom and ale casserole and local sausage and horseradish mash - and later next month will start doing Sunday roasts.
Former Binley Park pupil Wendy, who worked for Royal Mail in Coventry for 25 years and as an office worker at Brooklands Grange, was keen to stress another tradition would not be leaving the pub - namely the small bar at the front known as the donkey box.
The 47-year-old said: "The donkey box is staying because it is part of our heritage.
"I've been drinking in this pub since 1979 and was part of the campaign to save the wall when it was threatened with being knocked down."
They also picked the pub because it was close to where Lesley grew up - her father Norman Jackson was licensee at the Gas Tavern on Gas Street for more than 40 years.
She said: "This was the only city centre pub I wanted because it's not far from where Gas Street was and it's got a lovely relationship with the theatre which we want to continue."
The pub is now open from noon to 11pm.
anonymous - 30 Nov 2007 15:02 |
best pub in town by a long stretch.
Yes, its interior and all the different rooms are very nice, BUT, what really makes this place is that you can get a decent pint. You'll never get ill drinking in here, the people are sound too.
Usual stuff is Adnams, Green King, Bombardier, Bass, BrewXI bla bla. typical warwickshire favourites, but it really is the best place, drink in here till 11ish and then go and get some stella down you in the rest of town and you'll be trashed but you'll be better off than if you drank stella all-night.
THERE'S A DECENT CURRY HOUSE NEAR-BY ON cORPORATION sTREET TOO, NEAR THE jAG.
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I was told by a local on a recent visit that if I liked real ale and a quiet little pub, I should try this one. I wasn�t disappointed.
It sits at the start of spon street, just over the road from the shopping centre, [but go round the other side of the church].
The pub is not trendy or particularly old, but what I would call �traditional�. Tap room with TV, larger lounge and outside seating, and at the front, a small snug called the �donkey box�.
The exceptional point here for me though was that they had around 9 high quality cask beers on offer, which were obviously [and understandably] popular with the regular crowd. Names like adnams, fullers, deuchars were present, along with other �guests�. The bar staff were also very helpful and keen to help you choose a beer to your liking. We called on a Friday early evening and it wasn�t particularly over-busy.
As a cask ale drinker, I would add this to my �best pubs� list for Coventry.
Rating = 7
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Enjoyed an excellent Adnams while looking round this friendly pub. One room taken over by sports fans watching the telly, but they were friendly and chatty as they let me through to look round the pub. The Donkey Box was novel and I was suprised at how pleasant it was just leaning on the cushioned sides in this small pleasant room with its own outside door. Worth going through the developing area to find it.
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The last pub on a long day in Coventry, and a splendid little local it is too, well not so little really. The beer range is safe standard, I had an Adnams Bitter, but this is more than made up for by the building. The Donkey box has been mentioned before, but it is well worth a visit, there is a large room to the right and a more sporting bar to the left and I had a drink with a few Preston fans out the front, darned fine lads but destined for disappointment. A very good pub indeed, although seemingly going to be dwarfed by all the redevelopment around it.
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With the intention of just having one pint, I popped in to refresh my acquaintance to this pub at 1730 yesterday (23rd Feb). Deuchar's IPA, one of the guests, was on very good form. Conversation was immediately struck up with friendly, welcoming locals. This meant that I was never going to leave after just one pint! I followed the IPA with a Brew XI that [sadly] is now brewed by Cain's in Cardiff, but the pub atmosphere was the main force of magnetism this evening. Also enjoyed a cheese & onion "batch" - local term used for a roll or bap, these are available at the bar most of the time.
Newsflash:
Carl, the pub's landlord of many years' standing, is leaving next week for pastures new, and a new landlady is taking over the tenancy. Local intelligence suggests she will increase the food facility at this establishment - all we can do is wait and see.
Anyhow I ended up leaving the pub an hour later than intended which, in its present state, is easily done!
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Still an excellent pub. Enjoyed a pint of Brew X1 followed by a Springhead Bitter in the Donkey Box. Everyone here very friendly, a great start to another "Coventry Crawl". I have upgraded my original 7/10 to an 8/10.
NOTE: There is a lot of redevelopment in the immediate foreground which makes the pub less easy to find if you are new to Coventry. Don't be put off by all the construction work - find the pub and go and have a pint.
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excellent pint of Adnams Broadside. Nice surroundings, good service.Quiet at 8.30pm but filled up later.
roy - 23 Jan 2004 00:03 |
Busy Victorian Pub standing proud amongst the car parks at the rear of the Belgrade Theatre. Adnams Bitter and Broadside, M&B Brew XI and Bass are the standard beers with one or two guests to compliment these. Good substantial pub grub served 11am-3pm mon-sat with traditional roast on Sundays.
There are still three bars,public,lounge and the famous Donkey Box reputed to be the smallest bar with its own servery in the country. It is true that all members of a local rugby team once fitted into the Donkey Box. However,this year at a charity cram-in forty full sized adults filled the Donkey box, we are hoping to increase this to fifty next year. The Wall as it is known locally is still in every sense A REAL PUB and long may it remain so.
Brian - 17 Nov 2003 15:34 |
A welcoming pub in the heart of the city, with a snug which is probably the smallest in Coventry. It is quoted that a whole rugby team once fitted in the snug, known colloquially as the Donkey Box. M&B's Brew X1 is a regular, and up to two other guests change regularly. Real cider available. A useful pub before - and after - a show at the Belgrade Theatre.
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