Category: UK

I neglected to write this Good Beer Guide listed pub up when Richard and I visited in August.

The exterior is lovely. The pub seems proud of its history and notes on its website:

“The Golden Cross is the oldest pub in Coventry (One of the oldest in The Midlands). Built circa 1583, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st and established as a public house circa 1661, during the reign of Charles II (The year of his coronation). The Golden Cross boasts traditional Tudor features which include: jettied upper floors with exposed beams, the pub also features a Dragon Beam which makes it possible for the jettied floors to go around the corners.”

It was fortunate to survive the Blitz which damaged so many other nearby buildings and it was extensively refurbished in 2017.

I’m less engaged about the music, but a warm welcome is always positive.

And we did receive a warm welcome from the friendly team member, although I didn’t get a chance to take a photo at the bar. I didn’t ask for a CAMRA discount but the team member pro-actively asked if we were members of CAMRA, which I suspect tied in with the Great British Beer Festival that was about to take place in the area. I realised that I had left my CAMRA card in the hotel room, but I was kindly offered the CAMRA discount anyway. Perhaps I look like a CAMRA drinker, although I’m not sure what I think about that.

I went for a pint of Titanic Plum Porter which is always a delight, it’s smooth, fruity and luxurious. This is the period from when Richard was his new slim self and looking very healthy for it. There are usually around five real ales available and the Plum Porter tasted well kept and was at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature.

This wasn’t really a venue for me though at the time that we visited, it was quite quiet in terms of the number of customers and also very loud from the live music. It was hard to have a conversation and the lack of customers gave it a slightly odd atmosphere. However, what I didn’t realise was this:

“We have live music every Saturday downstairs from 9pm – 11pm, so those who prefer a quiet drink in Coventry’s oldest pub can enjoy a relaxing evening in comfort in the bar upstairs.”

If I had realised, I would have gone upstairs. Anyway, we decided to leave soon afterwards in the hunt for a pub where we could have a conversation and gossip about the world. Nonetheless, this is a lovely pub and I think we just visited at the wrong time as there was a friendly welcome and I enjoyed the heritage of the venue itself. They also do what appears to be a good value food offering at lunchtime and in the early evenings. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to visit again at one of those rather quieter times as I did like the building, the friendliness of the team members and the beer.

I appear to have forgotten to write about this Good Beer Guide listed pub in Coventry. It’s operated by JD Wetherspoon and is nearby to their sister pub the Flying Standard. As usual, I’ll use their history of their venue:

“This is named after Leofric, Earl of Mercia, who founded St Mary’s Priory, Coventry’s first cathedral. A larger-than-life statue of Leofric and his wife (Countess Godiva) can be seen above the main entrance to the council house, opposite this pub.”

The building on High Street opened in June 1896 as the London and Midland Bank, later becoming the Midland Bank. It was turned into a public house in the early 1990s, initially being Cassidy’s until 1994, then the Phoenix Bar until 1996 and then it became part of Lloyds which was bought out by JD Wetherspoon as their more youth focused brand. The pub was renamed its current name of the Earl and Mercia in 2001.

I haven’t taken many useful photos of the pub, but as Julian (wise) says, I’m sure we’ll all cope.

This is from my visit with Richard a few months ago, I went for the Tesseract from Black Hole Brewery which was only £1.64 for a pint after the CAMRA discount. It was better than I had expected, it was rich, smooth with lots of plums to the whole arrangement.

And this is the Key Lime Pale from Hogs Back Brewery which I had this weekend as part of the JD Wetherspoon October beer festival. This was just 98p for a half and it was certainly full of lime flavour, being light, soft and hoppy.

As usual, best I have a little look at the reviews for my own amusement. It’s rated very highly for a JD Wetherspoon venue and that fits in with my experiences here, which have been positive.

“First of all, the staff discriminated against Chinese people. If you’re a local, the servers will bring the drinks to your table, but we had to go downstairs to get our drinks and bring them to our table on the second floor. The entire time, they watched us through the surveillance cameras. I told them I don’t drink alcohol, and they said I didn’t need to show my ID in that case. When we brought the drinks back to our table, I smelled the dark beer out of curiosity because I had never had it before. Then, a server came up and asked us to leave, claiming that I had drunk the beer. However, I’m allergic to alcohol, so I couldn’t have drunk it in the first place. The manager insisted that I drank it, not just smelled it. This is clear discrimination against Chinese people.”

Hmmm, they bring everyone their drinks but this reminds me though of a woman in one of the London pubs in their chain that was getting frustrated that no-one was serving her at her table, but she saw others getting their drinks delivered. She stomped out in the end after the team member refused to take her order himself and insisted she use the app.

“I feel violated, we ordered two pitchers exactly the same price, mango monster mash or something

This is the difference in ice/drink

The guy who served us was rude all night, insisted they were all the same even though I showed him the difference.

Don’t order here, wetherspoons please sack the only guy working here on 28/01/20″

Please sack a team member as he served cocktails in two different shaped jugs? Yeah, that sounds reasonable…

“We were just having lunch and the guy came up to us saying that we need to leave. We politely said that wr will leave after finishing our dinner but the guy was so rude and racist that he came back again and argued with us, forcing us to leave the place which is totally not accepted. He was the shift manager for the day 20/11/2023. I never expected this kind of behaviour as we have already paid for the food and atleast accept a decent service from the employees. Please have a look at your team and recruit people who are not racist.”

I wish reviewers would give a bit more information about why a team member actually came up and asked them to leave.

“Discrimination on a young adult with SEN needs. We come to this pub as young person finds atmosphere friendly and welcoming. Not today. Bully tactics by staff. 1 day we forgot passport she is 18. We have been served lots of time by staff at wetherspoons without ID. 1 staff member followed me to the table. Hassled me about her drinking alcohol beverage. Very abrupt, unfriendly and aggressive. He watched us for 5 minute’s and came over and said she had taken another sip for a drink. He snatched all the drinks from the table. They would not accept a photo on my phone, which I’ve used previously. Young person was upset and distrraught. Went to the toilet and was physically sick. We went onto have our food dropped on the table by the disgruntled staff member. Duty Manager was unsympathetic and crude. No training given how to deal with people with disabilities. All disabilities are not visible. Shame on wetherspoons we will not be going there again. Wasted £20.00. The food was cold and disgusting. Refused a refund.”

If this story is as it’s told, it’s not clear to me what the team member could have done other than been more polite and engaged better. Someone without valid ID has seemingly been drinking alcohol, the pub’s licence is at risk if they don’t check ID.

“I came here on Saturday, had one drink with my friend and decided to go outside in the seating area as it was too hot inside. There were empty glasses on our table which we just moved to the side, and while me and my friend were talking one of the staff (man with long hair) came over and asked if the glasses were finished with, I said they weren’t ours. About 5 minutes later we realised he had put 4 shot on our table, so we were confused and asked the people next to us if they were their shots, which they weren’t. So I assumed someone had bought them for us on the Wetherspoons app, and had 1 shot out of the 4, then the man came back over shouting at me for having a shot and demanding that I pay for it. I told him that he put them on our table so we assumed they have been bought for us, which he then said I said they were mine when he took them over to us (I didn’t, I didn’t even realise he bought them over as I was having a conversation with my friend). This staff member then started arguing with me and was SO rude to me over £2.50, which I did pay. I will not be coming back, as he was so rude to me and was shouting at me.”

It might have been easier not to take one of the drinks that they hadn’t ordered.

“I didn’t go there!!”

Another helpful review.

“Another wetherspoon which is more expensive than the Gosford Arms for a pint of Stella. No good for sight seeing as all you can see are bill boards of things that won’t necessarily come true in the eye of the public.”

Probably best to go to the Gosford Arms.

“I mean as most know they dont have music so that’s one sad thing.”

At least that makes me happy 🙂

Anyway, this seemed like a a well-run and organised JD Wetherspoon venue, although it does get very busy and although it’s over two floors it’s not the largest. Keenly priced, popular with students and a decent selection of real ales.