The Sydenham Palace

The Sydenham Palace was built as a pub in 1867 at the corner of Lower Ford Street and Cox Street. The first landlord was Tom Owen, who was on the City Council and was recognised as a man with a thorough knowledge of the licensed trade. According to a publicity booklet published in 1890 "Mr. Owen maintains a splendid glass of ale and the choicest of wines, spirits and cigars and always on hand. A large trade is transacted as a wine and spirit merchant and also a bottler of  ale and stout". 

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The Sydenham Palace in the late 19th century.	Photo c1910 (Harvey Barton)	The proprietor, City Councillor Mr Tom Owen.

The Palace became a fully licensed music hall in 1891. At that time it was advertised as a Theatre of Varieties with first class artists changed weekly. The concert room/music hall was lavishly decorated and was a popular venue for the citizens. It was also a noted rendezvous for cyclists. 

The Damaged by bombing 14^th November 1940.

The building closed as a pub on 11th July 1971 and re-opened the following year as a bingo hall. That use did not last long as the building was demolished in 1973. The site is now occupied by The Planet nightclub.

Much of the information on this page is from The Character of Coventry by John Ashby (published 2001 by Coventry Libraries). This superb book tells many stories about the characters and the pubs of Coventry.