Over the years, the Coachmakers Arms in Lichfield Street, Hanley, has been a feature writer’s dream, with its four small rooms, tiled fireplaces, Bass on hand pump and its colourful landlords.
Around 1990, the landlord here was Peter Phillips, who spent his 52nd birthday at the pub being serenaded by musicians from the Halle Orchestra, who were playing at the Victoria Hall.
Over the last 15 years or so, the Coachmakers Arms has known many vicissitudes, though its excellence has been recognised many times.
In the summer of 2008 it earned high praise in a Stoke-on-Trent City Council publication: “The Coachmakers Arms on Lichfield Street is a rare survivor of everything traditional to be found in a British pub. A welcome oasis for the foot-weary shopper, The Coachmakers is a treasure that preserves the best of the past without being afraid of the future.”
However, shortly afterwards, it was time for the Coachmakers to be afraid… very afraid. There had been discussions about redevelopment in Hanley back in 2006, which is why the Potteries Pub Preservation Group – with whom I was an officer – applied to English Heritage in an attempt to get it statutorily listed.
The Way We Were
And what was the verdict? “The pub has been altered and lost some of the original frontage and fenestration, and as such does not have sufficient architectural or historic interest to merit listing.”
What followed was the inauguration of the Save the Coachmakers Arms campaign.
The first meeting was held in May, 2008, attracting 18 people from all walks of life, many very talented and knowledgeable – including landlord Jason Barlow and partner Sue.
The Potteries branch of Camra was also involved and provided the campaign banner for the front of the pub. Most people at the first meeting came to vent their feelings about the threat to the pub now posed by city centre regeneration and the plans of Realis Estates to create a new shopping hub that would necessitate demolition of existing properties, including the pub.
I was appointed chairman as well as minutes secretary and it was my job to keep order at meetings where feelings ran high. There were continuous meetings until October, 2009, though afterwards, meetings were held at greater intervals with various parties involved.
As the years elapsed campaigners began to harbour the hope the economic climate might cause Realis’s plan for City Sentral to be downgraded or even scrapped.
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Ultimately, the cloud that hung over the pub did indeed pass over, leaving drinkers to continue having happy times in the Coachmakers Arms. In 2000, I asked tenant Sue Sutton what the capacity of the little bar was. She responded: “It is small, but you can get 30 people in. I am told by customers that under a previous tenant, 32 people once managed to squeeze in.”
There have been popular pub dogs at the Coachmakers, including Sue Sutton’s dog Dodger, an English bull terrier who in 2000 appeared in a North Staffordshire Amateur Operatic Society production of Oliver! In more recent years, the pub dog Coach brought a smile to customers’ faces.
Personally, I have spent good times in the pub with old friends such as Ken Smith and Phil Glover, but I also spent an unusual 52nd birthday there in 2013.
I gave a history talk in the rear right room to 20-odd gentlemen from a group called the Sandbach Round Table who had organised what they called a Flat Caps and Braces Night.
The room was full, and I had to stand on a piano stool tucked right into the corner of the room as I gave a thirty-minute address.
There was much raucous guffawing and interplay, and I led the singing at the end as we gave voice to those pub favourites Molly Malone and The Wild Rover.
I was last at the pub in late December, when I was delighted to borrow a guitar from members of the Boat Band folk group and sing another couple of numbers. The pub’s incomparable atmosphere abides in spite of the threats it has faced over the years. Perhaps a thing of beauty really is a joy forever.
Want to share your nostalgia story? Let us know - You can email adam.gratton@reachplc.com or Tweet him at @AdamcGratton We also have our own nostalgia Facebook group . And if you have pictures to share, tag us on Instagram at StokeonTrentLive .
