The Longford Engine, Longford, Coventry

The Longford Engine is a rather basic single room pub alongside the Coventry canal. The pub clearly had separate bars in the past, but any partitioning walls have long since gone and we now find a large L shaped room with a similarly L shaped servery in the rear right corner. The floor is carpeted around the perimeter of the room, with an unattractive vinyl covering everywhere else. There is a good mix of seating throughout including a few booths at the front and some comfy banquettes at the rear. A pre football crowd had gathered on my visit, as the pub is ten minutes walk from Coventry City’s Ricoh Arena, and fans were able to watch the Premiership’s early kick off on one of the several TV screens. In the front right corner there is a pool table that was proving popular with a crowd of youngsters and I noticed a dartboard nearby as well. A trophy cabinet near the front door suggests that the pub has had some sporting success of some description over the years. The rear wall has a nice fireplace with a large stove in it and beyond this the room opens out into a conservatory area from which you can access a nice canal side patio with plenty of picnic benches. I noticed three hand pumps dispensing just the two ales – Sharps Doom Bar and Longford Engine Special. I tried the house beer and thought it was reasonable, especially at just £2.20 a pint. I didn’t notice any menus but there were some decent looking filled rolls piled up behind the bar. I’m not sure that this pub has enough to offer to make it a truly worthwhile stop. The canal side patio is probably the best feature, although fans of live music may want to check out the numerous gigs the pub puts on. In summary, it seems to have taken me 300-odd words to reach the same conclusion as the rather laconic previous reviewer, because at the end of the day, this is ‘an okay pub’.