The Town Crier, Coventry

Down to earth community pub, a modern low rise building with a brick and wood interior. It’s a long thin sort of place with a series of raised seating areas down one side opposite the counter, opening out to a broader space, live music on when I dropped in. Large range of Marstons beers in ok condition and it’s in the GBG2018.

This funny looking, fairly modern pub located near the end of the attractive Spon Street began life in the 1980's as a Banks' house and is therefore now part of the Marstons stable. Inside you find a very large, open plan room, carpeted throughout with an L shaped servery in the rear right corner. The bar has a dark wood counter and gantry and a nicely worked bar back with some decent detailing. Opposite there is a raised seating area, penned in by a series of railings with a shelf for holding your drink should you be on the lower level. The raised space offers some long U-shaped button backed banquettes and a few standard chairs and offers a good vantage point from which to watch the goings on elsewhere in the room. Similar seating arrangements can be found in the front left portion of the pub, which stretches a deceptively long way, affording plenty of seats for busier periods and on the end wall there is a fairly pleasant tiled fireplace which forms a bit of a focal point in an otherwise relatively featureless part of the room. To the rear left there are bare brick walls with more banquettes under a shelf stacked with beer bottles, whilst the walls around much of the pub have various old black and white photos of the local area on display. The rear centre area, to the left of the bar, had been set aside for a band to play on our Saturday evening visit and right on cue they came 'onstage' just as we were buying our pints. Thankfully, they were pretty good, churning out '70's hits (Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Bowie) to a well lubricated bunch of eager headbanging locals. Just Marstons beers on the bar, but a decent line-up including a few rarer choices, with the full range comprising Marstons Pedigree and Saddle Tank plus Jennings Golden Host and Sneck Lifter. I tried the Saddle Tank which was crystal clear and tasted very fresh and as the evening wore on, we decided to stay and watch the rest of the band's set, at which point I switched to the Sneck Lifter which was also in great shape. The staff were working hard to serve a very large crowd and dealt with one lone drunk idiot very professionally. This place seems incredibly popular, mainly with an older crowd including bikers and rock music loving pensioners, which helped create a fun atmosphere with a slight edge to it. The pub finds itself in the 2017 Good Beer Guide and judging by the beer we tried here, this is very well deserved, even if the constrained range of beers available won't be to everybody's taste. This was a good way to round out an evening crawling around the city centre's better pubs, but the generic open plan interior means it may be a bit of a damp squib at quieter times.

Large Marston's pub which appears to have been extended several from some older-looking buildings at the back through to a rather more modern arcaded frontage onto Corporation Street. Various seating areas in an overall 'L' shape, with comfortable enough - if anonymous - furniture and decor that includes a number of old photographs and maps. Surprisingly good atmosphere early-ish on a windy Tuesday evening. Reasonably priced bar food selection from the menu and four real ales - Burton Bitter, Pedigree Sneck Lifter and Old Thumper (keenly priced at £2.99) - from a total of six handpumps on the counter.

Large modern pub with a single room.Two regular beers and 2 changing guests from the Marstons range. Open mic on Thursday nights when selected pints are &1.89.Live bands on Saturday nights.Food served .