The claim
Known to Coventry as Ma Brown's, this is a huddle of small rooms behind a narrow Spon Street front, with exposed beams, a flagged snug and a bar counter set in what was once a brewhouse. CAMRA rates the interior of very special national interest. Cask beer is the business, and the rooms fill quickly.
What the records show
CAMRA calls the Old Windmill a historic 16th-century pub, and Historic England lists the timber frame as C16 or earlier, oversailing at the first floor behind a stuccoed front, part of the group of medieval buildings on Spon Street. Fabric of the claimed age is documented, which is a grade B, but no licence or record of drinking from the 1500s has been traced. Historic England's map service dates the listing — entry 1342948, grade II, designated on 24 June 1974 under the name Old Windmill Inn — on the same day as most of the rest of Spon Street, which was listed street by street that June. The warren of small rooms, one of them a former brewhouse, is rated by CAMRA as of very special national interest.
What to look for inside
- Two-star entry on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors
- Known locally as Ma Brown's after a former landlady
- In the Spon Street group of medieval buildings
Visiting
The Old Windmill is in Coventry, England, at 22-23 Spon Street, Coventry CV1 3BA. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1342948
- camra.org.uk/pubs/old-windmill-coventry-140568
- ratings.food.gov.uk/business/241116
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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