Centre Survey 2026

The annual city centre survey for real ale in Coventry was held this year on Tuesday 13th October when 7 local branch members visited all the pubs within the ring road.

The major changes since last year are the closure of The Town Wall Tavern, Phoenix, Dhillon’s (apparently soon to be a cocktail bar) and Samoan Joes. Of these only the Town Wall Tavern was previously selling Real Ale. On the upside the long-time closed Whitefriars Old Ale House has recently re-opened and is also selling real ales, the last time it was included in the city centre survey was 2016.

As has often been the case in recent years the most widely available beers are the Wetherspoons regulars, Greene King Abbot (available in three pubs) plus Greene King Ruddles and Sharps Doombar (both available in two pubs). Additionally, Bass, Landlord and Brewsters Weizen Up were also available in two pubs. In 2025 Bass was the most commonly found beer when it was available in four different pubs.

The number o>Overall, there were 35 different real ales available on the evening of the survey (down from 40 in 2025) and 42 active hand pumps (down from 51 in 2025). Of the available real ales only three were from local breweries, namely Byatt’s and Church End.

The pubs selling the widest range of real ales were the Flying Standard (8), Earl of Mercia (7) and the Old Windmill (6). The Gatehouse usually has a wider selection of beers available than on the evening of the survey but had had a particularly busy Monday evening due to the Sky Blues playing at home which meant that their stocks were lower than normal.

Thanks to Paul, Greg, Simon, Huw, Jon and Sally for supporting the survey on the evening.

The real ales spotted and where they were found are summarised in the table below.

The results of all the city centre surveys since 2000 are summarised in the following table.

Note: There was no survey in 2020 due to the pandemic.