We visited fire hit derelict pub in Coventry flagged as 'site of concern'

Coventry City Council will look at how to stop future fires at a derelict pub hit by an arson attack this week. The Hamptons pub on Butts Road caught fire for the second time in almost three years on Sunday night, July 7.

The 2021 blaze was treated by police as "suspicious" and this week's fire is believed by the fire service to have been started deliberately. The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) asked Coventry City Council if it would take action after the incidents.

We asked what the council is doing to help the building be brought back into use and improve security at the site. Councillor Pervez Akhtar, Deputy Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities, said: "The Council meets regularly with partners, including colleagues from the Fire Service, to discuss and raise sites of concern across the city. Following this incident, officers will be discussing this location and looking at how we can work with our partners to prevent further incidents."

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We visited the site yesterday evening, July 8. We found the building boarded up with graffiti on its first and second floors. Glass has been smashed in a window above a boarded up door. Piles of wood can be seen around the back of the building from Meadow Street.

A huge six foot 'Smile' tag is still on the building's wall, two years after it was reported by Coventry Live. The tag has been joined by other murals and beside them on the pub's old car park is a pile of what looks like smashed up tiles.

The pub first opened almost 200 years ago in 1837 when it was called the Summerland Tavern. It appears to have been boarded up in 2020 and photos from that year show a banner with contact details for a lettings agency on the site but this is no longer there.