COVENTRY’S Black Horse pub, which has stood for around 200 years, was torn down over the weekend.
The Spon End pubs demolition was permitted by Coventry City Council’s planning committee last May as part of a road-widening scheme.
The demolition is a part of the Local Air Quality Action Plan, in which the council worked with the government to meet the need to reduce NO2 levels below the legal limit of 40ug/m3 in the shortest possible time.
Plans will see an extra lane of traffic added to the B4106 in Spon End which will allow drivers to avoid highly polluted parts of Holyhead Road when going into the city centre.
The Black Horse was given Grade II listed building status in 2011 by English Heritage, but the listing was challenged and reversed.
It was also locally listed but that was also removed.
The demolition of the historic pub included the Victorian Society and the Georgian Group, while a petition objecting to the application gained 175 signatures back in May.
The Coventry Society said in May they were ‘disappointed’ to lose the Black Horse but supported the council’s plans to reduce NO2 without introducing a Charging Zone.
