History
From The Hanging Gate in 1824 to The Horse & Jockey at Bentley today.
From The Hanging Gate to The Horse & Jockey.
The Horse & Jockey at Bentley traces its roots back to 1824, when the pub was known locally as The Hanging Gate. Local accounts link that earlier name to a toll gate on the old road, a practical stopping point for people travelling through this part of Warwickshire.
As the years passed, the pub became known as The Horse & Jockey, a name with a more characterful sporting feel and one that has stayed with the building ever since. The sign, the white-painted frontage and the traditional country-pub layout all help give the place the settled, familiar identity regulars remember.
Across changing landlords, changing tastes and changing times, the constant has been the pub’s role as a place to stop, eat, drink and talk. That is the tradition the team is carrying forward today.
1824 Roots
The earliest story attached to the pub places it in 1824 as The Hanging Gate, giving The Horse & Jockey a heritage that reaches back two centuries.
A Traveller’s Stop
Its older name suggests a roadside role: a recognisable stopping place for travellers, locals and workers moving between Bentley, Coleshill and Atherstone.
A Living Pub Story
The building has evolved, but the purpose remains simple: warm hospitality, proper pub food, good beer and a place where people can gather.
The Heart of The Horse and Jockey
Mary Kathleen “Kath” Taylor was the much-loved landlady of The Horse and Jockey, Bentley, a traditional village pub near Atherstone. Born at “The Jockey” on Christmas Eve 1912, Kath’s family had run the pub since 1893, combining pub life with farming, brewing and local trade. Kath later took on the licence herself, keeping the pub in the family’s hands and remaining its familiar face for decades.
Remembered as a no-nonsense, plain-speaking lady with a warm heart, Kath helped make The Horse and Jockey famous for its proper real ale, cosy bar, roaring fire, sing-a-longs and traditional character. With no piped music, slot machines or fuss, the pub was a simple, welcoming place where customers came for good beer, good company and a true taste of old-fashioned village pub life.
Keeping a Bentley landmark welcoming.
Today, The Horse & Jockey brings that old roadside welcome into a modern country pub, with cosy bar areas, a characterful restaurant, a beer garden and campsite facilities for visitors who want to stay a little longer.
Whether you are calling in for a pint, booking a family meal, planning private hire or using the campsite as a base, the pub’s history is still part of the experience: unpretentious, local and built around hospitality.