Welcome to

The History Of The Head Of Steam Lilbourne

We are building a history, below is what we have so far, but can you help? Old pictures of the Head Of Steam are sort! As a local community pub we support many members of our local population, from young to old. If you can help us with any old photo's we would really appriciate it and will add it to our collection for all our community to see.

Old Cars

Do you have any pictures of your parents old cars in Lilbourne we could add?

Old Story's

Do you have facts that we can add to our timeline? Email them to us.

My House

Do you have any old pictures of where you live? Please send them.

Shops & High Street

Did you or your parents work in the town? Help us keep those memory's.


Here we have a small collection to start with and over the coming weeks and months we will be adding more, hopefully with your help!
Just pop in for a pint and a chat and we'll do the rest!


The parish, covering just under 680 hectares, lies immediately E. of Watling Street (A5) which forms its W. boundary with Warwickshire, and S. of the R. Avon which is its N. boundary with Leicestershire. The main topographical feature of the parish is a long E - W. ridge completely covered with Boulder Clay and other glacial deposits between 115 m. and 125 m. above OD. From this ridge the land slopes gently N. to the R. Avon and its tributary, the Clay Coton Brook, at around 90 m. above OD, and S. to another stream at around 95 m. above OD. No Roman site has been firmly located in the parish


Here is what we have so far which was kindly provided by the previous owner.

The Head Of Steam's timeline from the beginning

our history

  • 01

    the beginning

    The Head of Steam Pub Lilbourne, back in 1695 was a farm - a single storey thatched building, with dug out floors. The original gable end can still be seen on the left hand side of the building along with a bricked up window - the farm was sold in 1722.

  • 02

    1700's

    In the 1700's the building was extended and a second storey was added to the original building, these were both thatched at that time and the original timbers for supporting the thatch are still a structural part of the right hand side pub roof.

  • 03

    1800's

    In the 1800's the out buildings, where the outside kitchen and cellar are now, had a coal fired boiler for washing clothes, a coal shed and a stable - back then and up until the 1980's the building had a single pitch roof with a hay loft.

  • 04

    1800's

    In the 1800's the site was called two cottages, then later given the numbers of 10 and 11. Because of the odd and even numbering of roads, later on it became 10 Station Road and number 11 is now a 1960's house further down.

  • 05

    Timeline Memory

    My Grandfather, a cavalryman, came home from France after the First World War and he originally rented the house, later purchasing. He lived there with my Grandmother, my grandmothers father and both my mother and Auntie were born there. My Grandparents lived there for the rest their lives, both passing away in the late 1980's, after that I purchased the property, which I turned into a one bed and a three bedroom cottage respectively.

  • 06

    Timeline Memory

    I lived there with my mother until I got married in 1997 to Wendy, following that our 2 children were born and we all lived there until my mother passed away.

  • 07

    2013

    In 2013 I was made redundant and came home from my final day at work with an incredible / unbelievable idea of turning our family home where five generations had lived, into a village pub, as at that time the village had been without a pub for 15 years.

  • 08

    Timeline Memory

    We carried out various surveys and council applications, self funding the project as the bank refused loans for such a 'ludicrous' idea at a time when pubs were shutting down. We used all local tradesmen and together with my family we began transforming our family home into a pub - the next stage in the life of our lovely cottage.

  • 09

    Timeline Memory

    We had a temporary event notice for a 3 day opening over Christmas 2013 in our partially transformed cottage, so the locals gave it a temporary name of the 'Half Plastered Inn', which really suited the property and the feel of that temporary event, which even highlighted at that time our cellar wasn't big enough for the demand.

  • 10

    Timeline Memory

    Stuart York a local resident and whose father Geoff worked on the railway at Lilbourne, came up with the name 'Head of Steam', which we really loved, so secured the name and logo as our registered trade march for our new venture.

  • 11

    2014

    From January 2014 to March 2014, we completed the building work and with the assistance of Baby Bottles in Coventry, who kindly arranged the installation of cellar equipment and Dowbridge Brewery, who supplied their own ales, along with a number of guest Ales, on the 8th of March 2014 we officially opened our doors.

  • 12

    Timeline Memory

    The same year we opened, we won Rugby CAMRA's Summer Pub of the Year, we got into the Good Beer Guide and had a social meeting place for the village, something our village had been missing for so long.

  • 13

    2014

    Thanks to my family and staff, we provided a facility for parties, weddings, Beer Festivals and countless events over the next five years, winning awards for the quality and selection of our real ales, St Austell Brewery made us Tribute Masters again for the quality of ales, which granted us St Austell Brewery landlord benefits and status.

  • 14

    Timeline Memory

    I met Paul Fielding in December 2018 and we worked alongside each other, sharing our working knowledge, so as Paul was prepared to take over the ownership of the Head of Steam Pub, Lilbourne in February 2019, with as little change and disruption as possible, so much so Paul in his right won Country Pub of the year that first year.

  • 15

    2020

    The Head Of Steam Lilbourne is showcased with the introduction of a spectacular website, developed and built by a Coventarian who is yet to experience the hospitality and delightful flavour of a cool pint in the bar.

  • 14

    2020

    During the lockdown weeks of covid-19, the beer garden has received a fabulous makeover as you can see in the above video.