A coating apparatus comprising a forward bar, a liquid feed passage and a metering device for a coating liquid. The forward bar rotates about its axis in the same direction as the traveling direction of a continuously traveling band-shaped web while touching the web. When coating the web with the coating liquid, the liquid feed passage feeds the coating liquid to an area between the upstream side of the forward bar and the web with respect to the traveling direction of the web. The metering device is arranged on the downstream side of the forward bar for metering the coating liquid to a predetermined coating thickness as applied to the web by the forward bar.