Shops of yore

A "real" tobacconists on Warwick Row was Hansons, somewhere near where Age UK is now

Ah, you have sorted it then, I found F.J. Hanson, Wines and Spirits, 7 Warwick Row, and discounted it cos it didn't mention 'Tobacco' and neither did Stu But it has to be it surely. Do you remember the building, he said it seemed quite quality. Been looking for a photo but no luck yet. Thanks, I'm off now for dinner

Yes, that's the one - I remember it because my dear old dad used it for his St Bruno supply! And a good guess, as Age UK IS no.7 !

I worked at Age Concern, as it was then, in that building during the 90's. It would be good to see that house as it was in the 50's. I believe that there was a private school along there in the 19th century, which Mary Anne Evans attended.

Hi Anne, I work as a volunteer in the Age UK Warwick Row office and have done for the last 5 years. We still occasionally receive post addressed to the school at 7 Warwick Row.

It's now referred to as "Alvin Smith House" - who is/was he?

He was a past chairperson who did a lot of work for the charity

What do you do there, Mayjan? I was the Mental Health Support officer.

Hi Anne I do admin work one day and I help with the new volunteer applications on another day, inputting data onto the computer. Wonder if you would know any of the staff that are there now? regards Jan

Brilliant link Foxcote, I reckon every household in the country (then and now worldwide) would have had to go into Woolies at some time or other. I still remember the old one after the bombing with it's wooden floors. Don't know about any stigma but it never stopped me going in. Good one Foxcote

The school was the Loveitts property and was run by two Miss Franklins, daughters of the Rev. Franklin of Cow Lane Chapel. George Eliot went there at 13 years. I believe there is a plaque.

Hi all My very first sweet-heart worked in Woolies on a Saturday morning, often on the hot salted peanut counter. We never parted by way of conflict, we drifted apart as she went into nursing at the same time as I went to Uni. We may have only been glued by hot roasted peanuts. Funny though, as she liked coming with me trainspotting as well as to the Locarno.

Well my association with Coventry begins in 1989, was interrupted for a few years during the mid 1990s and then resumed again in 1997... So my 'yore' is more recent than most here. Coming from a small town of 30,000 people, Coventry seemed large and intimidating, except during my first day I wandered around the shopping precinct and wondered why there wasn't a decent bookshop (I eventually found a tiny Dillons with a poor selection!) I was also surprised that there were so many 'doubles' Two HMVs, and I think two M&S stores... For a large town, the centre felt small, not much bigger than Burnley (The nearest large town to where I grew up.) I soon discovered Shambles arcade (Books & records), the second hand record shop above KONG and the second had record shops on Far Gosford Street (Hits and Misses, in particular). You could spend a fair amount of time in the various second hand stores on Far Gosford Street (In between nipping into the pubs - Hand & Heart was a favourite, as we used to get lock-ins.) There was also 'strings and things', where I used to get guitar strings and music books from (The lady in there once told me that Jethro Tull [My favourite band] had their guitars serviced there.). I haven't been up that street for about 10 years. Most of the old shops had gone and there seemed to nothing but grim looking take-aways. There was also Hamilton News on Hales Street, which had a far better selection of magazines than anyone else including imported titles from the USA. It's the only place I've ever seen my own work for sale - I had a short story published in a US based magazine, and I saw it for sale in Hamilton news! The big time beckoned... but I must have missed it. They moved up to Trinity Street, I think, and still have a more diverse selection of titles. The best shop was Spinadisc, in the Lower Precinct. Brilliant independent store that offered a wider selection of music than HMV and Our Price (Which was always rubbish.) Then a few years later the music had four or five music stores. This weekend I thought about this as I browsed HMVs pitiful selection of music and realised that about 10 years if HMV didn't have a title, Virgin, MVC or Spinadisc might... All gone now. When Dillons opened up their large store in Cathedral Lanes it was a revelation. At last, a bookshop of city proportions with a wide selection of titles. (Although I preferred Waterstones, as back then they had a policy of stocking obscure stuff alongside the mainstream - a few years later Dillons got bought out by Waterstones, who were then owned by HMV and had the same terrible selection as the music stores! By then I could get the strange and unusual titles I sought from Amazon. Poor selection in the high streets drove me online, as I still prefer to browse. It's just there's little point in browsing unless you like all the mainstream authors.) I used to get all my tickets for gigs at a place called 'the Poster Place' in the old Hippodrome building. I also remember going up to Earlsdon to look at a music shop, and in the areas back streets for a second hand bookshop (Armstrongs, who then moved onto Albany Road.) and a shop that sold Doc Martens. Up to Holyhead Road with a friend to a 'games' shop that sold role playing stuff (Only to find it was closed on Wednesday Afternoons!) This was when the Alvis Factory was still there, but maybe being demolished to make way for a soulless retail park. As a student I was more interested in the pubs than shops, and spent many hours in places like the Hand and Heart, Peacock, Rising Sun, Windmill, Colin Campbell, Hope and Anchor... The Jaguar for a few games of pool. Most of these are long gone now. I hate to say it, but in the early 1990s the shops in Coventry were pretty poor. We generally used to get on the train and head to Birmingham if we wanted to go shopping for books or music or clothes. By the late 1990s Coventry had actually improved quite a bit, but now it's gone back the other way quite dramatically... What with surrounding towns and retail parks, the city centre feels like it's in the process of being abandoned. As for restaurants... When my parents came to visit they used to find the 'Pagoda' Chinese amusing and different due to its location in the tower block. There was also a decent little place somewhere called 'Bourbons'. I think it has been demolished now, but I remember going there for a meal with my girlfriend and some friends... It turned into something called 'Hungry Jacks' and then quickly disappeared. One of my favourite shops was the Alma Deli on Corporation Street (And the Lower Precinct before that). Brilliant store. I recall that in the early 1990s Corporation Street was quite a busy street, and there was a bit of grumbling when it was closed off to traffic apart from buses... Now it's virtually dead!

Another view of the Arcade, not sure if it's already on the site

Hi Ghengis! This picture has brought back memories of my first job in 1969. I worked, for a short time, at Timpson's in the Precinct. As 'junior', I often had to take things down to the repair branch, seen here in City Arcade. One day I was despatched with a model of the bottom half of a body-used for displaying boots and shoes! It was like a scene from 'Are you being served?', as I carried it down there, bemusing all and sundry! Thanks for posting the picture