Smithford Street (inc. Ram Bridge)

Here's another from Fleet St.

Another one in colour

A good reference painting showing the gap we mentioned at the start of this thread to what was Market Street - thanks to The Coventrian FB page - Nancy Upshall (b.1927) 'Smithford Street, Coventry, 1953'.

Continuing my recent 'lost-properties discoveries (!) Thanks to Jo Roberts - This is a photo of the Theatre Vaults pub which was in Smithford Street (now under the upper precinct). Photo was taken in 1919 as that's when Fred Wootton was the landlord. The lady looking out is Florence Wootton his wife and also the sister of my Grt Grandmother Charlotte (Eaden) Satchwell . I think the young lad is their son but as to who the soldier is I haven't a clue. I've seen images of this pub before in later years - Fred's Real Ales site has it at two different numbered addresses for some reason in Smithford Street but not seen this great family photo.

Another cracker Neil. I think the reason it has two addresses is because there were drinking establishments either side of the arch on the right. I've got the one on the right as the Green Dragon, which seems to be in business earlier. Possibly the Theatre Vaults starts in the Green Dragon premises and then moves? Possibly while the Barracks is being built on the site of the Bull?

It's another of those photos where you would love to be able to step into and wander inside (preferably for a )

Helen, is the Vaults building in that photo the same one as in Osmiroid's later pre-war photo in post # 80 in this thread? If so everything to the right at the archway changed into what was Woolies in that image? The top of the wooden 'balustrade' looks similar?

Ah, well spotted. As far as I can gather the building at the very left of the photo in post 80 is number 16, just to the left of your photo which is number 17. Everything from 17 to 22 (including the Theatre Vaults and the Green Dragon buildings) was demolished to build Woolworths and the City Arcade. So The Theatre Vaults moved to the left into the jettied building directly to the left of your photo. You can see the jettied building in this image.

Similar location, a few years on

1953 is waaay out of my knowledge comfort zone and I don't really know what you're all talking about but there are a good few aerial views from 1953 for example this one. 1953, zoom in for a closer look. For anyone wanting to walk down memory lane or even learn something new, I'd strongly recommend signing up to Britain From Above and logging in, searching for Coventry and wandering through the views. They really are amazing, although there are quite a few that are poor quality. I originally thought that I could learn very little from the post war views but instead they offer scenes that were obscured when the city was more complete.

Yes, Helen there are several views of the area from above in 1953 and shows that there were still some of the old buildings as the new ones went up including the White Lion and some of the buildings round it. In the Telegraph an article says that the last shop in Smithford Street closed in 1957 which was H Marlow's furniture store which then moved to their other shop in Smithford Way.

Helen, We have different views. I love the people of Coventry, and how they lived, more than buildings - I can see shapes with aerial views that only tell me where buildings are. I like to be down there splashing through the mud, which we did in 1953 Coventry. We don't have a topic Precinct, so I can't find the pictures again that MR told me the date of opening Woolies etc. The second morning after the raid, no one was allowed in Smithford Street until demolition of the unsafe buildings had been completed. If I said it was heartbreaking it wouldn't do it justice. Much, much more. And that's what I'm about, a childish adventure. That you fill in the real historic story gives it more depth. Helen, you say the Green Dragon premises, that sounds like the building that had a preserved lizard in the window for many years that people in those days called a dragon.

We have to have a different view of the city and its people Kaga due to our experiences, but that's good. I barely knew Coventry existed before I arrived in late 1990 and rarely ventured into the centre before I left in 2006. Most of the people I worked with were born somewhere else and didn't even live within the wider modern city boundaries, let alone within the original walls. I didn't really know Coventry people. I was regularly asked why I would move to a dump like Coventry but I never disliked the place. I just couldn't work it out. When I started modelling the city I couldn't imagine the scenes from the photos and paintings on the patches of modern city I had visited. I still have trouble orientating the shopping centre with the Mayor's Parlour or the Spon Street gate or the Spicerstoke . For some reason I mix up the North/South orientation with the East/West. Outer areas like Coundon are a mystery to me and when you folks talk about them, I can't even work out which direction from the centre they are. As time marches on there are fewer landmarks to anchor the old images. Fewer people to recount the stories of how those buildings felt and what people who lived and worked there were like. Your comments are a fantastic record of your era... but to me they're just too modern and new fangled.

Kaga. Woolworths opened the new store on Friday 14th May 1954 at 9.00am