Time Machine / Travel back in time

It would be good to go back to the time when the Coventry ribbon industry was still viable, the watchmaking industry was in full swing and the bicycle industry had started. Possibly, there might just be an overlap with the nascent motorcycle and motor car industries. The ribbon industry, of course lasted through to Cash's school label business right up until the 1970s. My first wife had an aunt, Nell Stephens, who bequeathed some rare Stevengraphs to her. Of course, Thomas Stevens was a bit of an entrepreneur copycat, using the Jaquard system to manufacture his woven pictures, to maintain his business after the change in the tax system that led to the demise of the Coventry ribbon industry.

Looking back on the topics, I found this one and the quote above would answer a lot of questions for me. My mum and dad were in an air-raid shelter that night, after the allclear went up my dad left Coventry and found an old cottage on a farm near Burbage which was derelict. Finding the farmer they agreed a rent on it, he then went back to Coventry to collect my mum. The police had shut all roads off, so my dad had a lot of trouble trying to explain to the police that he was coming back to Coventry to collect my mum. They could not believe that he had been through the air-raid, left Cov, done what he had done and come back as they had shut all the roads off so quick. This was first thing in the morning. My dad won the argument otherwise I would not be writing this, I wish I had had the foresight to ask a lot more questions, but too late now.

I would go back to the day they decided to choose Gibson's plan to 'rebuild' the city and made sure they chose the alternative plan proposed by Ford (which was to keep the surviving city and reconstruct along the same lines as what was there before).

Interesting idea, although I'm undecided. What I would love to do is go back to see the pre-war Coventry that my parents got to know when they arrived in the mid to late 30s. I'd also make sure I got to Highfield Road as we had a decent team around that time.

For me it would have to be the period between the begining of the 50's to the end of the 60's as it seems that was when Coventry engineering was (or seemed) at its peak, not just the car and motorcycle factories but places like Alfred Herbert's and other big engineering companies this great city once had.

Hi Catshed, I have just looked in and now I can't get off! Not just engineering, but good years for fashions and music. Herbert's was a great place to work for me in the 60's. We had a good social life and nothing was too expensive. Being younger helped!!! Cheers Catshed

I am not so sure that the Ford plan was as sparing as you suggest. He had already created Corporation Street and Trinity Street and was in the process demolished the Butcher Rows, Bull Ring and parts of New Buildings so it is unlikely that he would have retained much of the past. In any event Hitler's intervention really meant that this was no longer an option.

That's true but he also had an eleventh hour conversion on the road to Damascus. It was Ford - as joint chief planning officer - who restrained some of Gibson's more extreme proposals.

I have seen a map of the Ford proposal, and it was actually as I stated - new buildings in the gaps left by the bombs and keeping the city centre layout as it was before the war. Broadgate retained the same (sensible) layout with direct routes down to Trinity Street and the Burges as before, and also Hertford Street and High Street. The aim was to get the city back into working order quickly. Not a complete rebuild. The actual 'plan' they went with was something of a watered down version of Gibson's. Some of the pre-war redevelopments of the city may have seen the destruction of places like Butcher Row, but they made sense as they retained the existing routes and urban network in the city centre, but made it suitable for vehicles. The same could be said of Hertford Street, which was built to relieve a small lane (Warwick?) that ran from Broadgate down to Greyfriars Green. Corporation Street was also properly linked up with the existing urban network (and probably built to relieve the traditional Gosford Street-Spon Street-Holyhead Road route? I don't know, but it feels that way). I don't think there was actually any need for the reconstruction of the city to have been so destructive (the same could be said of Plymouth, another city that suffers from similar problems to Cov, but I think is even worse!) - and looking at it now, with vast tracts of dead land and dead streets, slowly filling up with nothing but student halls and other tat, I struggle to think an alternative could be any worse!

I read that they planned to link the ringroad with flyovers that ran directly to the car parks. Did they not wonder what exactly they would do with all the land under the flyovers?

Here is a challenge for our forum contributors. You have been given access to a time machine that can take you back in time. There are conditions though. You can go back to any given date in the past, and you can only travel back to Coventry. What date do you pick? Where do you go in Coventry and what do you see and do? I'll start. My chosen date is Saturday 2nd May 1936, so exactly 80 years ago. I would like to arrive by train at Coventry Station and take the tram into Broadgate. My first task would be to locate an eating place for a full English breakfast somewhere in the centre of the city. That would set me up for exploring the city as it was before the Luftwaffe did its worst. The archive of photos from that era makes me keen to experience the 'old' city for myself. It would be interesting to see if I could find my way around the old streets, having only known the post-war redevelopment. I would perhaps travel to Earlsdon to see where my father was living at the time. He was in digs somewhere there and it would be interesting to see how many people actually did live in lodgings when first coming to Coventry from other cities to seek work in its booming economy. My next port of call would be Highfield Road, which is why I chose the precise date. After a pint or two near the ground I would join 30,000 others to watch the City clinch the Division 3 South title with a 2-1 win over Torquay Utd. Then the day would end with a few drinks and a fish & chip supper in the city centre, which I would imagine would be buzzing after the team's success. After all the excitement it would be back to the time machine and a return to reality. All a bit fanciful, I know, but I'd be interested to know what others would do. Now - where did I park the De Lorean?

Hi all & thank you MisterD-Di First important matters like breakfast. I cannot go back so far, but I do recall my mum talking about having breakfast with business folk at the Queens Hotel in Hertford St. I remember seeing the huge sign displaying a Queen of Hearts playing card supported on a tall pole, on the right hand side, as I walked into our city from school, but I cannot ever remember going inside.

Mister D-Di. Hi, well first you could have practically parked on the pitch, certainly in any street close to, and there would be no parking meters. Second you would have been surprised at the people, helpful, friendly, laughing banter with the opposition carefree although not much money, and dowdy dressed to today's standards. And then the real Coventry twang and the rattles they carried and used at the match. Yes, I think you would find hundreds in digs and most people rented their property. You might have been surprised at the shops, goods hanging outside etc. and people strolling across the road. You had no musical background, maybe a tinkle of a bell when you entered a shop, and little traffic noise. There was Lyons and a few more cafes in Broadgate, but as Philip says your best bet would have been a pub. But smoking was allowed everywhere. Back to the game, and if you had looked closely at the Swan Lane end and two yards right from the goal post you could have seen me standing right at the front with the other Cov kids (very happy days). Kaga.

Interesting stuff, Kaga! I am presuming you were actually at that Torquay game then. City were battling Luton for the one and only promotion spot and had played them twice in their previous two games. Both were draws, and both games produced ground attendance records at the time. It meant City just had to beat Torquay. However, they went a goal down with 15 minutes to go but managed to score two late goals to clinch the title. I do know that admission to the ground was 1/- at the time. I would no doubt have walked to the match, via one or two of the hostelries around the ground, so would not have needed to park. I understand what you are saying, though. Even up to the time we left Highfield Road in 2005 it was possible to park in the street within a couple of minutes walk from the ground as we always did (very different at the Ricoh!) As for rattles, I used to have one when I started going in 1963 but they were soon banned from grounds. Your recollection of the streets and shops is the sort of thing that has created the interest, from old photos and accounts of the time. I know that everywhere stinking of smoke was a downside, I recall that being the case far more recently. One thing that always amuses me is that, in those days, everyone seemed to wear a cap, presumably the Coventry cap in this case. You never seem to see a bare-headed chap in a photo.

When and wherever you go, be sure to take both still and video cameras with plenty of spare batteries so you can post the results on the forum here.