Hillfields

Loved the photos Philip, great seeing them.

Thanks for your reply, lollipop - it went to my spam and I was unable to answer it. I don't remember The Nicholsons' but I was only a little kid then. Where did they move to?

They moved to Lynmouth Rd Henley Green from there.

Not good publicity for Coventry - particularly Hillfields! Daily Mail is notoriously sensationalist, but they're quoting scary stats! Is it really that bad, or is this just another beatup? EXCLUSIVE - 'I'd NEVER come out at night': Inside the city where locals are terrified to leave their homes as blood-thirsty drugs gangs hunt victims with baseball bats and knives

Hello, The no go areas appear to be nationwide, including leafy suburb areas too. There are other areas of Coventry that are notorious for attracting dissenting videos on YouTube. Do you have unsociable areas down under?

Continuing our thoughts on Coventry bad press, I remember areas in Coventry going back to the fifties that were feared. Caludon park was the scene of many battles including knuckle dusters & chain balls. Serious injuries occurred. A murder in Wood End thirty years on is yet to be solved. Sometimes news & media feed this kind of behaviour.

In 1962, bus crews took action, not serving Longford Roller Skating venue on Friday & Saturday evenings. The weapons change, the locations change that highlight our broken world. Very sad.

Thank you for your post, Johnnie, & bringing it to our attention.

When there is no other news they go looking for something to say. What can we knock now !

I read with dismay the reports on Hillfields, I lived and grew up in Stoke on the borders of Hillfields and whilst it was never the best of areas in the 60's and 70's I never felt unsafe walking home at any time through it no matter what time night and day. I loved it as a child with the shops that ran continuously from King William Street through to the town. But one has to face the facts, by the 80's the decline had set in with a more active problem of prostitution and drugs sellers and to compound it all the conflicts in the old Yugoslavia in the 90's meant an influx into the area of young men from Bosnian region. On top of that the opening by Blair to allow unchecked immigration from Eastern Europe, so many people flooded into the part of the city with the cheapest accommodation and it has continued to this day with migrants from Africa and Asia. Before we moved away from our place of birth we lived on the south side of city. Admittedly our lives were somewhat protected from the goings on in other areas, but I did have to travel through them to get to work 3 times a week and had many friends who lived in the Stoke area, a place I lived for 40 years of my life. What has happened to Hillfields is indicative of our big cities, so I don't think the press write because it has no other place to write or pick upon, it just happened to be Coventry's turn, the problems are there, the decline is there, it's been in the making for over 40 years. I hate as much as any Coventrian to read these things about our Sky Blue City, but sadly this is a sign of the times.

Hi Philip There are risky areas in the major cities over here - particularly western Sydney - usually connected with illegal drugs trades. These trades are largely - but not completely - controlled by the outlaw bikies. Often they are also of overseas origins, since - of course - they come to Australia with all the contacts they need to run the imports businesses. In recent years, it has also become dangerous to own a tobacconists' shop, as the gangs that control illicitly imported tobacco demand "protection" payments - or else a nasty shop fire can occur. Violence is often between or even amongst these gangs, so innocent people are rarely the targets. That said though, there seems to be increasing lack of respect for the law - or for any authority - particularly amongst some teenage males, and the use of knives isn't uncommon; crimes often involve stealing a car, using it sometimes in a ram-raid, and setting fire to it to cover their tracks. Personally, I sheet the blame for all this for the disastrous economic policies of governments since the Thatcher/Reagan(omics) - the trickle-down theory that was specifically designed to increase the wealth and power gap between the rich and poor on the pretext of promoting economic growth. Social media simply fans the flames and amplifies the discontent of those left behind. Revolutions have occurred in times of such wealth disparity!

Hello & thank you so much for that. We might be around ten thousand miles apart, but basically a very similar scenario. The remnants of the tabloid era, pounce on anything that will produce an attractive headline, so as to entice a sale or more likely an on-line click, that anything to ramp the click appeal up will be pursued. I always have that at the back of my mind when evaluating a news item. The thing is, on-line is in colour. Imagine what the sales in MacDonald would be like if the menues were a printed listing rather than the glowing picture of your bun!

On a marketing course years ago, we were told that good news does not sell newspapers. I take anything in the papers with a large dose of salt; e.g., the Mail headlines were once "House prices falling in UK". Next to it on the stand was a pile of Expresses. Headlines: "UK property prices booming". Take your pick. My uncle had a butcher's shop in King William Street all his life. He never had any trouble. Ok, he was not there at night, when there probably was activity as it was always the red light area of Coventry. My understanding is that over the years, Hillfields has become the drug dealing centre instead, presumably because that is where there is more money to be made. I can believe that, as I know of somebody from the "upstanding" town of Kenilworth who, reportedly, takes a regular bus ride over to Hillfields to buy his drugs.

For what it's worth, another bad report on modern Coventry in the Daily Telegraph. Boarded up shops rough sleepers and crime quoted.