What would attract visitors to our city long term?

When was the last time that any of you planned a visit to Bradford, or Norwich, or Taunton? Do you ever think that the residents of those places ponder why Coventrians rarely visit, if ever?

I would have to agree that Coventry is rather poor at promoting its centuries of heritage and history. I was talking to some relatives of my wife yesterday, who live in Sutton Coldfield. The woman said that they had recently visited Coventry for the day so I asked them where they went. "Oh, just the cathedral, really. What else is there?" I do think that this sums up the problem. Coventry is seen by outsiders as a 'nothing' city with just this one building to see and nothing else. Yet it has, in my view, far more to offer than any other cities nearby, including Birmingham. How sad that the city is defined by a large 1960s building with all the style of my local B&M Bargains. There are so many other more worthwhile places that nobody knows about because of Coventry's failure to sell itself. Birmingham, conversely, manages to oversell what it has, with the consequent boost to the local economy.

That's a pretty strange and selfish view. People visiting cities for leisure, business or other reasons generate income for the local economy. This in turn generates jobs. This might mean the city centre won't be an endless expanse of dead streets and empty shops units.

Hey, it's not so bad for Coventry to be defined in that way.... a few years ago the public voted the 1960s "local B&M Bargains" as Britain's favourite 20th century building!!! That's assuming, of course, that your wife's relatives visited the new cathedral, not the ruins of the old one? And if so, did they share your opinion? I'd be surprised if many visitors, having seen the magnificent baptistery window, St. Michael & the Devil, the mosaic floor and stained glass, etc. had too many harsh words to share. And in the ruins I'm sure they would've enjoyed the tranquillity to be found there, and hopefully would've also noticed the sign in the corner ushering visitors into the Guildhall next door, which is always worth a lengthy visit. I agree that Coventry doesn't do enough to promote itself, which is especially laughable if we're seriously thinking of going for "City of Culture", but people planning a visit here have plenty of resources at hand (this site could be a start!) to plan a day here, and there's no excuse for not knowing in advance what there is to see. If we were planning to visit a city we weren't familiar with, the first thing we'd do is search online for tourist attractions, and in Coventry's case the very worthy Transport Museum would probably be the most prominent thing to show up.

You can spend a day or two in Birmingham. Theatre, music, things to see and do, decent bars, decent restaurant, decent shops (some of which are attractions) and big museums. A lot of people aren't actually that interested in a semi-derelict bunch of reconstructed or empty medieval buildings stuck down service areas or dead ends by ring roads. They want to see gigs, eat, go to bars, go shopping, go to a see a west end style show, or spend half a day in a large museum - not 20 minutes inside a museum that doesn't seem to have much in it or a car museum you can walk around 30 minutes (and then if you're really desperate to waste any more time walk over a bridge that brings you to a dreary garden by a ring road). If you want to go to a historic city, Chester or York are far better. Birmingham may not have the historical buildings, but it's got proper streets and it's lively past 5:30 and there are a whole load of areas with character and life. Coventry, on the other hand, is just dead and a ghastly, characterless expanse of road systems and precinct squares. You may be able to visit Saint Mary's Guild Hall, but once you have spent 20 minutes there what else is there? 5 pounds for a modern cathedral that I suspect the majority of people don't really like much? You can't visit Ford's Hospital, Bond Street hospital and Spon Street is a mess and there's nothing much there anyway unless you want a 99p burger. The Old Grammar school is an interesting 10 minutes but there's nothing in it, and who on Earth would want to wander up to Greyfriars to wander around subways? Brum built things that people will use and with mixed use to them lively all night. Coventry is still building large single purpose buildings everywhere, poorly linked up to the rest of the city centre and generally aimed at drivers anyway. The only interesting thing going on in Coventry is the Fargo development, which is bringing some interesting new things to the city. I suspect that more things like this are required, and the council should seriously give up. They've had 70 years and made a mess of it!

I know that this is the Historic Coventry Forum but why is there such negativity about our post-war architecture? Some of it is now 60 years old. Perhaps it has to be 100 years old to be appreciated. I chat daily to a friend in NZ (he's NZ born and I don't think he has ever left) so I asked him what he had heard of Coventry before we became friends. "Being sent to Coventry" was the only thing he knew. I tried to follow Rob's idea of looking online to see what Coventry is like. "Come shopping in Coventry" was the first headline that hit me (come shopping). That would put me off straight away. Hardly a unique selling point is it. Mostly the same shops as any other city. If a foreign tour operator was offering holidays in Coventry what would they be offering their clients?

To say I am staggered by this comment would be an understatement. 'I don't really care' - 'It won't make me a penny richer or a penny poorer'. How about something constructive?! Our city needs help. Can you not oblige!?

I'm confused by the term visitors long term, that excludes tourists. If you mean people to settle here then look at the fifties, thousands of Eastern people came to Coventry to settle, live and work. And the only incentive was work, money, security, and you can't offer that now. If you mean tourists, then you have killed the golden goose. Go back to the twenties, Coventry was known throughout Europe, for its three spires, its beautiful cathedral, its legend of Lady Godiva and Peeping Tom, and in today's world that would have been a money spinner. You lost the cathedral, and today you're knocking the legend. The Cathedral Lanes and the area around was worth visiting, but you would rather have flashy modern restaurants, thousands of students, and you have turned away the tourists. Coventry led the world in industry during the thirties, and we taught them our skills and they went away and and became our rivals. Now you're teaching students, and when they have the knowledge they will disappear too. Wake up, Coventry, it was once a beautiful and proud city, that was the heart and soul of its people, can you say the same today? This forum has been talking about the old cathedral for four years, only now are you talking about the new cathedral (unless I missed a topic).

I'd say that the people are the heart and soul of the city, not the other way around. I love Coventry and Cov people and find them friendly, open and good natured on the whole. We do have thousands of students, and hooray for that. We're now a successful student city & the foreign ones bring their nice foreign cash with them. It's probably the students that keep the restaurants going I think a very good website for the city would be a great thing with an up to date "what's on" section, possibly covering surrounding towns too.

Davey. It's not that I don't like Coventry, I'm just old fashioned, and brought up in the old city, the new one too modern for me. Most tourists are retired, they have the time and the money and like me the old things and ways are the things they will spend money on. Yes I didn't like what they did to the city, so I did move out, but I still remember the place I was born, and that's the only thing I post, the Coventry of today is yours, but this forum tells me a lot of people there are not happy about it, that never happened to me, my first twenty odd years, I loved the place, every cobblestone, but Davey, that's happening the world over. No one is contented anymore, and I'm a grumpy old man. Davey, I have just watched that 1930 film just posted, you fancy being part of that? lol.

I was born here in 1950 so I remember the "modern" city. I live in Yorkshire now but have a family house here where I stay now and again. I left in 1976 and returned about five years ago so I think I missed the "ghost town" years. I have a great social life here, brilliant festivals around and about: the Godiva, Warwick Folk Festival, Leamington Peace Festival. Good Galleries & Theatres & Pubs & all within a short drive often through gorgeous countryside. And so: out to the pub to play some music. Cheers.

The relatives were fairly ambivalent about the cathedral. Not-over-impressed and it didn't detain them that long. Their main memory seems to have been the fact that they were charged a fiver each to walk round the place, and that didn't include any sort of guided tour. It didn't leave a good impression of the city. They weren't familiar with the city and so didn't know where the other, more interesting attractions were. They aren't planning to return any time soon, which is a shame. My point is that there is far more to see than a musty old church, and yet people from outside the area don't realise it. A bit of Birmingham-style publicity might convince people that there is far more than that place to see. I have long said that Coventry suffers from a lack of entertainment and leisure facilities, rather than just historic buildings. There is no proper music venue, and just one theatre which is now downgraded so that it doesn't get the top shows at all. Smaller places such as Leicester, Wolverhampton and Northampton seem to do better. You are right that the city is dead at night. Restaurants never seem to prevail for long, which is not surprising when the entertainment to support evening activity is absent. I suppose it's easy to blame the council but I do wonder if the problem is simply that venues were just not supported. I used to love going to gigs and shows at the Coventry Theatre and they seemed to attract plenty of people, but it ended up as a bingo hall which was a travesty for such a great venue. You are right that Birmingham has attracted the venues that people want to use on a regular basis. It doesn't rely on a church as its main attraction, as after all where is the long term benefit. With a cathedral, see it once and that's it, you've seen it.

Selfish? Me? I don't think so. Anyone who has worked for the ambulance service for 28 years can hardly be called selfish. I, like most ambulance crew, join because they have a desire to help people. It's certainly not for the money, I could have found work bolting on wheels in a car factory for twice what I was paid. I was slightly amused by one of my critics who appears to have left the city to live elsewhere. We have forum members from several distant countries who, for reasons of their own, wished to leave Coventry. As for visitors creating jobs, perhaps a few jobs for Eastern Europeans flipping burgers at McDonalds. Working on one hour contracts and getting paid as little as possible and then getting the elbow when the tourists finish arriving. This city is dead and a few tourists will not bring it back to life. We have a rich industrial heritage that has never been exploited. I have triplet nieces who live in Great Yarmouth and wanted to come and see the city that I have praised so much in the past. They arrived on a summer Sunday filled with optimism of the joys I would show them the following day. Of course I started with the cathedral. As we mounted the steps Mags, the cheeky one, caught sight of the prone figure of the devil, that raised a few shy giggles and left me contemplating my own shortcomings. I am almost sure that I parted with about £30 to get in. The girls admired the various windows and a few other items then 15 minutes later we were back outside looking at the bomb site of the old cathedral. I was asked if I remembered the bombs. I do but prefer not to talk to much about it. Then down to see the Whittle arch, I couldn't explain its significance but the girls admired it anyway. The motor museum was next that, whiled away about twenty minutes. Where next? I could have taken them down to squirt square by the Belgrade to admire the soap suds in the fountain but thought better of it. Lady Herberts Garden or the Swanswell? Don't think so. We went up to Broadgate to see Lady Godiva but that had a limited appeal. I suggested a walk around Wilko's but that was turned down. As they had shown some interest in Frank Whittle I took them just a couple of minutes away to see the engine at the side of the road. It looked a bit sad and appeared to have fallen off a lorry, perhaps it had. That ended the first day. The following days we visited the butterflies at Stratford upon Avon and Ann Hathaway's cottage, Warwick Castle, Ironbridge and the Black Country Museum. So on the whole it was a good week for the girls. I agree that Coventry is a cultural desert but I fear there is little that can now be done to change our image. It has already been said. How many of us are planning a visit to Bradford, Leeds of Hull any time soon? I feel very much as Kaga does about Coventry and I thank him for his comments on this thread.

Norman - I don't know how old your nieces are, but perhaps they would have enjoyed a visit to the Coventry Music Museum in Walsgrave Road which celebrates Coventry's contribution to popular music, and in particular the 2 Tone era. It is only a little museum but is well worth a visit. This could have been combined with a visit to the individual shops of FarGo Village in Far Gosford Street. A visit to the Memorial Park or the canal basin could have been other possible destinations close at hand. Nephews would have been easier to please with a visit to the Air Museum at Baginton or the Electric Railway Museum next door. There are often interesting exhibitions at The Herbert as well. The city's rich heritage is still there, but as you say it needs to be better exploited so that we can attract our share of the huge numbers of tourists who contribute so much to the economies of Stratford, Warwick, and now Leicester with the Richard The Third publicity.

Hello Mr Not Local This just shows my ignorance of Coventry. Never heard of the Music Museum and as a trumpet player I should have known The girls were 21 when they stayed with my wife and I and yes I think they would have liked a visit to the Air Museum, Just didn't think of it although I should as their father was an RAF navigator.