Chain Gardens

Must be before 1990 because it was demolished then. Walked many times along the Chain Gardens behind the building to grandad's in Spon End.

Can you still walk through from Holyhead Road and come out by the Koco building?

Hi Dreamer - yes, I believe you still can. I've been meaning to do it for ages, so will update once confirmed!

I think you can. If you look on Google Maps, there is still a path. Didn't the surface of that path make a mess of your white socks?! I always meant to try and walk it as well! as mum was in a sheltered flat on the corner of Holyhead Road and Moseley Avenue near the traffic lights for a few years, but I never got round to it. We did go to a furniture store the other end a few years ago behind the Renold Chain building just by where the path comes out. This is the end on the industrial estate at Spon End.

And this appears to be the other end behind Morrisons car park.

When we were in our early teens we made a 'den' inside an old abandoned allotment, one of which ran alongside the l/h side of the 'Chain Gardens' behind the Renold Chain factory and all the adjacent houses up to Four Pounds Avenue. They backed onto the Sherbourne all the way, the Alvis playing fields being on the other side of the river. Said 'den' was in the shed of this old allotment and we carried furniture all the way from derelict houses in Spon End/Butts to furnish it with. We even camped in it during school hols. This came to an abrupt end one morning when, accompanied with a loud banging on the door, we were faced with two policemen! Apparently the owner of a nearby allotment had seen our movements and reported us, thinking we were up to no good (we weren't), so we had to vacate our luxurious 'den', pack our camping stove, etc. and sleeping bags promptly and were escorted to the Four Pounds Avenue end. So it was back to our dank, damp and dark air raid shelter 'den' with candles behind the advertising hoardings on Albany Road, just before the second railway bridge near Spencer Park, bottom of Kensington Road.

Thanks. I drive past it quite often but I can't remember the entrance from Holyhead Road. I think there were allotments along the pathway. It did used to get muddy though!

It looks the same from the Spon End side and I'm trying to work it out from the Holyhead Road side. I'm going to study the pics Annewiggy has put up.

I seem to remember the footpath was to the right of the Alvis near the corner of Four Pounds Avenue on the right of where Morrisons is now, I was not very old when we used to go up there. The surface of the path I remember was like black ash that used to make your socks grubby, but it was not a good surface so used to get muddy.

Yes, Anne, you can still get to it from the access road that is at the back of Morrison's car park here, though as you can see that end is very overgrown and almost hidden.

Yes, Neil, there does not seem to be any obvious signs either end, which is a shame.

I don't think it's ever been signposted as a footpath that I can recall, Anne. I'm now going to make a deliberate attempt to walk it!

Can you take a few pictures please, Neil. It would be a walk down memory lane for me.

I can confirm the path is still open and used. It is still a poor surface and street lighting is not good. The southern end of the path emerges close to what is now Coventry Motor Factors. At the northern end there are two options, there is a path along the side of the B&Q store (which leads into the retail park) and the access road at the back of Morrisons (this has been mentioned previously). I remember the path from my schooldays as it was on a very occasional cross-country training route. As Annewiggy says, there was an entrance on Holyhead Road and my recollection of this is that it was between the Alvis factory buildings and the sports ground that was in the area now occupied by Morrisons.

I would agree with you, as I recall the same. My dad had an allotment there and for some unknown reason I got a lot of pleasure going up and down that path.