Wartime housing and shops

I was wondering if any one remembers the pre-fab shops on the corner over the road from the Co-op in town. They must have been the last of the pre-fabs to be knocked down. I do remember one of them was a bed shop. Head-boards, mattresses, etc. And one was a charity shop. Do any remember what the others were. I think they were pulled down after a fire? We also had them in Broadgate, and near to Pool Meadow, coach firms etc. Philip mentioned a Lyons Cafe in Broadgate in an early posting, I am a little young to remember the Broadgate pre-fabs, but do recall the shops leading to Pool Meadow. Was there any other locations in Coventry that had them?

Yes, they've been discussed in quite a few different threads here Baz. Earl Street, Jordan Well, Ironmonger Row, Hales Street, Fleet Street, other end of Corporation Street, etc. I'm old enough to remember when one of the prefabs opposite the Co-op was a showcase for the National Coal Board!

Hi Baz, I think I recall a florists shop across the road from the Co-op. I bought my wedding flowers from there somewhere in 1969. Gilly

Thanks Gilly and Dutchman, I know a few threads that mention the pre-fabs, but not the ones on that corner. The charity shop was nearest to the Jag pub, then the bed shop. Can't remember which one the florist was, may have been around the corner. Thanks

Their usage changed over the years so how we remember them depends pretty much on the period we remember. The Silver Spoon cafe dominated that corner for many years.

So did we Gilly, also the wedding cars were ordered somewhere around the Co-op shop in Corporation St. The photos were by Beryl Houghton, she moaned about the bells ringing whilst taking the photos outside St. Thomas's if I recall. Everything was organised from ye olde Co-op as my in-laws worked there for years. Cyril Roberts worked in the gents outfitting dept., a real gentleman. I vaguely remember the pre-fabs opposite, quite a few along Corporation St. Going back to Beryl Houghton's photography shop, was that in Queen Vic. Road., only a very small little shop? How is it over east Gilly, it is freezing here in the west at the moment.

I seem to remember one selling carpets, another was a newsagents but this was early 60s.

Hi all The pre-fabs were all types over the years. My mum's shop in White St. was a pre-fab, but about 1948 it received some brick walls as more & more of them were kind of made permanent. The shops that you started this thread off with Baz, might have been the last true pre-fabs. One of them was an RSPCA shop when it closed in the eighties or early nineties.

My husband wanted me to tell 'Dreamtime' that he too remembers Mr. Roberts at the Co-op, a really lovely chap with a jovial face. There was Davies the Sports Shop amongst the pre-fabs in Jordan Well, he remembers because he had seen a film and was obsessed with diving flippers and had to have a pair and he got them from Davies's and used them in the canal at Warwick. There was a great shot of Davies's and some other good ones of Jordan Well that I found, I just put in a search on yahoo, images - Jordan Well, Coventry - clicked black and white (or you get all the modern stuff mixed in) and loads came up that I hadn't seen before.

I remember them well, my wife and I used to frequent the little cafe situated in the row of prefabs going up into Hill Street, the name of the cafe from recollection was The Copper Kettle, outside was hung a copper kettle. After finishing work my Xyl (ex girlfriend now my wife) used to have dinner there, steak and kidney pie, chips and gravy. Mmmm taste it now. The cafe moved from across the road next to the big pub (name escapes me). I wonder if this is the location you refer to? Colin.

I'm on again for my husband, good memory, can't type. He reckons the 'Copper Kettle' was Fleet Street and re-located to Warwick Row and the cafe that was in the row of pre-fabs was the 'The Willow Plate' run by Mr Jones who went from there and purchased the Manor Hotel at Meriden. Oh, and Eddie Flavell, my husband discussed his illness with him and didn't think he took his life. As you say, must be one of the last shops to have the game outside before the health people came round with their clip-boards

There was a line of them opposite the Swanswell, where the bus depot is, I know this because we knocked them down many years ago.

I remember the ones opposite the Co-op, as they were only demolished a few years back. I also remember an arcade called 'Shambles'. Was that a temporary shop? They were quite quaint in their own way, and an interesting reminder of the bombing. I'm not sure they needed to be preserved, but I dislike it when buildings are demolished and the space just left empty. This seems to happen a lot in Coventry. Were there any temporary shops erected outside the city centre? There are a few dodgy looking shacks on Ball Hill and on Clay Lane that don't fit in with the rest of the buildings.

I am happy your hubby remembers Cyril Roberts. He married Clara Shepherd in their later years and she too worked at the Co-op. He was a lovely step-granddad to my two children. In all the years I knew him he was always cheery and never showed a frown on his face. Nice to know that he was remembered Foxcote, thank you.

Almost Foxcote. It was in the short row of shops between Fleet Street and Queen Victoria Road which were often mistaken for Fleet Street but were actually part of Spon Street. It had many different names over the years Foxcote. When I lived in Bond Street between 1958 and 1960 it was called the Oak Cafe. The shop next to it in Hill Street was the Manchester Warehouse and the end unit was a dry cleaners. The corner unit was vacant at the time and the new shops in Corporation Street were still under construction: