Burges and Cross Cheaping

I was wondering around the back of the Burges today, and wondered what this building was used for. It doesn't look particularly old, but it's an odd shape! Are there any photographs of this area in the past? Were there buildings alongside the (cobbled) streets?

That area really fascinates me too, flap. The view to the back of buildings behind the Burges where the Sherbourne is viewable is one area in town that still looks like old Coventry. There's another thread on here about the building to the right of that one which is the entrance to the bunker underneath the former Owens building. That one does look odd though doesn't it? I'll get Googling!

The building prior to closing down was a tool store, possibly Tuck and Blakemore. The entrance to Owen Owen was in fact a service tunnel to deliver the goods into the store.

There were plans to do some sort of regeneration of this area. I've visited towns where places like this have been turned into little shopping areas for non-mainstream goods - somewhere like Camden locks. There are timbers in the some of the buildings: I saw the Sherbourne - although I didn't realise it was so small! Odd little area. They really do need to get something built where the pub was, as the area is a bit of a mess!

It's listed in planning records as belonging to John Hall Tools Ltd. but was last used as offices.

Thanks Dutchman and TEKMELF. Have you got a map of the area as it was pre-war?

Yes but none of the buildings in Trinity Street appear on it: Old-Maps.co.uk (1937) The cleared area shown on the map was formerly Smithfield Market.

The long thin building running parallel to it is the receiving warehouse for Owen Owen which has since been demolished.

If the building behind was a receiving warehouse for the pre war Owen Owen store could it have perhaps been the goods in offices for Owen Owen. Lorries coming down Palmer Lane would have gone round it. Incidentally I just googled Owen Owen and I never realised all the years I shopped there that it was a person's name, apparently he came from Machynlleth.

I think that's a good theory. It looks as if the building has the same frontage as the one next to it (that has now gone) which means they may have been built at the same. I really do think the layout of that area was far better pre-war. Donald Gibson's layout is terrible, just like most of his layout for the Precinct.

Does anyone know if any parts of the buildings on the east side of the Burges are half timbered underneath the brick skin? I ask because there are images of the old version. It is a 2 storey with dormers and a steep roof. Sometimes when modernising these, they just used the original building but added a flat front and a shallower, slate roof that allowed the attic rooms to become a true third level. Other times they rebuild from sratch.

Yes, they are. Go round the back and you can see timbers. You can also see some inside Forbidden Planet.

Don't know if this helps

Thanks MR, great photos as usual. Flapdoodle, yes, that's the sort of thing I was looking for, especially the bit about the Forbidden Planet interior. Often the rear extension survived untouched while they tarted up the front or built a new one. Sometimes they even kept the rear slope to the roof and just changed the street view to Georgianise it. Sometimes they even added a bit of fake wall above the upstairs window to simulate a full height Georgian fa

I hope the photo below will be useful in some way. I took it last year from a tiny window in the back of a cafe in The Burges (might not be a cafe any more), which overlooks the short length of uncovered Sherbourne, which is right below the camera. Nice to see some original uncladded timber work.