Albany Road / Butts

Yes, very sad. That might cause a stink!

Maybe somebody painted it.

Hopefully it was a disused vent pipe or indeed there may be a bit of a whiff in Albany Rd. My guess is that someone worked out how much cast iron was in that post and how much they could get for it at the scrap yard - maybe when they were painting it.

The pipe was removed during the lamppost upgrade work thats been going on across the City for ages. I'm pretty sure its not been actually in use for some time as that one was fairly corroded with several holes in and had not been very well maintained - unlike the one in Warwick Avenue.

To update from the reference ages ago on this thread - here's a very rare shot which include St Thomas's on Albany Road.

Thanks Dutchman - love the Technical College but was even more pleased to see St Thomas's - Cliff's shot from when it was being demolished is the only other photo of it that I have seen. I just about remember it as I ventured that way often to see my grandparents in Newcombe Road.

I'm looking for a bit of help with family history, and would like to know if anyone can recognise this place from a family member's description. I don't think the place being described exists any more. A row of houses in The Butts, Coventry. One of the houses (or possibly two) had had the front rooms knocked out, with some kind of pillars supporting the walls, and where the front rooms used to be, there was a petrol filling-station, so you could drive off the road, and into the space where the living room(s) of the house(s) used to be. There may have been a shop next door, or nearby, possibly a barber's shop. Does this ring any bells with anyone? HF

Yes, Nos.158-160. It was next door but one to the Russell Arms. I think it sold FINA petrol in the 1960s? It was eventually taken over by National Benzole and moved to its present site next door to the Summerland/Butts Retreat. The dropped kerb from where the old garage was entered still exists.

Dutchman, that's great, and I'm very grateful to you for giving me such excellent help. The map was especially useful, because using it, I was able to locate the same spot on Google Maps and then use Street View to find the dropped pavement you mention. (If I've got the right spot, the dropped pavement is close to a pedestrian crossing). Looking at your map again, I think the barber's shop might have been 156, 154 or 152. I was only in this area once, and that was over 45 years ago! Once again - thank you!

And apologies, as a new member, if I haven't posted my query in quite the right place. I seem to have tagged it on to someone else's thread. Sorry.

After looking at Dutchman's map, which I might add are always very helpful, I had thought Broomfield Place had changed it's name to Sovereign Row, but evidently it has not and still retains its name as you leave Sovereign Row (off the Butts) and turn right into B. Place. So it's thanks from me Dutchman for putting me wise.

Firstly, welcome to the forum, and thank you for your post You haven't "tagged it on to someone else's thread", rather it has been moved over to an existing thread about Butts, which you may find contains information either pertinent to your query or simply of interest to you Let's hope your enquiry is fully answered in due course

Thanks for the explanation, Midland Red, and for the welcome. I have two memories of visiting the area around the garage and the barber shop. The first time I was 5 years old in 1952 and the second time I was 21 in 1968. When I visited at 21 years of age, I could clearly remember features from my earlier visit as a 5 year old and I'd like to ask about these, now. Across the road from the garage I remember a large, flat, undeveloped area, going back quite a long way. On this flat area, in the distance, was something which might have been an air-raid shelter or an electricity sub-station. It was a low, flat-roofed building anyway. Can anyone tell me what I was looking at??

Albany Road was originally called Earlsdon Road. It was renamed after a visit by the Duchess of Albany to a bazaar at the vicarage of St Thomas' Church in the Butts in 1898.

St Thomas's Church - 1972