Spon Street

Hi Tony, Any object moving sets up vibrations, which in turn send out shock waves. A suspended floor constructed as a dance hall has to be capable of coping with stresses of nearly three times the weight of the calculated people numbers, for when they are dancing. We have seen some huge fatal catastrophes when that has been miscalculated. Similarly a vehicle travelling along a smooth road surface will transmit much less shock, compared to travelling along a bumpy or a cobbled street. Next time you are in the vicinity of the old cathedral, or in the below ground restaurant nearby, you will feel the vibrations as the car or van travels over the cobbles. Hope that helps. PS I am not a structural or stress engineer, but I accounted for people that were. They taught me so much. The term Hammer-blow was used originally by railway engineers, who first realised that if track-work was uneven, or if the wheels of vehicles were not balanced that a hammer-blow resulted which damaged bridges & other support structures. It is just the same with a road vehicle. At MIRA, near to Nuneaton, they used to have a cobbled section which they called the "pavey". After a relatively short period of time, many a vehicle would fall to bits from being driven over it constantly. The vibrations also cracked walls in nearby buildings.

I have just been informed by Coventry City Council that the wall & gate outline on the road is to be replaced using "imprint" - which is the red-coloured material used on road surfaces to denote speed restrictions. I will reserve judgement on the outcome until I've seen the results!

I have a picture of the shops and police box (I think) from behind the church, dated 1937. Most of the three storey building is still there. But was it a public house at any time. Sorry if I am copyrighting the photo, but I cannot remember where it came from. It does look like a Bass brewery sign, but I may be wrong. Cannot find any info on the building. When it was built etc.

Hello Baz The row of five shops was built around 1900. The sign on the middle unit at the time the picture was probably "Binder", a boot dealer. It became an off-licence shortly afterwards but was never a pub. The two shop units nearest the camera were destroyed in the war.

Hi Dutchman, am I right in thinking the church up on the right is St. Johns?

Yes it is Dreamtime

Thank you Mr D. just that little corner of it gives it away. It is so familiar.

Thanks Dutchman. I'm sorry I never got back quicker. I'm wondering if you remember the name of the music/hi-fi shop up Spon End? They sold a lot of high end stuff, and had a room set up so you could hear the separate hi-fi's before you brought it.

Which one Baz? Frank Harvey's is still there at No163. Before that there was Taberer on the same site but in a different building. For a few years there was also Superfi at No16 Spon Street and No2 Corporation Street.

Baz did say "Spon End"

Spon Street is in "Spon End".

People often say "Spon End" when they mean Spon Street. It's not a hanging offence. Besides which there were no hi-fi shops in Spon End Lane unless you count Gibbs' showroom on the corner of Hearsall Lane.

Well, after FOUR months of waiting, and still no reinstatement of the outline of the old wall, I have just emailed the Council to ask if/when this work is planned. The original response claimed it would be done once the surface had had time to bed in. (and now it has and the yellow flecks look just as bad as they did when it was first done!) The words; Breath, Won't & Hold spring to mind!