Allwoods & Atkins and Turton / Martins Bank

So do you think that image post#27 was Fleet Street the Prof? The "Coventry we have Lost" website has this 1910 image which says The Grocers and Wine & Spirit Merchants seen to the left would in later years become Allwoods Atkins & Turton.

I think it's the High Street as per Rob's picture at #2, but the curve on the right of the photo #27 is the doorway, not the corner of the building. So the window in #27 is behind the man on the left in#2. The curving sign (coffee roasted daily) starts at the first horizontal frame from the top, not the top itself. The tiles under the windowsill are the same and the counter has that funny silver urn thing. They've lost, or not introduced the oriental theme. Coffee not being from China.

T.F. Tickner was an architect and surveyor whose work included the Coventry War Memorial Park monument. Actually the rows of what appear to be decorative tiling below the shop window do look the same, though why would those business plaques be on the wall?

To the left of #27 was a bigger doorway (you can just see the frame slanting inwards, that probably went to an original stairway. The signs are for the upper floors I think.

Nice one Helen - Heathite any of these in the directories?

No Neil, I don't have enough memory to identify the shop front, but my memory is of the coffee roasting in the drums and the wonderful aroma in passing the shop!

The building in the photos is essentially little changed from the sketch. The surface layer of stone cladding creating the arches at street level has been removed and the glass has been run in front. The archways at the top have gone and have been replaced with glass too. A big Atkins and Turton sign bridges the gap between the glass and the first floor windows. This was done all the way round into Pepper Lane. Even the doorway to the left lost its arch to be replaced by something more square.

Hi, here's an image from 1935. I can go back to 1926 and further or forwards to the mid 50's. Any requests? A couple more.

Is there anything for them in Fleet Street?

Articles in the Telegraph say that Atkins and Turton started in High Street in 1748 and Allwoods in Broadgate from 1825. They merged in 1937. The store was in Fleet Street until they moved to Shelton Square in 1961. They were at 19-20 Fleet Street. The Shelton Square shop closed in 1978 and became Liptons.

I have found reference in the CET 1921 to Vaughn W Robinson, Solicitor and T Fletcher Wilson, Chartered Patent Agent, in High Street Chambers T F Tickner is also mentioned as being in High Street Chambers in 1907, as being elected as a fellow of The Royal Institute of British Architects.

Thanks Heathite - it's like working at Bletchley Park with all these experts This picture from Rob earlier in this topic is the early 1900s and it was still the original design from 1748 with the exception of the big sign. They remodelled in 1920 and closed 1930 according to the page Neil posted. Martins Bank took over in 1937 and built similar arches to the original but more evenly spaced. You can see the edge of the doorway and the signs. Well done Anne. According to Heathite's directory the High Street Chambers are still there in 1935. They weren't there in 1886 - does that suggest a falling success? Having to rent rooms and then move to cheaper addresses?

Hold on a minute, Heathite says Pepper Lane on the left of Allwoods. But Martins Bank was on the left of Pepper Lane, yet you say it's one and the same building. Martins Bank at no2 High Street, but the building (once Allwoods) between Martins and the corner shop went with the blitz. So is Martins Bank now one-and-a-half High Street?