Broadgate

1939:

It's the best view to show the gap between Timpsons and Duval. It's wider than it seems from views along the road.

Now this shows a rebuilt Coventry City centre to be admired, with Lady Godiva proudly centrally displayed & bus stops again sensibly located around the perimeter. At that time my mum worked in one of the pre-fab (cake?) shops. As a Coventry kid after the blitz I loved the rebuild but when I returned a number of years later, I was shocked by what greeted me, I seem to remember that Lady Godiva was under a tent !! seemingly pushed to the side ?? Centre character destroyed !

More lovely detail in this find from CliffB

Yes indeed, a brilliant shot from a most unusual angle. About 1930 when the National Provincial Bank was newly-built. The thing that I find notable is how clean the pavements are, barely a scrap of rubbish to be seen, not like today with cans etc being discarded all over the place. Those were the days when there were street-cleaning machines with brushes to clear the gutters. I think they still exist but are rarely seen.

What a great pic. A Rolex watch from Mr Flinn, how much would that be worth now?

That's our bank - I always feel good going into this beautiful building. So often in photos on the Forum it's the only recognizable building in the city. When I use other branches in the UK it just doesn't feel the same. We had excellent service there and extra help when we needed it. Sometimes it's not so bad being oldish.

Helen, I bow almost daily to your oldishness(?) It is a gift. When I was growing up my family had post office accounts and paid in cash - no checkbooks for us. My first account was with Barclays in a portakabin at the university of Warwick where I worked and where my paycheck was deposited and I received my first checkbook. We've moved around a lot but left Barclays in the late '60's and moved to NatWest for our banking needs. It wasn't until I was in Coventry and needed to go to the actual building that in realized this was my bank! None of the branches in places I have lived compare with it. The interior isn't what it was but you can't have everything.