Coventry Bicycle Shops

Bit of a long shot, Neil

Thanks, Cliff but the shop itself was a bicycle shop. He was a motorbiker on the side and as mentioned worked on many racing bikes.

I think you need Anne or Helen on this. I used to go to Lloyds Bank every Sat late 50s/early 60s, up East Street then Paynes Lane. I remember the pet shop. Know there were other shops, but memory fades. Wish I could help.

Yes I have some unusual / rare Paynes Lane images but nothing that captures the cycle shop.

LesMac Yes, the cycle shop was Swifts!

Paynes Lane 1955, two Yardleys . .

Heathite - that is brilliant! That is my granduncle Adrian and his cycle shop! I was with his son (my dad's cousin) last Sunday who only then told me about the shop. Can I ask what that is taken from? Letitia at No.49 is my great grandma I think she moved from there not long after that to Dillotford Avenue. Interestingly, earlier in the 1900's I know they also lived at No.28 which it appears would have been next to Uncle Adrian's shop as they had a little girl also called Letitia but who sadly died there aged only about 5 in 1909 - possibly why they wanted to move. Thanks again for the info.

I don't know if anyone can clarify a possible connection with 'Swifts Cycle Shop'? During stints abroad I got to know an Andy Swift around the period of 1979 to early 1980's. At one time I visited a cycle shop which I believe belonged to his father and was possibly the one in Paynes Lane. Unfortunately this was a fleeting visit and memory fails me on this one. I lost touch with Andy, who would have been about 24 at the time. I ask because the ownership of the shop does not appear to fit in with its business name. This in itself is not surprising, indeed my parents owned 'Hyde Stores' in Earlsdon but retained its original name!

As Andy mentioned it - Rob has this image in the Library Collection -

Earlsdon Kid, I think Swift's cycle shop was on the Foleshill Rd opposite the General Wolfe. I sold a motor scooter when I left college in Bristol and bought two cycles, one for me and one for my wife, newly married before we set off to our first home in East Yorkshire. The shop was on the Foleshill Rd and I think it was Swift's. (May have been run/owned by a Mr & Mrs Forey).

Thanks Prof, the Google street and satellite view fits in with my recollections of the shop on the corner opposite the Toros Steakhouse, on the Foleshill Road, previously the General Wolfe pub!

Now there's a name from my youth! When I was primary school age (early-mid '50s), my sister and I, and our parents, spent several summer holidays with our maternal grandparents at a Weymouth guest house - "La Touraine" - owned and run by a Mr and Mrs Forey. I loved it because, not only could we walk to the beach, but - even better - there was the railway at the end of the yard where dozens of noisy, smelly steam trains could be watched. My grandfather, Les Bicknell, was an officer of the Order of the Buffaloes, which met at the General Wolfe. In those days when you couldn't use Google to find a nice holiday resort, my guess is that personal introductions would be important. Could Prof's Mr and Mrs Forey at some stage have moved to Weymouth, and therefore be the same as mine?

Can I throw this photo into the discussion - it's been discussed elsewhere on HCF

Earlier in this thread

So it was Swift's after all, thanks MR, LesMac.