Keill and Burrows

Another business that I remember, in Spon St, I think - was Keill and Burrows. Are they still around, or gone like so many others? I can't remember what they sold - was it haberdashery?

Ladies' and children's wear. My trade directory shows their address as being empty by 1971 although trade directories are not always correct. Some time after that it became an artist's supply shop.

Yes, that makes sense. Another good old Coventry firm. Such businesses are almost extinct now.

The building of the Ring Road destroyed every business in Spon End which relied on passing trade. For a long period after that the area became a magnet for arts and crafts shop. That ended with the arrival of the Odeon/Skydome complex. It's almost all bars and takeaways now.

I remember when Skydome opened, and the anti-social problems on Spon Street forced many businesses out. Me and my friends used to drink in the Windmill, but we moved elsewhere when it became quite violent down there. I remember seeing a lad having his head kicked in for no reason right outside the pub. I was there with work colleagues who didn't live in Coventry. They thought the city was a ghastly place, and no one wanted to go for a team night out in the city centre - trudging under tunnels or along gloomy paths alongside the ring road to get to places. I think it might have improved now, as the clubs have gone from Skydome.

Mrs Keill and Mrs Burrows were sisters who sold baby linen, corsetry and knitting wool. How do I know? My mum worked for them from around 1960 until her death in 1975. I used to go into town to meet her after school if she was working, which she often was. When I was a bit older, I was allowed to serve customers, the owners required that you wrote down everything sold in a notebook. I remember the Playtex girdles coming in long cardboard tubes with metal ends, they were great for keeping your supply of knitting pins! I also remember that in the rear room of the shop was an old fireplace which was never used, but if you sat very quietly mice would come and play in the old hearth, it was great fun to watch them. My mum said they lived behind the old lath and plaster walls. When the indoor market opened the business moved to a shop on the outside and were, I think, still trading after my mum died of cancer. The sisters were very kind and treated my family as friends rather than employees. I also remember that in the beginning she worked 20 hours, and was paid £4 a week, but that was in 1960 - how times have changed, or is it just the cost of living? Even so, she still managed to save and buy us almost all of an 8 piece dinner set with tea pot, coffee jug, cruet, with oil and vinegar dispensers on a wooden stand, salad plates, the lot from Owen's in Hornsea green. I sold what remained on line just before we moved to France! I don't know if the shop was demolished to make way for the ringroad, Perhaps Dutchman can help! I have no idea whether the business still going but I would expect not.

Hi Little Nut The shop is still there and trading in dolls houses and teddy bears. The ring road was built much further back, where you can the tall building in the far distance.

(c) Coventry Archives - 169 Spon Street, Coventry. The first of the old property to be restored in the Spon Street, Townscape scheme. The scheme will bring together into Spon Street the best of the Ciury;'s old shop and cottage propertied. 28th March 1969