Coventry Anglers (inc. Billy Lane)

Dcole, thinking more about that shop, that had the bay window overhanging the towpath, I would guess it was built in the 1850 era or thereabouts, as a canal boat shop. I remember when I was a very small child I would look in that window and see the gaily painted water buckets and small barrels, decorated china, mostly in roses, the boats being painted of castles etc. There were cotton tow lines, leather horse tackle, flat irons, brass rings for cabin funnels, even whips, not for cruelty to the horse, but an easy signal for the horse to obey. There was a big highly polished brass kettle, (centre stage) and leaning against one of the window uprights was a rag doll, made from strips of old clothes, much like the carpets they made in those days. Sadly it had all gone by the time they built the new bridge.

Hi Dcole, I knew your grandfather very well a lovely man, spent many a time in the shop, I was very good friends with Frank's daughter, Pauline, can you remember me to her, my name is John Richardson. Thank you.

Kaga - I'd love to be able to go back in time and see how things were. I've devised a letter to the fishing tackle shop on Tusses Bridge regarding Dick Turpin, so hopefully they will respond, unless they think I'm touched lol. It was called either The Old Coach Inn or The Old Fox Inn back in the day John Richardson - I shall remember you to my auntie. My mum's Patricia, Pauline's older sister.

Dcole. I have been over Tusses Bridge 4 times today and I could have gone in and asked for the information you are after, if you do not get a reply let me know as I know the present owner.

Hi NormK It's a tricky one. My mother's father Frank Marshall used to own the fishing tackle shop on Tusses Bridge in the 1970s. My mum said 'out of the blue' that she remembers looking at the original deeds and there in old writing it said that Dick Turpin had stabled his horse there. It was years before it was a fishing tackle shop; she believes it was an inn. Now my mum's not really into history so for her to mention this was quite interesting. I'd like to know if it could be confirmed in anyway? Does the shop have access to the original deeds? I think I sent the letter but have had no response. I'd love to know one way or another. It would be greatly appreciated if you could speak with the owner. They may be interested to read the stories that people have posted about the shop's history on here Many thanks

Dcole. I called in today and popped a few questions, he hasn't got the old deeds and he heard about the property being a inn and that there was once stables there. He cannot confirm the Turpin story although he had known about it, so we are none the wiser. The only snippet of info was hops were grown at the rear, does this mean the inn made their own ale? Although he was quite helpful we don't know much more than we already did. The two photos were hanging on the wall. A early shot of the bridge and the other is across the road. On leaving he said he'd like to know if we find any more information about his shop in the future. N. ps. sorry about the reflection.

NormK. Hi, I liked the photos, the top one is the far side of the bridge, the house on the right of the pair was owned by my uncle, name of Smith, there was a gap behind where two more cottages stood back from the road, where the cart is there is a dark surround on the house that was the post office, beyond the next gap stands Coronation Row. In the late 20 early 30 era. The bottom picture is the Elephant and Castle. Confused about the hops, there were cottages between the shop and the farm entrance until about the early thirties, the new bridge was built 1936/7. Kaga

Norm Thank you for the fantastic photos, I enjoyed reading your post. My mum said that the Turpin tale was written onto the old parchment deeds. The present owner may be able to get a copy of the deeds from the Land Registry but there maybe a fee. I'm not quite sure how you would be able to find out what was on the land before the fishing tackle shop? It's certainly exciting though. I bet it would be interesting to use a metal detector on that site!

Grandson's prize catch

Midland Red, another great catch by you too, great reading for people that no longer live in Coventry. Thank you.

Just came over this thread by chance. I too began my angling in Coventry, during the early 60's with my first trip to the canal at Napton, CDAA waters. I remember Billy Lane as he advised me on my first tackle and spent a good half an hour helping me select my first rod and reel, he was always ready to offer advice and encouragement, a real nice bloke. I can remember the rod had a solid top and I think was bamboo lower down? I used to fish all around Coventry but my favourite place was a Monks built pond owned by a farmer out at Frankton? towards Princethorpe. As 15 year olds we would fish all night with battery lamps illuminating the float, crucians and the odd bonus tench. I revisited the site a few years back but it was all fenced off and the dam wall seemed in very poor repair. It looked like it was in the grounds of some large house as there was a helicopter parked nearby! We also used to fish the 'four ponds' across the railway lines near Ullathorne School, at the bottom of Beanfield Avenue. I recall at least two of the ponds were bomb craters. I too remember cycling to Billy's shop to buy maggots which he would put in a brown paper bag, I can recall an escape of maggots when 3 of us slept at my house ready for a dawn fishing start, flies in the house for days!! I used to fish in the junior CDAA competitions, on the canal at Longford? if I remember right.

Yes, Billy Lane was a 'true gent', it's a pity that the staff in the London Rd shop do not value customers as Billy did. I remember Billy's first shop in Little Park St. Although tiny the shop appeared to stock everything that an angler could want. I also used the shop owned by Peggy (one leg) and Albert Sharp, both a mine of information on angling matters. It was Peggy who introduced me to the pleasures of tench fishing at the lake at Blenheim Palace. I also fished the canal at Napton, and Napton Reservoir although the fish in there seemed to be totally unaware of my efforts. It's 60 years since I last fished Frankton. In those days the crucians were quite easy to catch and I don't know if you ever noticed that they always appeared to be smiling.

Hi Norman, I remember the small shop, I would have been going there circa 1964 onwards, we could spend half an hour in there buying a peacock quill and 6 no 16 hooks! The ponds at Frankton are a fond memory as we fished all night, as kids around 15 years old, although there were always a couple of other anglers doing an all night stint on a Saturday. Just imagine nowadays if your kids (or grandkids) announced they were going fishing all night at some remote pond!! I can remember the anticipation as it grew dark and then the first light and increased action of the dawn at around 4 oclock. Another strange thing is that it was always a bright sunny morning? You are right about the crucians being easy to catch, we were by no means using finesse tactics in those days, 4lb line straight through and size 16. I do wonder when they describe crucian fishing in the terms of fine presentation and floats dotted down to the last mm! Your recollections of Napton reservoir reflect mine, always looked very 'fishy', but caught next to nought, and did not see other more capable anglers (I presume) doing any better. I now fish the Somerset levels area, but still like to occasionally fish a canal, just for the memories I guess, it makes a change to the commercial fisheries.

Night fishing. Best parts of night fishing was last light and first light. As 12 and 13 year olds my friends Brian and Les and I would night fish Coombe without paying. We knew that Gosling the water bailiff would not be around after 8pm and wouldn't start work again until 10 the following morning. We rode our bikes to Clifford Bridge Rd and hid them under the bridge. From there we followed the stream up to the lake arriving there at about 8.30pm. Then fished all night and up to about 9 the following morning. In the summer months the hours of darkness soon went by. It could be a bit frightening after dark, all sorts of critters clattering in the woods behind us. Brian once put his hand down to get ground bait and in the dark, picked up a rat instead. On one occasion we were packing up at about 9am to go home when Gosling came round early and nearly caught us. Brian told him that we had just arrived but had been stung by a wasp so we wouldn't be staying to fish. I liked fishing Coombe but never had spectacular results. Pike fishing in mid winter was the best when there was frost in the trees and a touch of cat ice where the water was sheltered. As a boy I caught my biggest pike ever at Coombe weighing just under 30lbs. I've fished frequently ever since but never caught another at that size.

Recognized the name Cyril Cooper, he was my great uncle, here's a photo - might jog a few memories