Slim
Another Coventry kid |
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Mon 3rd Oct 2016 4:44pm
Hi Dutchman, very good pic. It's interesting to note that the sash window upstairs seems to be fully open. I wonder why?! See my earlier comments about what the builders said. |
Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
Helen F
Warrington |
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 2:13am
Good maps Heathite. It's interesting how little it changed from 1750 to 1807. It was beginning to change rapidly by 1850 and was very different by 1890. |
Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
Midland Red
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 7:26am
My Spon End photos here |
Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
Slim
Another Coventry kid |
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 8:25am
Some of the bricks from the old Plaza cinema are underneath the garden store/workshop at the end of my parents' garden in Canley Road. How did they get there, I hear you all ask? Well, I'll tell you. When my father retired, one of his first projects was to build quite a large single-brick building across the end of the back garden. I helped him build it. Before the concrete base was poured into the footings, we needed a load of hard-core (by hard-core is meant rubble, to remove any confusion). It was expensive to buy it officially, so early one Saturday morning, I said "Leave it to me, Dad". I rode down to the Plaza, which was being demolished, on my 650cc BSA, and bribed the workmen. Cash speaks louder than words, so several cubic yards of rubble was put into the back of a lorry, I left my bike on site, and got into the passenger seat and directed the driver to the rear of our house, and the rubble was dropped into place. Then we went back and I got my bike.
The whole job was done in about an hour. I paid the two chaps four green ones.
I daresay that wouldn't happen today: "Phwoor, we can't do that, 'elf 'n safety!".
It's ironic that in earlier days, my parents used to visit the Plaza when they were "courting". Little did they know that one day some of that building would be in their back garden! |
Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
Old Lincolnian
Coventry |
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 10:52am
On 3rd Oct 2016 2:22pm, dutchman said:
I know from directory listings that the shop changed hands some time in the 1960s but can't remember if it was still a TV repair shop when I moved to the area in 1967.
I moved down to Coventry in 1972 and it was still Jacksons Radio then. I can't remember whether it was still there in 1974 when I moved into Dover Street though. |
Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
Midland Red
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 11:06am
OL - they're still listed at 101 Spon End in the 1975 Telephone Directory, but not in the 1976 book |
Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
Dreamtime
Perth Western Australia |
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 11:17am
On 4th Oct 2016 7:26am, Midland Red said:
My Spon End photos here
Love the photos MR, they took me back to the Broom, Four Pounds Ave. and the Plaza, what a dump. Sat in my first double seat at that place - say no more !
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Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
Midland Red
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 11:24am
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Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
Old Lincolnian
Coventry |
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 11:45am
On 4th Oct 2016 11:06am, Midland Red said:
OL - they're still listed at 101 Spon End in the 1975 Telephone Directory, but not in the 1976 book
Thanks MR, I do have a vague memory of going into the shop when we moved but couldn't place when |
Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
NeilsYard
Coventry |
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 12:21pm
Great stories Slim and Dream |
Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
Kaga simpson
Peacehaven, East Sussex |
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 2:42pm
I would put the painted words a little earlier, late fifties, maybe there is a lot more background to this story.
Pendleton had already stated he wanted the town to be shut down at ten o'clock. No extensions of licencing hours, or late night restaurants with licences. The town had a lot of unrest because of the 'indian' (the name of the day) influx. It was felt he was encouraging more, I could say more on this but may be it's in bad taste today.
In Barras Lane in 1949, a guy turned a house into 5 bedsits, each with separate kitchen and bathroom. I rented one of those flats for more than ten years, so was close to Spon End and the city centre. Remember seeing a couple of shows by the Earlsdon players, fairs on Hearsall Common etc. Yes, it was a nice place to live in the fifties.
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Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
Dreamtime |
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 2:47pm
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pixrobin
Canley |
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 5:00pm
Looking back, I feel the entrance to the Plaza was very strange. I suppose when I was young it was like climbing wide stairs to enter a space ship.
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Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
Dreamtime
Perth Western Australia |
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 5:07pm
I remember a few cinemas like that, Pix (in my day, perhaps not in yours) |
Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End | |
dutchman
Spon End |
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Tue 4th Oct 2016 5:48pm
On 4th Oct 2016 5:00pm, pixrobin said:
Looking back, I feel the entrance to the Plaza was very strange. I suppose when I was young it was like climbing wide stairs to enter a space ship.
It was done so that the seats at the back would be higher and have a clear view of the screen.
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Coventry Suburbs and Beyond - Spon End |
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