Spon End

Yes Marina. It was designed in 1950 by Donald Gibson himelf as a two-storey block of 12 individual flats plus neighbouring surgery and sheltered bungalows with alarm systems. The surgery included a memorial plaque to the New Zealand war dead, hence "Wellington Gardens". The design of all the buildings was distinctive as they used sand brick construction and had shallow sloping copper roofs. The latter turned bright green with age. The main building ceased to be an old people's home in the 1990s when care for the elderly was privatised. It then became a drug and alcohol rehabilitation unit run by MIND but financed by the government. It is currently a drop-in centre for mental welfare. The former surgery which had long been the target of thieves fell into disrepair and was eventually demolished except for the plaque which now stands surrounded by a decorative garden. The bungalows are still occupied by mainly elderly and disabled people but I don't know if the alarm systems still work.

Thanks Dutchman. I recall that it was a very nice place for the elderly to live in. Safe and secure.

Can you remember the "mother & baby" doctor's surgery on the ground floor of George Poole House? It's a community police station now! According to planning records the ten-storey blocks were also designed to have communal wash-houses on the ground floor (left hand side as you look at the pictures above) but I don't know if they were ever installed or used? The low rise blocks where you lived were initially designed with hatches in the floor of the front bedroom so tenants could "bail-out" onto the walkway below in the event of a fire! As far as I know they were never actually fitted? Most buildings on the estate were built very different to the official drawings.

Sorry for the late reply Dutchman. I don't remember the "mother & baby" doctor's surgery on the ground floor of George Poole House. I was very interested in the idea of "hatches" in the floor of the front bedrooms, but did not know the answer, as we lived in a ground floor maisonettes. However i have since learned that yes, indeed, these hatches were there, probably still are, but were never used as far as i know.

Thanks Marina The beginning of this newsreel clip contains a rare shot of the Croft Road flyover at a time when some houses still remained in Moat Street and Thomas Street. The Radial Relief Spur (as it is properly called) had not yet been constructed to link the Butts Road with the roundabout: Midlands News: 03.12.1964: Coventry - Inner Ring Road progresses

Pretty extraordinary footage Dutchman cheers In many ways it seems the Ring Road enclosing the city centre became not just a divide for the centre of town but marked the divide from old Coventry to as it is today - even more so than from the war....

Morning Dutchman, Interesting clip above. It is like watching history being carted off in trucks, never to be seen again. Thank you for the footage.

What an interesting film. The scale of destruction seems quite immense there.

It's taken this thread, after over half a century, to make me realise that the ringway has named sections! You live and learn.

Does anyone remember a firm of Funeral Directors in Spon End by the name of R A Day. I believe they once occupied the small unit that has recently been occupied by a small printing company. They were probably around early 1970s?

Yes Dean, they occupied the site from the 1950s onwards. Prior to that it was H. Causer & Son who originally occupied premises behind the Malt Shovel.

Circa 1960.

I have a distinct feeling this is Dutchman territory! Almost directly opposite to the old Malt Shovel pub there are a number of houses which are terraced and which stand back off the main road. Does anyone know anything about them? There are probably 3 or 4 and from what I can tell they look like 3 storey. I thought they looked like workers houses but I might be way off beam.

They're modern (1950s I think?) and replaced much older dwellings. There were eight consecutive postal addresses before where now there are only four odd-numbered addresses. When first built they had very long front gardens with individual gates and no off-road parking.

Much obliged Dutchman, as always.