Trinity Street

What is the empty plot in front of The Hippodrome on the picture. Wouldn't that be where Sainsburys building is ?

I would say so yes, Anne.

For more context. J Sainsbury was at 1 Market Street and 60 Smithford Street in 1937 but by 1940 had opened at 23 Trinity Street, which is part of the side of the street you can see. The Sainsbury we know today would be built on the cleared area and is now 24-26 Trinity Street. This page shows the store at number 23. Anne discovered in the CET that Sainsburys opened in 1938. She also reminded me of Rob's excellent resource of the fire insurance maps here.

In my attempts to get people to notice archives and heritage more, I've been playing around with AR. Getting a location is tricky as the image can move in the software, but below shows the view of Butcher Row towards Bull Ring, with BBC's Vanessa Pearce next to it. The angle is me trying to get a street view that corresponds with a street line, otherwise, the photograph looks uphill. This is using the Wingrave scans by the HCF team. Question is, is this worth doing? This interested, stand with your back to the (doomed) Wilko store, and click this link and follow instructions

A good idea. People love then and now pictures. It might be easier to do manually than use AR. As you say, the picture isn't exactly in the right place. The most distant buildings on the Wingrave image was Ironmongers Row which lined up with the corner of New Buildings, not Hales Street in the modern photo.

Thanks Helen. I'm using Adobe Aero, which uses Google Earth to geo-locate. If you have half an hour on the Thursday you're in Coventry, I'd love to show you. I'm thinking of a Wingrave walk, showing five or six in the Broadgate area, within the same experience.

That would be great. I'll have a thought about exactly what matches with what modern map positions. It's quite tricky, not least because even the road levels have changed.

I am a simple incompetent soul when it comes this depth of computer usage so I am thrilled with this development. I often look at the incredible photos on these pages and wish that I could see them as they are today and Shazzam! - we have it. Many, many thanks

Dear Linda - the plan is for many more. I'm keen to be accurate and encourage people to visit the location. The link above will let you have a go if you're near Primark.

Thank you so much for your work on this.

Dear all, a lovely shot of Trinity Street and Fairfax Street in 1948.

Beautiful photos taken the year I was born, bk. Look how smart everyone looks in the Owen Owen pics. As for Trinity Street , I wonder what happened to those beautiful street lights in the middle of the road. I read at the bottom about the Scott family and their move to Coventry. Any more about them?

Photos from the year of my birth also lindatee. They recall my earliest memories of Owen-Owen, Sainsbury's and the only street view of any permanence during my early childhood. The motor bike and sidecar reminded of me of the BSA M21 we had until about 1954/5. I would travel on mother's lap and my elder brother in the rear of the sidecar. The bike was missing a pillion seat and I recall an identical one to the photo being fitted for my bother when I was too old for mother's lap.