Far Gosford Street

My brother and I lived in Hits and Misses in the early 80s. I was 14/15 at the time and he about 10. It seemed like we went every weekend searching for Beatles, Kinks, and similar 45s. My dad worked in Charterhouse Road? (off Gulson) and would often ask for rare records and sometimes bring them home. My brother continued going for years and is still into his 60s music. I remember my wife buying 'hippy' skirts from the boutique upstairs. I loved that shop. We also used to frequent the 'junk' shops and loved finding things like Beatles Monthlies in amongst the chaos.

That was Freeth Street. I don't remember the street itself at all but I vaguely remember the shops either side of it in Jordan Well.

Hits and Misses was still there up until the mid 1990s, I think, but I recall it changed its name. I used to scour it in the early 1990s for Progressive Rock albums. Far Gosford Street seemed to decline rapidly in the late 1990s. It was always a bit of a dump, but it was a dump filled with curious junk stores and lined with pubs. Now it seems to specialise in takeaways. I really hope the development succeeds - it's a nice little microcosm of Coventry's history. It'd be even better if they could link it properly back to the city centre and filled in some of the gaps around the Sherbourne to make it feel more urban rather just a big open space dominated by roads.

It wasn't always 'a bit of a dump' Flapdoodle. Perhaps it has been since you've known it but there are plenty here who can remember when it had some very posh shops and indeed worked in some of them.

That is what I meant, Dutchman, no need to get defensive. It was a dump in 1989 and has remained so. What it was like beforehand I have no idea.

I'm not being defensive Flapdoodle, merely putting the record straight I left the area myself in 1967 and didn't return to it again until 1983. By that time Far Gosford Street was serving a very different demographic to when I last saw it. For example there was one shop which specialised in selling recycled cookers to people in receipt of DHSS grants. I think many of the second hand businesses had relocated from Gosford Street after that was bulldozed? The posh shops in town selling shiny new products didn't like the competition from the second hand trade and (I believe) put pressure on the council to gradually shut them down. It all changed again when Sky Blue Way was built in 1987 and left far Gosford Street virtually cut off from its traditional customer base.

I lived near Far Gosford from 88-90 while teaching at Stoke Park College. It was the most bohemian street in the most bohemian city, and coming from Greenwich Village in NYC, it felt very comfortable to me. I remember enjoying walking the street on the weekend, stopping in the cafes with friends, getting my sole tattoo there with other teachers (yes we're all music teachers), and generally "living" a good part of my time there on the street. I still miss Coventry and about three years ago bought a Triumph Bonneville in tribute to all the kindnesses that were shown to me there.

Welcome to our forum TB, I'm sure you'll also find us a friendly crowd

Latest view of this row of buildings Note that renovation of no 41 is almost complete

Memories of Gosford Street go back to the late 60's/early 70's when I used to travel home from school on the number 1 bus, or the number 4 if I'd walked to Pool Meadow! There used to be a specialist tobacco shop which sold cigarettes with names like Rembrandt and L&M Filters. Also from upstairs on the 'bus I could gaze into the public bar of the Pitts Head, which seemed a very grown-up place to an innocent 12 year old! One abiding memory is visiting an excellent pork batch bar along Gosford Street shortly before a City home game. Whilst waiting to be served, a minibus pulled up outside and the largest policeman I had ever seen walked in and pretty much filled the shop. He asked for 10 pork batches for him and his fellow officers. As soon as he placed his order he turned to me, grinned, and said 'this must be cannibalism!' A copper with a sense of humour!!

I wish I could get my mother on here to tell you these stories herself, instead I'll let her dictate! She worked at Green's on Far Gosford Street in the 70's, until she left when expecting me. She remembers them exhuming some of the gravestones.

I have only recently joined the Forum. When I was a young boy, my mum and I used to travel from Coundon (a bus and a walk) to visit Roy Evans' shoe shop on the right of Far Gosford St, a few doors above the Scala, to pay on a card towards shoes which she had bought 'on tick'. On the payment trips, we sometimes visited the Milk Bar a little further down on the other side, before going back to town. A few years later, an off-licence (with bow-fronted windows) was owned or rented by a Mr and Mrs Andrews, almost opposite Roy Evans, and my mum worked behind the counter for a while, to help out over the Christmas holidays. In adulthood, I went to the Hand and Heart pub to a folk club and once heard the Liverpudlian duo of Jackie and Bridie, who signed the sleeve of an LP for me which I still have to this day. The compere was Dave Sampson, who later moved to the folk club in Brinklow and may still be there. My parents were married at All Saints Church in 1942 and the churchyard gateway, still there, led onto Far Gosford St. I have a photograph of the newly-weds walking down the path with the bridesmaids behind them.

Dutchman. Hi! Sorry to sound "trivial", but you said "The Odeon only showed War films." You may have been speaking "generally," but I went to see some brilliant family films there as a kid in the 50s & 60s. I remember distinctly seeing "Swiss Family Robinson" with John Mills. It was a real treat to go there, & was one of the nearest cinemas to my home. The Paris Cinema often showed adult French films such as "La-Ronde." The manager often gave you a cup of coffee for free if he liked you, which you could also buy in the foyer. He later on managed or owned the Standard Cinema in Tile Hill Lane, by The Matrix. I was in fact in The Paris Cinema on the day in 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated. I was only 13. If I remember correctly, I think they announced the tragic news over the tannoy system, during the film's performance. It was the same year my dad died. There was also Luckmans bookshops on the other side of the road, which sold secondhand books. My dad was hardly ever out of there before he became ill. Yes it was a very busy thriving street back then.

Oh yes ! Probably my favourite Coventry record shop! I spent years and probably thousands of pounds there over the years. First went in there in late 1976 and bought a Jethro Tull single for 10p. Found one of their bags recently - will try to scan and post. This may not mean much to folks not into progressive rock, but I'm sure Flapdoodle will understand. I once bought a mint original of the Open Mind album on Philips from there for £8! I also bought a sleeveless Nepentha label issue of Earth & Fire for 10p! In the mid-80s most of my record collection was made up from Hits & Misses & Swap 'n' Shop (remember all the cassettes in the windows?) purchases.