Shops of yore

Does anyone know where Parkinson's Art Supplies were sometime in the 60's? I have them showing as at No.26 Cope Street in the 1957 Directory but that was not right at a junction looking at maps (next but one to the junction with Dale Street). That's the latest Commercial Directory I have though - anyone got a later one? Pic thanks to Amanda Kerr on FB -

I recon it could be 26, with number 1 Dale street next to it. There's even a change in the paintwork.

Hi Neil according to the CET 26 Cope Street Opposite College of Art and New Cathedral until they moved in 1962 to 116 Gosford Street 100 yards from the Gaumont. Take your pick !!

Thanks both. Cope Street seems the more likely - its just on the 1950 Map No.1 Dale Street is showing as the building on the corner - looking at the pic you would imagine that would be the Art shop address not 26 Cope Street?

The two could have been combined?

I think you have it Helen (again!) - and you Anne - Cheers.

Helen its not the same building captured in this one is it - rear right? I don't think it is but can't be far off -

A favourite photo of mine. The photo is taken from Cope Street, looking at New Street. Dale Street was behind the photographer and to the right.

Ahh yes sorry Helen - I was looking the other way!

Recently (through googling I think, though it may have been via Pinterest) I came across a whole trove of brilliant images of wartime central Coventry I'd never seen before. I thought I'd done what I usually do and bookmarked them but clearly didn't. A couple of things I remember, one was of the Charles Ager shoe shop. After they'd been bombed out of Smithford Street, they re-opened at 22-24 Corporation Street where they've continued trading ever since. Next door in the same block and on the right, the photo of c 1943 showed Orme Bros, men's outfitters who had relocated from Market Place. Some of the other photos showed the temporary Dolcis shoe shop at the bottom of Hertford Street in what had been the Peeping Tom pub, corner of Bull Yard. It was later the shop of G E Jones (I think) till the Bull Yard development tore all of that side of Hertford Street down. The Dolcis photos were during the war as there were men in uniform in the throngs on the pavement. I have a vague idea I accessed these photos by clicking on specific streets on an orange map of the city centre (as one does with Coventry Atlas). I don't know if any of this rings bells for you but I'm very frustrated that I can't find those photos again. I'd never seen them before and it's always exciting when one comes across a new source isn't it? Any hints would be greatly appreciated, many thanks.

Does anyone remember the small Wimbush cake shop first on left in Crescent Avenue off Binley Rd, Stoke? I best remember their individual Madeira cakes with pointy top and a paper surround with the Wimbush logo in blue writing. They must have had others such as macaroons. Continuing along the Avenue facing you as Harris Rd joins on the left was the brothers North grocers. One brother I heard served his time as First Hand at a Co-op grocery. Mr North had all his stock at his fingertips. He would recite anything not on the customers list to remind them or to increase his sale. I remember filling a cardboard box as a teenager so heavy I could barely cross Binley Rd to our home in Momus Boulevard. If you continued along the Avenue to the right of Norths on the right would be Mays, the coal dealer. I think the house was a bungalow but have no memory of a coal yard. Mrs Mays was a stalwart of Stoke Church and was Head of the Sunday School in the cricket pavilion near Lord Lytton Avenue on Binley Road. This was known as St. Andrew's Hall'.

Hi Prof, I do enjoy your memory recollections. Thank you. My mum was very fond of Wimbush cakes. In order of her preference, it was Wimbush, Storers & Moores. She never boasted at being a pastry cook, she was a full & half time busy working mum throughout my growing up years. That's why I think she fell in love with my Pam, as she loved Pam's baking. Pam went to night school cookery classes before we were married. Pam enjoyed treats too.

Prof reminded me of the cake shop in Crescent Avenue. I spent the first four years of my life in number 1 next door. Along with my baby sister and our parents, we shared the house with my aunt, uncle and their two daughters! I remember the gas lighting and the fact that three of the adults were 40-a-day chain smokers! I also remember the newsagents further down the street that sold the Beano, Dandy and all sorts of tooth rotting delicacies! Childhood Memories - the Lion and the Gas Light It's funny the things you remember from the earliest days of your life - the little thrills and spills along the way. Of course, you'll have forgotten all those nappies that were changed, but you might remember highlights of the day. The baby of the family has an awful lot to learn, - what you can do, and what you as-yet can't! When I was three, and my sister had only just been born, we house-shared with my uncle and my aunt. We shared a tiny bedroom up the stairs and at the back, with a pair of single beds and a small cot. Young families in those post-war years made do as best they could; my mum and dad then didn't have a lot. The beds were pushed together, and I slept across the join, with my parents on my left and on my right. And so I would encounter, as three-year-olds can do, a lion 'neath the bed there in the night. There was a little space between the frameworks of the beds, and my arm would find its way down in the night, And then one night, the lion came and licked me on the hand - I must admit he gave me quite a fright. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't scared, the lion was really nice; he loved it when I stroked his furry mane. And then he purred and rubbed my hand, I knew that we were friends, so every night from then he'd come again. I had two older cousins, who loved to play with me, and when I told them of the lion they both smiled. I think that they were jealous, as they only had a cat - a black one that they'd rescued from the wild. But these two girls, my cousins, taught me everything they knew, like pat-a-cake, and peek-a-boo and more. And they'd take me in my pushchair for some fresh air in the park, so I could run around there and explore. And when our parents were out at work, or shopping down the street, their child-minding skills came to the fore. They'd teach me rather naughty things, like how to comb the cat, or boil an egg or build the fire, and more. We had gaslighting in the house; and at time to turn them off, they'd even let me blow away the flame! They'd lift me up to ceiling height and tell me when to blow - it really was a most exciting game. And sometimes, in the afternoons, when our mums and dads weren't home, they'd even let me light the flame as well! They'd giggle as they'd lift me up, a matchstick in one hand, the other covering up my nose - I didn't like the smell! They told me that I shouldn't tell my parents of this game; they just don't understand our way of life. And to this day, I've kept their secret; you're the first to know! I hope I haven't got them into strife!

Hello, I used that shop which when I was in temporary work at the GEC, sold ready made or made to order sandwiches or batches. They were sold in bags labelled Pride of the Valley. I remember it well. It made a change from the GEC canteen, particularly on warm dry days.