City Arcade and the Bird Cage

Definitely Aubrey Hill, he used to live next door to my parents on Bennetts Road South. He had another shop on Lockhurst Lane bridge. We bought the kit for Earlsdon Cottage FC here when we formed the team in 1983.

Hey folks. First post here, nice to meet you all. I've been an admirer of the history of Coventry for a little while now and have been on the hunt for photos of a very specific shop that my mum used to work at in the City Arcade. It was called Cane In Style and they sold cane furniture. The shop isn't there anymore; she thinks she worked there in 1989/90 and it closed shortly after. She can't remember much of the shops it was around but she did say it may have been next to a florist. Any additional information about this store would be extremely welcome, and if there are any pictures of City Arcade, or even better - Cane In Style itself, from around the time mentioned - please reply with them or message me! Thanks, Lewis

Hello Lewis, welcome & pull up a chair. I remember the shop. I will highlight your post with a question highlight.

Looking through the CET the shop was at no 11 City Arcade, until 1986 it was called Casanova's also selling Cane Furniture under new management, prior to that it was Virgin Records. May help identifying which shop it was

Nice find Anne! Would that be this shop? 11 is that close to the bird cage end?

Yes, you can still see the arcade on google maps, number 11 is the very first shop on the left in the arcade from the bird cage.

Hi Lewis, As Anne said Casanovas seems right (11 City Arcade). I think it opened about 1982 and closed in about 1991. It was run by Andrew Stewart Ford. He filed the company for bankruptcy in 1986 (this may have been where the 'Cane In Style' name came from, as it probably needed to change names to continue opperating???). The shop next door was Carrick Travel agents in 1991 but became a Florist (Tomlinson Flower Company) shortly thereafter and remained so until recently (13 City Arcade).

Thanks for all the information, folks, a really great insight to this store!

Morning all, just back from nearly a week staying at the Nailcote Hall Hotel at Berkswell, meeting friends and attending a Family Funeral. When No. 11 City Arcade was a Virgin Record Store during the 1970's, Pete Waterman rented the upstairs room where he sold 'Northern Soul' Records imported from the US. He called it the 'Soul Hole' !

Awwww, this brought back memories. My then fiancee and I had our first home in 1983 (council maisonette) and couldn't afford a suite, so we bought a cane settee from this shop instead. We moved into a flat 18 months later, and by now, had a hand-me-down suite instead. We still had that cane settee until we sadly broke up in 1987.

J E Parbury, I used to use their Albany Road shop for many years. If I recall correctly, they had larger premises somewhere else in Coventry which I have used, but cannot remember where that was.... I had to do a double take on The Thistle pub, with thanks to Rob's pub history pages, put my mind at ease, there was a Thistle pub at the bottom end of The Arcade, almost opposite Electronic Services.

I remember The Thistle in the City Arcade Mike - I added a rare capture of it here - Pubs Thread