Wyken House & Lodge and the Forum area

As it's been mentioned on here - Dean Nelson has posted this one of Wyken House on FB. Not sure if it was the postcard that was on ebay - Rob I know you did say this was near your house - This great BFA Image shows the spot. I think it was sold circa 1929 presumably for the land and to develop the housing - shows your place nicely in a field!

Yes Neil, the land was sold by Barclays Bank in 1929 the personal representatives if Mr Joshua Perkins deceased. With the possibility of development. Joshua Perkins was the MD of Messrs Joseph Perkins & sons textile manufacturers, per the newspaper archives.

Yep, that's the grand house that, sadly, had to be demolished so that our house and hundreds more could be built. The photo that Dean put up is from the original Coventry Library collection, and now on Coventry Digital, so unsurprisingly he's nicked it! The funny thing is though, the photo below, showing Wyken Lodge on the corner of Walsgrave Road & Longfellow Road (which was only a footpath until then) was also in the library set, but isn't on CD. As many of us now know, the Forum Cinema was built on the spot where the lodge had stood (and was still standing when the BFA aerial photo was taken). (By the way, I've started this new topic to cover this small area specifically - Wyken Slough has more than enough! )

I just love it! Such a treasure trove of history, that shouts folks lives out of our forum pages. Yes, the 'Forum' literally. Talk about the lost world. That was the last film that I saw in that cinema.

First film I saw at the Forum was Snow White. Aged about five or six I had nightmares of the Wicked Queen (as a Witch!).

Hello, I've just enjoyed a carvery dinner in Wyken House. The dinner was beautiful. It was very busy, I was eating a bit later than normal, the only table room was in the bar end.