Hertford Street

Has anyone ever seen any images from inside The Kings Head? Fascinating to see work about to start on the old National Provincial Bank:

I've only ever seen pictures of its courtyard where the vehicles were parked. One of the hotels in the city centre was owned by the Great Western Railway but I've never been able to find proof which one it was? Anecdotal evidence suggests it was the Kings Head. Coventry Station was owned by the London & North Western Railway company who greatly resented any attempt by the GWR to muscle-in on their territory.

I'd certainly love to see what it was like inside - it was apparently quite a high class place, but I've never seen any pictures. I must check, but I'm sure I've read that Admiral Nelson stayed in there on a brief visit to Coventry once.

Apologies Rob/Mike as this was listed from within these pages but I'd not seen this image before (especially in colour) of Hertford Street before it was pedestrianised: I've said many times about the war and subsequent town planners when the Ring Road was built but why was Hertford Street altered from this?! All I've ever known is as it is today This was 'only' in 1968 apparently!

That's a flattering view of the street. The parts out-of-view were very badly damaged in the war and the council decided to sweep away the whole lot and start again. The only major building left intact was the "Westminster Bank" (top left) which had just merged with the "National Provincial" (top right) to form the Nat-West and so was no longer needed. Incidentally, according to local author Roger Bailey, the closure of Hertford Street to through traffic alone added 50,000 route-miles per year to Coventry Transport's running costs! I thought it ridiculous myself that our school bus had to be rerouted via New Union Street, Little Park Street, and High Street in order to reach Broadgate.

Is this it looking the other way, as the front of the bank still looks the same to me and you can see the side pillars on your photo as you look up to Broadgate

Would have been dougie yes although don't think your photo is in the 60's! The one I posted was from Mike Tyzacks page here

Yes and of course the building of the extension between the bank and Broadgate House totally destroyed that particular vista.

With apologies for the quality, here is a picture I took in the 50`s

Here is another one also rescued from an old negative and `Photoshopped`

The picture must have been taken very early on a Sunday morning (or possibly on Christmas Day morning) when there was no traffic about. Generally Hertford Street was teaming with traffic with many buses. Actually, on a second look, it's late in the evening.

From a similar position to the OPs image, the view in 2010

A not so flattering view of the west side:

And the same view on November 15th 1940: