The Herbert (Art Gallery & Museum)

Anne - As you know, the Sandy Lane site was primarily an industrial site when the council first took on this building for storage purposes. Over the years things have changed and now the area is covered in new housing. My own thoughts are that if they see fit to close the main museum then they are just as likely to close and dispose of the site at Sandy Lane for even more houses and to make more easy money for the council. In recent weeks the council has closed their Customer Services Department in Broadgate House and re-located it in the central library (the old Locarno). Maybe they are going to dispose of Broadgate House as well? The worst scenario is that the council will find that it has too many exhibits at both Coventry Transport Museum and The Herbert so it will just sell them off to raise a bit more easy cash. It could well be that the changing population in Coventry sees less value in old cars and museums and so they may well support the decisions made by their council. After all, if they want some information about something old, they can just look on their phone!

Hello, Thank you. I believe that library services themselves are in their last days. Just like the banks.

Yes, not local. I knew Sandy Lane well, having worked in the 60's and early 70's in what is now Harp Place, now flats, and also the other end, now Electric Wharf, also housing. I think at that time the storage building may have been the bus garage. In later years when visiting mum in the care home next to Merrick Lodge we often used to see nice Jaguars go into the storage. I think many people are still interested in old cars, there are still lots of car shows and meets and also many TV programmes. But I think these are enthusiasts that like to see cars been done up to be back on the road. Also who wants to drive into the middle of Coventry to see cars when you can have a nice day out at say Gaydon.

Today's Coventry Telegraph says that Coventry City Council plan to use the former Ikea building to exhibit some of the vehicles currently on show in Coventry Transport Museum and in store elsewhere. It also says that other exhibits will be disposed of. This brings me back to my earlier fear that someone in the council will choose the pretty vehicles and those which casual visitors want to see, but will quietly dispose of the huge amount of more mundane stuff currently in both the museum and their store in Sandy Lane. The council have previously said that these are longer term plans to redevelop the north side of the city centre, presumably after they have completed the current housing development in the south side of the city centre. Their plans would also allow for the redevelopment of the Sandy Lane site for more housing. I do agree with Anne, lots of people do enjoy a day out at either a local car show or at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon. However, the city centre museums used to attract a lot of casual visitors, me included, who would pop in for a quick browse while they were in the city centre shopping or for some other reason. Of course, there are are now far fewer shops so less people visit the city centre during the day time. We will wait and see, but somehow I think that future generations will be deprived of seeing the actual history of motor cars in the city of Coventry, or at best will see a very condensed version