Broadgate

I know what's bugging me about that photo on 425, that 'keep left sign' nearest the camera survived the blitz, or some such sign about there did, while all around it everything else fell, I remember seeing soldiers marching by it, the wrong way, down towards Trinity Street, either the Friday or Saturday morning.

Does this one help, Kaga?

Midland Red. Could be, thing was the place was still piled high with rubble, the road was about a bus width wide, but thanks.

Thanks for printing that one MR, don`t know if it helped Kaga, but it did me! Very nostalgic, I first returned to Coventry after evacuation to Measham about Easter 1947. I would have been twelve at the time and lived in Jubilee Crescent flats. Broadgate would have been on my No.2 bus route to KHVIII, I guess I would have changed to No.16 Green Lane or 17 Baginton. We didn`t get an ice cream van outside the school in those days, but I do seem to remember a chap came with a bike with a freezer box on the front (dry ice anyway) How did we get ice cream at all when there was sweet and sugar rationing?

Yes, Roger, those would have been your Corporation buses Pleased it brought back some memories for you, that you could share with us, as Kaga does

Another fine late view of pre-war Broadgate. I also found this one very interesting - must be late 30's as Butcher Row has gone but you can see the 'Wood' building on the right here - which was at the corner where you would have turned in to Spicerstoke towards Butcher Row. The same buildings seen here before '37 when Hiltons had it.

Big crowds in the first photo - as the clocks show approaching 11 o'clock I wonder if it's Remembrance Day? Awaiting a parade (not just for the Lants' lorry!)?

I've seen the top photo before, and yes you're right MR it is Remembrance Day.

All the old photo's are brilliant and I thank you all. I can't really recall Remembrance Day pre-war in the town, I always thought we went to the Memorial Park, so did they have two parades?

The 'wood' picture is great! Like a missing link from the usual photos. Interesting that Hiltons with the demolition sale turned into the building not being demolished - did it get a reprieve or was it demolished later or did the bombs get it? The tram control point, or whatever it is, is still there, the Flying Standard building not there. I would have otherwise thought it to be built at the same time as Trinity Street. And I wonder how unchanged Trinity Lane was at that time?

Woods was replaced by this building posted by Anne, which would have framed Holy Trinity with two modern Tudor lookalikes. It can't have been completed long before it was bombed. See page 26 of this topic for more

Hi all I hate being negative on anything, particularly about our city, yet I am. I walked through the centre of Broadgate yesterday afternoon, it was a bright late Autumn day, but the clutter in Broadgate resembling a fairground or circus was "yuk". At that point in time, I saw not one person on any of the rides, so what was the point. Maybe I have been spoilt from the days of how it used to be, with Lady Godiva on her horse in the middle of the green. Still, maybe it's my age.

Here you are, Philip

Hi & thank you MR. The Cathedral side has been an improvement I believe, except for the loss of the Gulson Library building as the Central Library. The loss of the green & public transport access is a business disaster. The folk with spending power (higher disposable income) are the very folk who need good & pleasant access with ambiance, whilst out shopping, snacking or dining. After shopping out of town, they now drive to the Fillongleys, Berkswells or Meridens & the like for their ambiance. I tell you one thing. It wasn't the business folk who redesigned Broadgate! It was all part of the Coventry Ltd, council scheme. We can't blame the internet for all of our trading ills. As yet, the internet hasn't mastered the art of a haircut by post, but if the restaurant business is to succeed, it will need to attract these very folk who currently shy away. The "Just Eat" technology is in its infancy just now, but it is snapping at the heels of evening food service. It will only take a dip in the university enterprise activity to mess the current city centre policy up completely.

Hi Kaga, the photo would have been taken on Armistice Day, 11th November, where the traffic and pedestrians stop for two minutes silence at 11am. The policeman in the picture would signal the beginning and end. The Memorial Park service and parade would, as today, be the nearest Sunday to the 11th.