Upper Foleshill (New Inn Bridge to The Parting of the Heaths)

Hi Benthall-Kid again. I say again because I have just finished sending you a note on another subject before moving on to this topic. The gist of my other thread was asking if you actually lived in Benthall Road, which now of course you have answered, and had you heard of a John Oakley who lived at number 3, Benthall road. I lived in Parkstone road, I knew the Kelly's and the Sephton's but as I'm older than you and them, did not know them personally. I believe that Phillip Sephton may have had an older brother called David. I so remember the sweet shop on the corner of Benthall Road and Ivor Road, but we knew it as Mrs webs. I can't remember a Paul Thompson from Benthall Road, but do remember a Pamela Thompson from Parkstone road. I also remember Mrs Coots, a really lovely lady, she had, I think two sons, one was, I believe called Bob, he had a motor bike and I remember sitting with him once when he stripped the engine down. Regards, John Wright

Hi John Am afraid I don't remember a John Oakley although my brother might: he's five years older than me. I'll ask him when I see him. Mrs Coots had a neighbour called Elsie but I can't remember her surname: she was also good friends with my mum and a nice lady. I remember the builders on the corner of Benthall Road/Foleshill Road: Mr Gubbins, but I'm pretty sure I never met him. On the opposite corner was a "supermarket" and the owner used to go to Spain for their holidays: my first knowledge of such a thing as an overseas holiday. I can only ever remember going to Blackpool and Skegness (both as day trips) and most probably in the "Coventry Fortnight" since my dad used to work at Courtaulds in Little Heath. I have some old pictures of Benthall Road with my dad on and the most striking thing is not a motor car in sight: playing "Queenio, Cokio, who's got the ballio" and hopscotch on the pavement with the other kids without parked cars or traffic was the norm then!

Hi Benthall-Kid. Thanks for your reply. Mr Gubbins was a builder and he kept pigs in an old wooden building up a drive next to Starkeys newsagents on the corner of Elmsdale Avenue. Most of us in the area had a "pig bin" where we would put uneaten food and Mr Gubbins would collect it in a wheelbarrow . The supermarket, as you called it on the corner of Benthall Road was, in our day just a corner shop owned by the Johnsons. It would be great to see your photos of Benthall road if you could upload them. On the Windmill Road school site you mention that your head mistress was Miss Oughton, she was our headmistress too, she was there when I started in the infants about 1949. You say there are no parked cars in your photo of Benthall road, you also mentioned a brother and sister of the Kelley family from Parkstone Road. If I remember correctly, Mr Kelly was the first one to own and park a car in our street, now look at it !

Hi Johnwright The pictures I have of Benthall Road are private family photos so won't post am afraid. Elsie's surname was Walker I have found out. Other folk in Benthall Road were Mary Wells, the Thompsons and the Gibberd's. The factory at the bottom of Benthall road next to the wood yard on Clinton Road was Sterling Sheet Metals if I recall correctly. Seems there was competition with folk in Parkstone Road since I too had to chase the rag&bone mans horse with a dustpan to assist my dads roses: I still have an instinct to do that even today (but of course don't)!

The wood yard in Clinton Rd was there when I was apprentice carpenter with H L Bates in Arbury Ave in 1947. I cannot recall a factory of any size near the wood yard. Courtaulds was at the other end of Clinton Rd, now sadly gone.

Hi Benthall and Norman Conquest. You mentioned Philip Sephton in a previous thread, I well remember his Dad rushing out to collect horse manure with his pan and brush. The bread delivery man's Mother lived a couple of doors away from us, he delivered using a horse and "cart" [actually more like a buggy] and always stopped at his Mothers for a morning cup of tea. We got to know and love his horse , and he us I think, ie, horse, bread ,kids !! The wood yard in Clinton road was Beamans and the metal work factory next to it was, I am sure, called "City Sheet Metal" the owner was a Mr Wilkinson and his son worked there as well, they lived in Bedlam Lane. This is how I remember things of the time but memories can distort over time. There were double gates to Courtaulds at the end of Clinton Road, I never ever saw them open or used. Of course Courtaulds has gone now .Mentioning the bakers "buggy" made me wonder if there are any left in museums or such the were so much part of our lives. I also remember the lady Mrs Cross who lived next door to us having her daily milk deliver by a man who came on a bicycle with two small churns of milk hanging from his handlebars, he would fill a jug left on the doorstep by Mrs Cross.

Hi johnwright Yes, I think you're right, it was City Sheet Metal not Sterling Sheet Metal I never saw the Courtaulds gate used or open either. Earlier in the thread was talk about newsagents on the Foleshill Road; one was called Adams and it was next door to a barbers with a red/white pole outside where I used to get a "short back and sides" as a kid.

Yes,Stereling Metals was a large factory in Northy Rd. Looking at Clinton Rd on shownystreet.com I notice that Courtaulds double gates are still there but someone has filched the wrought ironwork from the left pillar. Looking at those gates set me wondering. I believe that the Courtaulds site is set for development. If so will those gates be removed? What would be the impact on what is really a quiet backwater?

Does anyone remember a kind old gent called Mr Bird that lived in Parkstone Rd? I recollect he had a kitchen meat mincer in his garden and as kids we used to mince his flowers (and he didn't mind!). I remember his grandfather clock and its given me a hankering to get one too sometime! Also, there was a guy who lived in Parkstone with a Laryngectomy and the hole in his throat intrigued and slightly scared me as a kid - anyone know his name? I found it amazing when they demolished Courtaulds at Little Heath that the planners saw fit to turn half of the site into a giant carpark: what a wasted opportunity to breathe life into an area that had had to put up with decaying industrial sites for ages, but then again Coventry planners have never been at the top of their profession e.g. the concrete mess built after the war and the eyesore that is now broadgate.

Hi Benthall-Kid, You mention a newsagents called Adams next to a barbers shop on the Foleshill road, when I was a kid the newsagents was run by a Mr Joe Brindley, the barber next door was George Aubrey who also cut my hair as a kid. The other newsagents was over the road on the corner of Elmsdale Avenue called "Starkeys" Yes I knew a Mr Bird who lived in the second house down in Parkstone Road, No 4. the first house [No2] was the O'Brians [I think] then Mr Bird then Mr and Mrs Cross who I said previously had her milk delivered by a man on a bicycle with carrying two small milk churns. I do not remember a man with a hole in throat who lived in Parkstone Road. I think that I left Parkstone Road about 1961/62ish so what you are remembering could have been later to me..

The television shop opposite the end of Elmsdale Avenue used to be owned by Dad, and I used to go into Adams to buy sweets and comics. I also remember being sent to the butchers a bit further up the road to buy pies for the morning tea break. Lunch would be in The Wheatsheaf, they had a mynah bird in the back room. Very clever bird that could imitate many of the regulars.

Hi Disorganised1 What year are you talking about when the newsagents was Adams and your Dad had a TV shop ? The butchers further up the road on the same side and past the Wheatsheaf pub was owned by a Joe Thompson when I was a kid. Was the back room of the Wheatsheaf the one on the right of the building behind what used to be the "outdoor". This was called "the Snug" in my day and they did not have a Mynah bird then. I do vaguely remember a television shop where you say, I also remember a ladies clothes shop run by two elderly sisters named Milnas.

Would have been 1968(ish), there was a laundrette on the corner of Elmsdale can't remember the name of the bloke who ran it now. There was a bike shop next door to Adams as well.

Was that cycle shop Dodd's?

Hi disorganised1 1968 was after I had left the area, I cannot remember a laundrette on the corner of Elmsdale Avenue. When I lived in Foleshill there was a newsagents called "Starkeys" on one corner of Elmsdale and a hardware store on the other corner, can't remember his name but I think he has been mentioned on another posting on this site,. The cycle shop was "Dodds" but not next to the newsagents but further up the Foleshill road. it was the last building in the row and next to the Wheatsheaf pub. Again there are other postings on this site referring to Mr Dodds.