Whitefriars Street (inc. Whitefriars Lane)

My husband says he remembers Marks & Spencers being behind the Gaumont, next to Newsomes Garage. Date about 1947. Can anyone confirm this.

It was actually Brandish's garage but otherwise that's absolutely correct. It was M&S' temporary home until the one in the precinct was built: This is the view from inside looking towards the entrance in Whitefriars Street:

My mum often talked about that M&S temporary store in Whitefriars St. At that time nearly all of its stock was ladies + girls schoolwear which had the label St Margarets not St. Michael as it mostly became after 1950+. Mum would often talk about retailers pulling together after the blitz of November 1940, as she did, having lost her ladieswear shop and having to make the best of a temporary shop in White St, which became permanent until demolished when the ring road was built. Retailers did care about customers then. On Thursdays which was half day closing in Coventry, the trains to B'ham were full of traders and assistants buying stock from B'ham stores (B'ham half day was Wednesday) in order to please customers as best as they could in wartime living.

Thank you so much. My husband has been going on about M&S in Whitefriars Street for years. He was pleased to see the photograph, he remembered it well.

St Margaret's was a proprietary brand, later stocked by the British Home Stores (now BHS). It was was a good quality brand, mainly underwear, both mens' and womens'. Apparently, M&S decided to introduce their own in-house brand and hit on the name St Michael because it was as close to St Margaret as they could get without running into legal difficulties. I remember buying St Margaret underwear from BHS after the new (present) store opened in the Precinct. By then, M&S were firmly into St Michael.

This is more of a story than a topic, But please have your say with it. I have had the pleasure of meeting a lady in Hinckley that tells me of her memories of living in the shadows of the three spires in the 1930's. She grew up in a three storey house where the top floor was a weaving shop. The shop covered a number of houses on the street, and made quite a lot of noise in the day time. Her father was a runner for the local betting shops. Their house was no.33 White Friars Street. But when her father passed on, her mother and herself had to move to no.7. This was a few doors away from "The White Friars Inn". But she remembers it as "Lynches", Bill Lynch being the landlord at the time. The alley between the houses and pub had ridges built in to stop the barrels running down too fast down to the cellar. Talking to people about their memories is a really good way of finding out small bits of local history. Lynches - there may be one or two who also remember it as that. History is not just in the past, but we make it every day, and find things out every day. This lady lent me some papers and books and I have taken photos myself of the pics for my own memories, and other peoples. There is a picture in one of the papers that shows the house where she grew up. Being in her ??s. I don't think she can use computers as we can, so I've copied the photo and will frame it for her memory. "Making memories every day". The second door from the left. The Gaumont Palace I think can just be seen at the end of the houses?

I don't think it is the Gaumont Baz, more likely Brandish's Garage or the Mission House on the other side of Whitefriars Lane? As I've mentioned elsewhere, my friend Alan McQueen lived with his grandmother in one of the houses near the far end. For some odd reason they never used the front door but always entered via a back door in the courtyard behind. My friends the Carson brothers lived in a tenement in the courtyard itself in conditions that would be considered intolerable today!

O.E picture it's quite a large building. It does look like the rear of the Gaumont. I may be wrong.

Yes, you may be right. It is much further away from the camera than I at first thought. The projecting ridge across the roofline was used to store the screen which could be electrically hoisted to reveal a stage behind it.

Fascinating story Baz, thanks for posting.

This is a thread I started a while back now but I returned the books and papers today with a framed photo of where she use to live as a thank you. She was delighted with the photo which I scanned from a paper cutting. She told me of an old blind lady who also lived in the street who had a parrot that would tell her if someone came into the house. She also remembers an Elizabeth Parker and Annie Parker who lived the other side of the water pipe and tin wall to herself. White Friars St in the 1930's must have been quite a hard place to live. One outside tap serving a number of houses (if not all). The yards must have been a meeting place for many residents to chat, and do their washing at the same time. She did say it was a hard life living there, but the friendship of the people there made it that much easier. The pic shows who she thinks maybe her auntie and uncle outside the house where she lived, but cannot be sure. It is sad to say I may not see this lady again for some time as she is moving into a home, or assisted living. Her memories have given me great understanding of life living in the centre of a city. If I do contact her again, you will see this thread come back to life.

Having emailed I gave the names of my great grandmother and her daughter Elizabeth Parker and Annie Parker in the vain anticipation that this lady would remember them as they lived in a one up one down property, 2 court 5 house Whitefriars St. What a lovely unexpected surprise last evening when I saw they had been remembered. My great gran died in 1954, Annie in 1978. In order to put faces to names I have these two wonderful photographs showing them both. Elizabeth Parker who was blind cannot remember a parrot, is the second person from the right hand end with her daughter, my gran May next to her. I believe the picture was taken in Bourton-on-the-Water around 1923 as the little girl was my mum's cousin Margaret Parker. The picture of the wedding group has Annie Parker on the far left with my mother Vera as bridesmaid to Annie's brother Joseph on his wedding day

Thank you Herberts Lad for the photo's. The good lady in Hinckley did say she remembered them living the other side of the corrugated wall and water pipe, but I will try and see her again soon. As part of my job, I could only pop in to drop off the papers etc, and did not have much time to chat. If it is ok with you I will print off the top photo to show her. It may bring back more memories for her (and us). I did not have chance to see if she would let me use her name on this thread, but I will next time. Thanks again.

I have been to see the good lady once again, Olive is her name. Her mother use to send her to the butchers on a Tuesday, where Roy Fitter (the butcher) would give them extra bacon and forget to stamp the ration book. Her mother told her not to say a word to any other people in the shop. A Mrs Hopper owned a house in the road with a top shop where she would house up to 10 Irish navies in old iron beds. And then there was a Hilda Chance, who had a large back garden, where the council workers put up an anderson shelter. She said her and friends had a picnic in it before they found out what it was for. Next door to where Olive lived was the Kingsleys, and there was that much of a gap in the walls, she said she could shake hands with them through the hole. She does remember an Annie Parker, but not her brother Joseph. What great memories people have, and so nice to hear them recall their past.

Really enjoyed reading Olive's reminiscences and credit to you for seeing the value of them and making sure they were recorded.