Empty space behind the market

Victoria Buildings brings back happy memories for myself. I had my first job in this building for John Cheatle the menswear shop as junior salesman. It was on the left of the entrance to the fish market and I was employed as Junior Salesman in 1970 after I left school at 15 years of age. I had great time there, clothes at cost price, Bob Milbourne was manager, with Les James (LRJ as we called him) as his assistant and Peggy Bennett ran the children's Dept. Victoria Snooker Hall was upstairs, accessed by stairs which were adjacent to the rear of the shop. The engineering company which I think occupied the top floor/ floors were Brown & Hawthorne which I believe are still operating today. The funny thing is I had a short period of working for them in 1990 when they were on the Courtaulds site on Foheshill Road. .

Hi Colin My mum bought me a faux leather collarless "Beatles" jacket from John Cheatle. Must have been 64 / 65. Did the snooker hall become a 10 pin bowling alley?

Hi Mick, The Jacket before my time, I was still in short pants then! Bet you looked the bees knees with a Beatle haircut. The bowling alley was above somewhere around there, but not sure where. I remember a black Ben Sherman Oxford shirt coming into stock which at the time were rarer than rocking horse DooDoo, so I "promptly collared' it for cost price which I think was about 1 pound 15 shillings at the time, less than half the retail price. Happy times.

I paid £2.9/11 each for my Ben Sherman Shirts ! I didn't know about the Bowling Alley, but would suggest it wasn't in Victoria Buildings. As Colin states "Happy times", (but expensive fashion wise) !

https://www.historiccoventryforum.co.uk/main/forum-posts.php?id=8453&show_cats=all https://www.historiccoventryforum.co.uk/main/forum-posts.php?id=1417&show_cats=all https://www.historiccoventryforum.co.uk/main/forum-posts.php?id=58882&show_cats=all