Pawnbrokers' shops

Spot on Anne. Neil's photo was looking the other way at the aerial shot I posted, I think.

I don't know if I am seeing things now! On Neil’s blown up picture, can I see large letters across the building on the very left on the other side of the road, or is it just windows?

I'm still not 100% sold that it is Raglan Street. I first thought that I could see top shop windows but it could be lettering or the remains of them. There are buildings of different heights, angles and window styles. Trying to bring the different features together is proving difficult. I think that the G Wale connection is plausible. The picture below shows a pediment as tall as the building below with the factory name on it. Was it Francis-Barnett in 1940?

If you take the angle from where the photo was taken then across the road you should see houses or at best the Forresters Arms. As for the tall building there was none there. So I do not think it is Raglan Street. Taking that the photo is of the last of the bomb damage, I lived in the third shop up from it and cannot recall any buildings like the ones in pic.

Yes, Helen I kept looking at it but I could not work out the angle of what you could see on the other side of the road, or the buildings so I was beginning to wonder. There is a shadow of a tall building just behind the pawnbroker’s balls. 😡 I am sure there are letters on that building on the left and have tried to enhance them, perhaps one of the technophobes could try and do it for us. Back to the drawing board.

I've re-persuaded myself. The yellow is the text. The blue is a tram wire support. The green is the bigger building in the background. It's hard to work out the rest because some of it was bombed. What do you think?

I would say you have got it there, Helen. Well done. I would still like to know what the wording is.

I presume the wording is the name of the company at the point it was bombed but did they remove big signs so as to make it harder for bombers to identify specific companies? So it may be the ghost of the previous signs?

On a map on Coventry Digital number 21 is opposite the Raglan Tavern.

Looking at some more Britain from Above, the tall building looks like the Raglan Tavern, that would make the building where I think I can see words part of the Singer factory but I can't work to the bit in between. On older BFA and more recent there is a tall building in between that has Singer on the top. Still puzzled.

Wherever it is, the camera is looking through the front rooms of a terrace (along the street, not at right angles) with a partial view off to the street side to the left. We know that is the street because we can see the pawn balls. Behind the ladder, in the distance you can see a car.

This is another shot in 1951 and a closer one of the Raglan Tavern And now I realise that can't be right as the Tavern is only 2 windows wide, the building in Neil's picture is 3. Are we in the wrong place ?

Anne, you're looking in the wrong direction. The camera is looking along the line of the street, within 21/23 - ie west. The Tavern was to the south.

I am lost, Helen, can you point me in the right direction on this map? I notice that 21, 23 and 25 have been written on.

The camera is looking left, to the west, but the field of view extends out from the front wall of the house towards the corner of Lower Ford Street off the left of the map.