Owen Owen

The second picture looks like construction of the entrance to the basement of Owens directly from the subway under Trinity Street.

mcsporran, spot on, on the right would have been the pathway between the pub and the Leofric hotel.

Kaga, did you ever watch the ladies repairing the nylons in the Owen Owen's window under that walkway. I do know it has been mentioned before on the Forum. A quick fix to stop the ladders running up our legs. Those ladies were always busy.

Advertisement from the "Coventry Official Guide 1949" (a publication of the Municipal Information Bureau)

Owen Owen advert in the Coventry Evening Telegraph Supplement for the Consecration of Coventry Cathedral (18 May 1962):

Here it is in relation to Trinity Street and New Buildings

I worked in the studio of Owen Owen in the early 1960s, and from the windows we could watch the building of the Cathedral, the most exciting day was when the spire was put in place by helicopter in May 1962, it was fascinating to watch and we had a birds eye view!

Hi Midland Red, this is great image, very striking and sums up a lot about Cov as well as Owens. I hope it's ok to include in my book in the chapter on shopping. A lovely illustration, from old to new. all the best, Ruth

Another (undated) image of the bombed store

This one shows the stairs to one of the Broadgate subways

Again we have no dates, wasn't that subway put in sometime after the building opened? And wasn't the building completely different to the old one and what people expected? How many years did we wait from the gutted shop and the opening of the new? Wasn't there a slogan 'destroyed in twelve hours - rebuilt in twelve years'? 1953 we had a lot of rain, and the precinct some days was like a river, so we sang 'Cry me a river, 'cos I cried a river over you'.

Here is a plan of Owens from the 1951 planning records: Note how it shows the position of the previous store with the delivery ramp and tunnel to the basement, also the alignment of the Trinity Street subway.

Thanks, nice bit of info on how they were situated in relation to each other

Thank you boys for the info on Owen Owen, I was an avid customer in the late 50's on wards especially in the shoe department. Then there was Santa in the basement.

mcsporran, that's a useful picture, I thought the building was about one floor up in 51, there you go, the fifties were confusing times as to the rate of re-building. Thanks.