Coventry, City of Culture 2021 (9 Viewers)

[Otis]

I am incredibly proud of my home town and this opportunity. Said it many times too many people are obsessed by the city centre. Yes it isn't great but it's only a small part of a big city. Take it as a whole and as somewhere to reside and it stacks up pretty well. You get people shooting their load about Birmingham or Newcastle or Liverpool but they are taking about the centres. All of those places have suberbs thst make ours look like playschool. Look at good old London outside of zones 1 and 2,shithole, kids under 16 stabbing each other and chucking acid in people's face to rob a couple of hundred quid. Give me good old Cov anytime

Very valid and fair points.

Liverpool city centre IS lovely, as if course is London, but go out into the suburbs and it can be something quite different.

Lovely to see the Beeb interviewing students here who had positive things today about the city and said they would definitely consider staying and living here full time.

 

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[SonofErnie]

I am incredibly proud of my home town and this opportunity. Said it many times too many people are obsessed by the city centre. Yes it isn't great but it's only a small part of a big city. Take it as a whole and as somewhere to reside and it stacks up pretty well. You get people shooting their load about Birmingham or Newcastle or Liverpool but they are taking about the centres. All of those places have suberbs thst make ours look like playschool. Look at good old London outside of zones 1 and 2,shithole, kids under 16 stabbing each other and chucking acid in people's face to rob a couple of hundred quid. Give me good old Cov anytime

Spot on and the city centre is about to get sorted anyway. Now we just need the Sky Blues to get a couple of promotions before 2021 and all will be good!

 

[Otis]

Well it might be average in your eyes but to me everything about it is special.
Love the place have never wanted to leave.

Same here on not wanting to leave, but some parts do frustrate me.

I hate the ring road and the Britannia hotel and don't like that they have taken so much greenery away and built concrete in its place.

I do love the museums however and the cathedral and the ancient parts of the city like the Guildhall and I am very proud of our history with watchmaking, car manufacture, ribbons, bicycles etc. and that Coventry was such an important city in history. The gunpowder plotters met here, Queen Mary was held prisoner here and for a short while Coventry was the capital of England.

I love we don't get natural disasters of flood or earthquake and gales. I love we are just two hours from the coast, less than an hour from London by train, an hour an a half from Manchester by car, just 10 mins from an international airport and 20 mins from Brum.

I am sure I read that outside of London, Coventry has the busiest train station.

I love that 2 Tone happened here and I love my football club.

I am just 4 mins drive from town and visit at least twice a week and I love that restaurants aplenty are now descending on our city. And I adore Fargo too!!

 

[B-Ban-Boogie]

every time I see the sign for Warwickshire on the motorway I know that soon I will be somewhere special.

Been living away from the City for coming on 14 years now, and every time i return (which is usually to BHX) I always get a great feeling once i see the Welcome to Coventry sign on the A45.
Literally, burst with pride when i see it!! :emoji_joy::emoji_joy:

Edit : Google Mapped it



Cant wait until February until i see it again!

 

[Otis]

Been living away from the City for coming on 14 years now, and every time i return (which is usually to BHX) I always get a great feeling once i see the Welcome to Coventry sign on the A45.
Literally, burst with pride when i see it!! :emoji_joy::emoji_joy:

Edit : Google Mapped it

View attachment 8515

Cant wait until February until i see it again!

Well said.

I would be exactly the same.

We have had relatives from Russia, Canada and US come over and they all have loved Coventry.

 

[Macca]

For a city which finds itself right on the doorstep and in the shadow of the 2nd city it does pretty well

 

[Otis]

For a city which finds itself right on the doorstep and in the shadow of the 2nd city it does pretty well

Very, very true.

The Godiva Festival is fantastic too and we have so many theatre groups here. Again, I am sure I read somewhere that outside of London we have as many as anywhere else in the country.

 

[shmmeee]

Same here on not wanting to leave, but some parts do frustrate me.

I hate the ring road and the Britannia hotel and don't like that they have taken so much greenery away and built concrete in its place.

I do love the museums however and the cathedral and the ancient parts of the city like the Guildhall and I am very proud of our history with watchmaking, car manufacture, ribbons, bicycles etc. and that Coventry was such an important city in history. The gunpowder plotters met here, Queen Mary was held prisoner here and for a short while Coventry was the capital of England.

I love we don't get natural disasters of flood or earthquake and gales. I love we are just two hours from the coast, less than an hour from London by train, an hour an a half from Manchester by car, just 10 mins from an international airport and 20 mins from Brum.

I am sure I read that outside of London, Coventry has the busiest train station.

I love that 2 Tone happened here and I love my football club.

I am just 4 mins drive from town and visit at least twice a week and I love that restaurants aplenty are now descending on our city. And I adore Fargo too!!

I hate the Britannia too.

I have a dream for the ring road, of a ring of green, tree lined in places, complimented with art from local artists that’s an absolute joy to go around.

May as well own it, make it a feature not a bug. It’s a real shame it looks like they won’t be changing the nasty concrete cladding with all that work they’re doing at the moment.

 

[Otis]

I also forgot to mention that we have two top universities here.

I would also like to see the Swanswell Pool brought into the city centre, so the centre extended so the pool is encompassed by it.

 

[clint van damme]

I hate the Britannia too.

I have a dream for the ring road, of a ring of green, tree lined in places, complimented with art from local artists that’s an absolute joy to go around.

May as well own it, make it a feature not a bug. It’s a real shame it looks like they won’t be changing the nasty concrete cladding with all that work they’re doing at the moment.

isn't there a plan for the ring road to be covered in a poem for 2021? Not sure what format it will be, whether it's painted all along the walls or something else.

 

[Irish Sky Blue]

I was on a trip with the school I work at this week to the Herbert and the Transport Museum. We also popped into the Cathedral ruins. The children, as always, really enjoyed the trip. The staff who came are all Birmingham based apart from me, not surprising as the school is in Chelmsley Wood. Most of them were really surprised by the Cathedral as they hadn’t been in that part of town. They know how proud I am to be from Coventry and so were keen to let me know what they thought of my City. They thought the two museums were great and that the Cathedral was fantastic. From the limited part of the centre that they saw, they felt there was far too much concrete in the city. They thought Sainsbury’s was even grimmer than the Britannia (I don’t agree, surely that eyesore needs to come down, plus the adjacent student flats). The fact that Sainsbury’s survived the Priory place development means I suppose that we are stuck with that eyesore.
Today in staff briefing the Head mentioned our trip to Coventry saying that we had obviously tipped the cultural balance in the City’s favour and that that enabled the successful bid. It was amazing how many Brummies I met today who knew Coventry had won.
My own point of view is that the city centre is improving but has a long way to go. The ring road is really ugly and something needs to be done about it. Making it tree lined would help. Getting rid of it somehow would be even better. I was also really disappointed that the Ikea building was given approval when it is right next door to the most scenic street in the city, Spon Street. A real beauty and the beast scenario. I like the idea of trying to include the Swanswell in any plans, plus the idea of revealing the Sherbourne. It seems that City centres need to be about much more than shopping if they are to be meaningful hearts of a City. It would be wonderful if a purpose built stadium for the football team could be incorporated into any plans as this would certainly bring more life to the city.( Not the Butts).

 

[Nick]

The thing with the ring road, you don't want to make it too pretty so people are trying to read poems or sight see when driving past.

 

[clint van damme]

I was on a trip with the school I work at this week to the Herbert and the Transport Museum. We also popped into the Cathedral ruins. The children, as always, really enjoyed the trip. The staff who came are all Birmingham based apart from me, not surprising as the school is in Chelmsley Wood. Most of them were really surprised by the Cathedral as they hadn’t been in that part of town. They know how proud I am to be from Coventry and so were keen to let me know what they thought of my City. They thought the two museums were great and that the Cathedral was fantastic. From the limited part of the centre that they saw, they felt there was far too much concrete in the city. They thought Sainsbury’s was even grimmer than the Britannia (I don’t agree, surely that eyesore needs to come down, plus the adjacent student flats). The fact that Sainsbury’s survived the Priory place development means I suppose that we are stuck with that eyesore.
Today in staff briefing the Head mentioned our trip to Coventry saying that we had obviously tipped the cultural balance in the City’s favour and that that enabled the successful bid. It was amazing how many Brummies I met today who knew Coventry had won.
My own point of view is that the city centre is improving but has a long way to go. The ring road is really ugly and something needs to be done about it. Making it tree lined would help. Getting rid of it somehow would be even better. I was also really disappointed that the Ikea building was given approval when it is right next door to the most scenic street in the city, Spon Street. A real beauty and the beast scenario. I like the idea of trying to include the Swanswell in any plans, plus the idea of revealing the Sherbourne. It seems that City centres need to be about much more than shopping if they are to be meaningful hearts of a City. It would be wonderful if a purpose built stadium for the football team could be incorporated into any plans as this would certainly bring more life to the city.( Not the Butts).

I've got a horrible feeling that brutalist architecture is going to come back into fashion and they're going to do something silly like make the Britannia a listed building.

 

[Irish Sky Blue]

I've got a horrible feeling that brutalist architecture is going to come back into fashion and they're going to do something silly like make the Britannia a listed building.

Need to knock it down before that happens.

 

[oldskyblue58]

I think this absolutely brilliant for the City of Coventry. Well done all involved.

 

[Broken Hearted Sky Blue]

I've got a horrible feeling that brutalist architecture is going to come back into fashion and they're going to do something silly like make the Britannia a listed building.

It should be listed. For demolition

 

[Otis]

The thing with the ring road, you don't want to make it too pretty so people are trying to read poems or sight see when driving past.

It's going to be a digital poem I believe, so that's going to be quite striking I would have thought. Might be off-putting.

I agree on Sainsbury's and the too much concrete comment. Needs more green space. Would be fabulous if they could somehow stretch out the centre to Swanswell Pool

 

[Broken Hearted Sky Blue]

With all the new students flats and new hotels being built they should demolish the Britannia hotel and the ugly green students flats , it would open up that area to see the new Cathedral with a pla etc , and it would be nice if it had a lawn instead of concrete !!!

I agree or put whitefriars there

 

[dadgad]

Well done Cov!
I hope that one consequence of this is some decent public amenity space in and around the City Centre. Some decent pedestrian routing with a large green space would not go amiss. The new and old cathedrals are iconic buildings but lost amid some of the worst architecture imaginable.
The ring road needs erasing but the best legacy for the community would be Ccfc owning its own ground.

 

[skybluesam66]

i was working near watford today - and when i went into work - our head office, everybody was saying well done - as if id won it on my own
Was just so proud
they suggested the sky blues change their name for 1 season only to Coventry City of Culture fC

 

[itsabuzzard]

m8 so wot ur sayin iz u cud av supportid liverpool insted? aha u want ur hed lukin at m8 wtf hahaha

Is that Esperanto?

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[ajsccfc]

I'd get shot of pretty much that whole stretch of Britannia hotel, sports centre and elephant building, and the student tower block opposite the cathedral. The upper precinct ramp, upper level and escalators too, the whole thing feels too enclosed. Those ugly tower blocks by where Woolworths used to be and near West Orchards also, I'd basically just lower the height limit for the city centre really.

 

[Broken Hearted Sky Blue]

I'd get shot of pretty much that whole stretch of Britannia hotel, sports centre and elephant building, and the student tower block opposite the cathedral. The upper precinct ramp, upper level and escalators too, the whole thing feels too enclosed. Those ugly tower blocks by where Woolworths used to be and near West Orchards also, I'd basically just lower the height limit for the city centre really.

The ramp,escalator and the tower block are going

 

[ajsccfc]

Sweet, half the job's done. Early Friday finishes all round

 

[NortonSkyBlue]

To put some context to the visual appearance of the city center please remember what it was a consequence of and the period it was rebuilt
I see the redevelopment around the train station and the walk to the city center, I see around by the Belgrade theatre and even where the Coventry theatre was as an upgrade on before and I am sure that some of the older ones remember what broadgate used to loook like before Cathedral lanes. It was a bomb site.
It's funny how we see things, the precinct was the first of its type in the U.K. and was a matter of civic pride yet it has long been considered ugly.
Birmingham New street station was an eyesore yet is now considered a thing of beauty,
I am sure that the redevelopment of Coventry city center is ongoing and evolving and will in future be a source of pride again.

 

[Irish Sky Blue]

To put some context to the visual appearance of the city center please remember what it was a consequence of and the period it was rebuilt
I see the redevelopment around the train station and the walk to the city center, I see around by the Belgrade theatre and even where the Coventry theatre was as an upgrade on before and I am sure that some of the older ones remember what broadgate used to loook like before Cathedral lanes. It was a bomb site.
It's funny how we see things, the precinct was the first of its type in the U.K. and was a matter of civic pride yet it has long been considered ugly.
Birmingham New street station was an eyesore yet is now considered a thing of beauty,
I am sure that the redevelopment of Coventry city center is ongoing and evolving and will in future be a source of pride again.

You would hope that the development isn’t more concrete and glass buildings but architecture that will be sympathetic to the iconic buildings we already have. I noticed when on the school trip that the green space opposite the transport museum has a new building, I assume student accommodation, which, although not a regular rectangular block, is hardly a thing of beauty. Artists impression of the new building in Friarsgate seemed to show a standard concrete tower. I don’t go in for CT bashing but I would have to disagree with their journalist who was praising it. The redevelopment of Brindley Place in Birmingham a few years ago shows that modern buildings do not have to be ugly and purely functional. Cheap and not so cheerful won’t do. Better to develop more slowly but with quality than to have a Cathedral Lanes type development which few like and which will be scrapped after a couple of decades. Buildings of beauty like the Cathedral and those in Spon Streeet have lasted centuries for a reason.

 

[Otis]

You would hope that the development isn’t more concrete and glass buildings but architecture that will be sympathetic to the iconic buildings we already have. I noticed when on the school trip that the green space opposite the transport museum has a new building, I assume student accommodation, which, although not a regular rectangular block, is hardly a thing of beauty. Artists impression of the new building in Friarsgate seemed to show a standard concrete tower. I don’t go in for CT bashing but I would have to disagree with their journalist who was praising it. The redevelopment of Brindley Place in Birmingham a few years ago shows that modern buildings do not have to be ugly and purely functional. Cheap and not so cheerful won’t do. Better to develop more slowly but with quality than to have a Cathedral Lanes type development which few like and which will be scrapped after a couple of decades. Buildings of beauty like the Cathedral and those in Spon Streeet have lasted centuries for a reason.

Behind that new student building, opposite the transport museum, they are opening up the river Sherbourne. Only a small stretch, but it should be nice once completed.

 

[clint van damme]

Behind that new student building, opposite the transport museum, they are opening up the river Sherbourne. Only a small stretch, but it should be nice once completed.

think opening up the Sherbourne is going to look great. Should have done it years ago.
Would like to see some bars and restaurants round the canal basin as well as there should be a decent footfall there now with all the houses they're building.

 

[Covstu]

I am delighted like the rest of you but would just like to say I've always had a soft spot for Sunderland who have had to play second fiddle to Newcastle for so long. Of course some are bitter but I know many Mackems who are salts of the earth and like coventrians deserve better. They have been shafted by successive governments like we have. We should rise above 5he petty bickering and show some solidarity

Where is the fun in that?

 

[Otis]

Quelle suprise! Daily Mail out of kilter with the majority of newspaper reaction and focusing on the 'savage mockery' of Coventry on Twitter. Twitter, eh! You can surely find savage mockery of anything on Twitter if you look hard enough.

City of Culture: What the papers said about Cov's historic win

Bit disappointed in Nick Hancock. I know he's a comedian, but you would think he would be a little more conciliatory.

 

[Hobo]

There is a lot I could say about the culture and history of the city; something many of its citizens seem unaware off.

I have lived and worked in various cities, I have also visited most areas in the country. This isn't a cultural thing but I think the Kenilworth Road in Autumn is absolutely stunning, from Gibbet Hill to within half a mile of the city centre. Cannot think of any other city that has an approach like it. As you go past King Henry's the panorama of the city centre is pretty impressive too.

The Memorial Park is a wonderful space and not too formal.

 

[Otis]

There is a lot I could say about the culture and history of the city; something many of its citizens seem unaware off.

I have lived and worked in various cities, I have also visited most areas in the country. This isn't a cultural thing but I think the Kenilworth Road in Autumn is absolutely stunning, from Gibbet Hill to within half a mile of the city centre. Cannot think of any other city that has an approach like it. As you go past King Henry's the panorama of the city centre is pretty impressive too.

The Memorial Park is a wonderful space and not too formal.

It is. How anyone can say Coventry lacks culture when we have the Godiva Festival every year, have had award winning theatre companies in Talking Birds, Triangle, Theatre Absolute and Imagineers and then had a whole music scene in 2 Tone and now have Fargo Village, which is all about arts and culture, is beyond me.

 

[dadgad]

There is a myth that Coventry City Centre was rebuilt as a consequence of the blitz.
The truth is that much of the mediaeval quarter was cleared by the council prior to WW2.

 

[Skyblueweeman]

i was working near watford today - and when i went into work - our head office, everybody was saying well done - as if id won it on my own
Was just so proud
they suggested the sky blues change their name for 1 season only to Coventry City of Culture fC

How funny, my companies EMEA HQ is in Watford as well.

Now that place IS a shit hole...


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[Johnnythespider]

Quelle suprise! Daily Mail out of kilter with the majority of newspaper reaction and focusing on the 'savage mockery' of Coventry on Twitter. Twitter, eh! You can surely find savage mockery of anything on Twitter if you look hard enough.

City of Culture: What the papers said about Cov's historic win

Bit disappointed in Nick Hancock. I know he's a comedian, but you would think he would be a little more conciliatory.

He's got Cock in his name for a reason