Back to the Bad old Days in Coventry (3 Viewers)

Mr T - Sukka! · Apr 1, 2015

Grendel said:
I have been recently. Take a circular journey starting from where Woolworths was and walk round past the Litten Tree and back up. It's so poor and downtrodden. Empty shops, pawn brokers, money lenders.

It's dire. What's the point in having bars and cafes - the whole culture preaches poverty. Anyone with purchasing power just will not go. Solihull and leamington are a million times more preferable.

Totally agree the city centre is a dump. Its not even worth bothering to go.

Its souless, bland, drab and downright monkey turd.

I went stratford last weekend. Lovley place. Once you go out of Cov you realise how crap it is.

Ashdown · Apr 2, 2015

Went into Cov last night. Fancied checking out what £280,000 bought for you in the Phoenix. Couple of pints in there and then one in the Gosford Arms before a nice bit of Italiano at San Marcos. I managed to escape with my life and didn't find it all too traumatic !!

Colonel Mustard · Apr 2, 2015

Grendel said:
I have been recently. Take a circular journey starting from where Woolworths was and walk round past the Litten Tree and back up. It's so poor and downtrodden. Empty shops, pawn brokers, money lenders.

It's dire. What's the point in having bars and cafes - the whole culture preaches poverty. Anyone with purchasing power just will not go. Solihull and leamington are a million times more preferable.

Too right.

I love Warwickshire. The towns of Warwick, Kenilworth, Stratford and Leamington are charming. Historical castles, some terrific architecture, idle by the Avon river, the RSC, some excellent cafes, restaurants and bars. Brilliant countryside. Geographically it's convenient with many fine areas within a day trip radius. Birmingham and all its entertainment is 15 mins on the train and London is only an hour away direct.

To that extent I'll always talk up Coventry the area as a hidden gem: reasonable propertry prices, a world class university, and all the above attractions. But the town centre? It's shameful, and displays a complete absence of inspiration. Sometimes it's actually worth investing in things as seemingly trivial as greenery, water features, hell...even gothic-style lamp posts. They can elevate the spirits, aspirations and behaviour of an entire community.

But that won't happen. The city is, sadly, a hole. All we can expect is the next business park with Boots, Currys, Poundland, TK Maxx etc. TBF, the Cov community doesn't help much - in a recent CWR poll the majority of respondents said they loved the ring road!

Houchens Head · Apr 2, 2015

bringbackrattles said:
I'm waiting for Houch to have a comment as he used to drink in the same pubs in town as me.

I'm here BBR! Yep, there were some right old dives around back then, but I also remember that in my regular haunt (The Market Tavern), you could go in skint and still come out pissed! They were a great bunch in there. If you had little or no money, someone would always buy you a drink because they knew you would return the favour at a later date. I also worked at the old Locarno (for those of you that don't know, it is now the central libraray). Every weekend there was a punch-up. The bouncers were alerted by the lights being flashed on and off.
I also remember walking home (a bit worse for wear!) from Mr Georges early hours of the morning along Hales St. Someone from behind called out "Excuse me mate, what's the time?" As I turned around, I saw a bottle coming at my head. That was it. I woke up in Cov & Warwick hospital some time later with a fractured jaw, broken teeth and 8 stitches in my chin! All I was doing was walking home. Happy days!

Houchens Head · Apr 2, 2015

bringbackrattles said:
I too used to go in the Live and Let Live and the White Horse,some characters in there !

I used to be a barman in the Live & Let Live - about 1970 / 71. Great pub!

chiefdave · Apr 2, 2015

My regular Saturday run was starting at the Golden Cross and working down to spend the night in the Campbell. We're talking late 80s early 90s here and I can't remember there ever being much, if any, trouble.

bringbackrattles · Apr 2, 2015

Houchens Head said:
I used to be a barman in the Live & Let Live - about 1970 / 71. Great pub!

You moved in the same circle as me Houch. Sorry to hear about you getting bottled though.then again I ended up in hospital twice after a kicking.I took it as part of the night out,shows my mindset back then !

Deleted member 5849 · Apr 2, 2015

chiefdave said:
My regular Saturday run was starting at the Golden Cross and working down to spend the night in the Campbell. We're talking late 80s early 90s here and I can't remember there ever being much, if any, trouble.

You won't get trouble at the Golden Cross nowadays, for sure.

It's completely empty!

Houchens Head · Apr 2, 2015

chiefdave said:
My regular Saturday run was starting at the Golden Cross and working down to spend the night in the Campbell. We're talking late 80s early 90s here and I can't remember there ever being much, if any, trouble.

Chief, me and my brother were the resident DJ's at the "Cross". Bit before your time though I think. It was when a couple called Cyril & Olive ran the place. I know it was around 1974 because we were doing a gig the night the IRA set the bomb off at the Telephone Exchange. We were driving along past the front of the old Council House when it went off and felt the full blast! We weren't sure where the blast had come from right away, so we carried on round to the cross to start our gig. Bloody scary though!

Ashdown · Apr 2, 2015

Deleted member 5849 said:
You won't get trouble at the Golden Cross nowadays, for sure.

It's completely empty!

That place could and should be a very decent attribute to CV1................sadly though like many pubs, it's owned by a huge pub company who basically want someone to work 100 hours a week in there to sell their drink brands and pay them huge and unrealistic rents !

Deleted member 5849 · Apr 2, 2015

Ashdown said:
That place could and should be a very decent attribute to CV1................sadly though like many pubs, it's owned by a huge pub company who basically want someone to work 100 hours a week in there to sell their drink brands and pay them huge and unrealistic rents !

The lease is/was up for sale. As far as I could see they wanted it to specialise in selling spirits to late teens/early 20s lads. That'd be nice!

Given the building and given where it is in actually quite a nice lookout in Cov, it's surely crying out to be a decent pub with decent food for those of us who are past the age of living it large on a Friday night and puking everywhere. Let them have the Skydome, and we can have the other half of town!

In fact, where the hell in Cov City Centre are the decent pubs that do decent food? Can think of the Establishment (on rep from others mind, not eaten there myself), the Gatehouse (and even then that's kind of cheap and cheerful) and that's about it,

olderskyblue · Apr 3, 2015

Houchens Head said:
I used to be a barman in the Live & Let Live - about 1970 / 71. Great pub!

Blimey Houch, you must have served me...!! Was that when John was the gaffer, or had he gone by then?

musicmanskyblue · Apr 3, 2015

Houchens Head said:
Chief, me and my brother were the resident DJ's at the "Cross". Bit before your time though I think. It was when a couple called Cyril & Olive ran the place. I know it was around 1974 because we were doing a gig the night the IRA set the bomb off at the Telephone Exchange. We were driving along past the front of the old Council House when it went off and felt the full blast! We weren't sure where the blast had come from right away, so we carried on round to the cross to start our gig. Bloody scary though!

Hey Houch.. you must have been there when I used to go there a lot in the 70s.. A few of us always started in the Cross as a meet up place before moving on to the Climax, Lanch etc.. or just staying in the Cross. Great music by the way had no idea you were the DJ'S.. Never recall seeing a single incident in there between about 73-77.. Great times...

bigfatronssba · Apr 3, 2015

More should be made of the Golden Cross. Its one of the oldest continuous pubs in the country.

Houchens Head · Apr 3, 2015

olderskyblue said:
Blimey Houch, you must have served me...!! Was that when John was the gaffer, or had he gone by then?

Yep, John the ex-copper. He had two big German Sheperds behind the bar just in case of trouble! he always treated his staff well though. I remember always getting a present at christmas from him and his missus.

Steve.B50 · Apr 4, 2015

bringbackrattles said:
I used to drink in the city centre pubs in the 70's/80's and there was a lot of violence around then,in fact our city was called the most violent place outside of London back then for assaults and crime etc.
But it seems to be returning as we keep reading about stabbings and such like on a regular basis don't we ?
Why this is happening is anybody's guess but for those of us who recall the bad old days when you counted yourself lucky to get home in one piece after a Saturday night out,hope it doesn't get completely out of hand and end up like the Wild West !

Coventry is not that bad, visited a lot worse.
Its all a case of common sense and going to the right places where you are in your comfort zone.
Not sure I can name that many pubs I would not go into in Coventry.
Although I do not go out into City Centre now its not because of the trouble, its just I get tired around 12 and have to ask the wife to come and pick me up.

We still have some decent venues, pubs and people in this City to be proud of.

martcov · Apr 4, 2015

musicmanskyblue said:
Hey Houch.. you must have been there when I used to go there a lot in the 70s.. A few of us always started in the Cross as a meet up place before moving on to the Climax, Lanch etc.. or just staying in the Cross. Great music by the way had no idea you were the DJ'S.. Never recall seeing a single incident in there between about 73-77.. Great times...

used to to be a Barman at the Climax in the 70's. Worked for Jed. Had my 21 birthday party upstairs. So, I may have served you in '75 or '76.

Houchens Head · Apr 4, 2015

musicmanskyblue said:
Hey Houch.. you must have been there when I used to go there a lot in the 70s.. A few of us always started in the Cross as a meet up place before moving on to the Climax, Lanch etc.. or just staying in the Cross. Great music by the way had no idea you were the DJ'S.. Never recall seeing a single incident in there between about 73-77.. Great times...

Agreed. We never once saw any trouble there in the 3 or so years we were there. We had the set-up upstairs. As I said earlier, we were regular DJ's playing Thu., Fri., Sat and Sunday nights. If my old memory serves me right, Thursdays were all request nights, Fridays were 60's nights, Saturdays were anything goes and Sundays were Album track nights. As we owned a second-hand record shop at the time, we had an abundance of choice! A couple of regulars were lads who went on to form the Specials - John Bradbury (who always wanted us to play Marvin Gaye stuff) and Lynval Golding who always wanted reggae stuff! Great days!

Sky_Blue_Daz · Apr 5, 2015

Went out in town Friday, there was a heavy police presence.
Tried the old browns very pleasant experience and was made most welcome by the new owners and staff.
T

RedSalmon · Apr 5, 2015

Sky_Blue_Daz said:
Went out in town Friday, there was a heavy police presence.
Tried the old browns very pleasant experience and was made most welcome by the new owners and staff.
T

Agree, its a very nice place to go to now. Have been a few times since it changed hands and the new people do go out of their way to make you feel welcome.

Its bars like this that the city centre needs to get people to go round town again.

Nick · Apr 5, 2015

They have to be considering the previous owners kicked you out for no reason.

Paxman II · Apr 6, 2015

Can anyone tell me about the 'loft'? in Trinity St.
Apparently a club/pub/disco/lunch/bistro? Sounds confusing enough right? Is it a dump, in the wrong place or what? Would love to hear some input from whoever knows. The place is for sale. It looks like an opportunity but I have not lived in Coventry for a long time and reading the comments above is very off putting.

musicmanskyblue · Apr 6, 2015

martcov said:
used to to be a Barman at the Climax in the 70's. Worked for Jed. Had my 21 birthday party upstairs. So, I may have served you in '75 or '76.

Hi Martcov.. Wow! Yes I remember Jed.. We would almost certainly have crossed paths if You worked there when Jed had it.. The rock disco upstairs was my regular haunt.. I seem to remember Jed just disappeared.. Never heard what happened to him.. Always found him pleasant and used to get invited to a stop back downstairs on occasion,

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