News

On Wednesday 14 October at our general meeting, we welcomed Eddy Morton from West Midlands Urban Community Homes (WMUCH). The focus was primarily on the opportunities for community-led housing in Coventry as well as the facilitating / enabling role of WMUCH. WMUCH has been in existence for over six years. One of its main successes… Read more: Community-led Housing

Coventry Society founder member Paul Maddocks reflects on Coventry’s remarkable history of car manufacture and asks whether the city is doing enough to celebrate its industrial heritage. Paul writes… The Daimler Motor Company Limited was officially incorporated in Britain in January 1896. Founded by financier and cycle investor H. J. Lawson, it began manufacturing cars… Read more: Coventry’s Motoring Heritage

Do you remember the old gents’ toilet in Lower Ford Street? CovSoc founder member Paul Maddocks certainly does. Paul writes…. It was one of those Coventry landmarks that probably attracted little attention at the time, but which has remained in the memories of people who knew the city before redevelopment changed so much of it.… Read more: In Need of a Loo?

An international campaign has been launched to secure the future of Coventry Cathedral’s historic ruins – a site which has become an internationally recognised symbol of both the devastation of war and the hope of reconciliation. The ruins of the medieval Cathedral of St Michael have stood at the heart of Coventry since the building… Read more: Saving the Ruins

Plans to “urgently” demolish a derelict hotel repeatedly targeted by arsonists and replace it with 55 new homes have been approved. City council planners agreed to let developers Avant Homes go ahead with knocking down the vacant Allesley Hotel building in Birmingham Road, Coventry, before specific details are approved. Councillors had voted unanimously in favour… Read more: Demolition of Allesley Hotel Urgent!

Historian and CovSoc member, Peter James, tells us about a Coventry nobleman who used his illicit skills to help some of the most famous medieval espionage specialists. After studying at Magdalen College Oxford then at the Inner Temple, Arthur Gregory returned home to Coventry in 1568. He took over the management of his father’s estates… Read more: Tudor Codebreakers

Coventry’s iconic indoor market is to get at least £1.25m of external improvements, the council has announced. The works to the exterior of the Grade II-listed Coventry Market will include glazing in the lower section to let more light in, wider doorways and better links between businesses and public space. A team of architects who… Read more: A Makeover for the Market

Exactly four months earlier, a couple of members of the Coventry Society Committee were invited to see the renovation work at The Chace Hotel in Willenhall. We received a further invitation to examine progress since then, and a small party from the Committee were welcomed by the owners Nick and Tim, whom we had met… Read more: Coventry Society Revisit the Chace Hotel

Local projects set to benefit as Coventry City Centre South Fund opens for applications. The Hill Group is calling on registered charities, community groups and social enterprises across Coventry to seize the opportunity to secure funding for projects that make a real difference locally. Applications are now open for the Coventry City Centre South Fund, with… Read more: City Centre South Grants

We reported on “the battle for Pinkett’s Booth” back in June. You will recall that on the very last day of the public inquiry into the Coventry Local Plan, developers put forward a scheme to create employment land in the Green Belt west of Brickhill Lane in Allesley. After we raised out concerns, there has… Read more: The Battle of Pinkett’s Booth II