Coventry (Mostly) City Centre — Part I (5/31/25)

Another great walkabout in another interesting city in England, and Coventry is officially a city, as recognized in its charter of 1345! With a population of a little over 345,000, it is the 10th largest city in England and the 13th largest in the UK. These are fun facts from Wikipedia, which also noted the city’s industrial importance in the manufacturing of bicycles and then of the British motor industry, which made it a target for the Germans during the Second World War. We learned a bit more about that and other parts of the city’s history during our walk.

This is the first of a two part post. The second part will focus on the cathedral area of Coventry and what happened to it during the war. I do have to note that while we had a lovely walk, much more interesting than we expected, there sadly appears to be a large unhoused population, and we did not feel comfortable going into one, otherwise lovely, park.

Also, beautiful weather today, mix of sun and clouds with temps in the 60s F.

The Weaver’s House, a 1455 cottage,
restored to show how it would have looked in 1540.

Spon End is a diverse section of the city with a real mix of old and new, from medieval buildings to highrise buildings. It is the oldest surviving residential area in Coventry. We snapped some photos of the older buildings we liked.

The Old Windmill bills itself as Coventry’s oldest and best loved pub, dating back to 1451.

There were a set of these panels,
each dedicated to the history of an industry
of importance to Coventry, including watchmaking,
bicycles, cars, and ribbons.

There are a number of malls in the city centre. The Lower Precinct Mall also contains the Coventry Market, which has a range of stalls from food (produce, meats, seafood, spices, ethnic groceries) to fabrics, purses/wallets (Bob bought himself a new one.), perfumes, etc.

A sandwich on offer at one of the shops.
Perhaps a better choice if you’re not planning
to be with others afterwards.

The central library in a main city centre shopping area

One of the modern highrise residential buildings

Bob and I are fascinated with the canal system in the UK and the narrow boats. We had to check out the canal basin when we saw it on the map. There were a few boats moored in the canal, and the canal side was lined with groceries and a couple cafes.