Windows smash onto city centre pavement

[dutchman]

Police and firefighters were called to the Cat Ballou school clothing shop this afternoon



City centre shoppers had a lucky escape today after glass fell from a top floor window and smashed on the pavement below.

Police and firefighters were called to the Cat Ballou school clothing shop at around 3pm this afternoon after a pane of glass crashed to the floor.

The pavement was cordoned off with metal barriers to prevent shoppers being injured by any more falling glass.

It took firefighters nearly three hours to remove all the glass from the windows above the shop.

It is believed the strong winds today may have caused the pane to come loose.

A spokesman from Cat Ballou said: "The windows from the higher levels had broken. The top part of the building is owned by us.

“The fire brigade are here now fixing it and coming to board it up so hopefully the traffic jams will ease soon.

“I assume it is the wind or weather and it has blown the glass out.”

As well as the emergency response, the city's Business Improvement District's (Coventry BID) street patrol team were also called out to help keep people in the city centre safe.

A spokesman for Coventry BID said: “A call came across on the radio asking if anyone could assist.

“Our street patrol team were able to assist by removing people from the area and away from the incident and making sure no-one was injured.

“One of the panes of glass has broken from the inside, we’re not sure how.”

[dutchman]

Why is Coventry's Cat Ballou called Cat Ballou?



Cat Ballou is one of Coventry's most well-known school uniform shops.

It was set up in 1972 and has been selling clothes for 47 years.

But why is it called Cat Ballou?

We contacted the shop and found out.

Cat Ballou's owner, Ashok Kapur, said the shop is named after the 1965 film, which funnily enough, is called Cat Ballou.

He added that when the shop was first opened in 1972, by his parents, they sold jeans such as Levi's and other western clothing and they were the only shop around to sell these items.

He said: Over time, we went further into the school uniform business, but we decided to keep the name because it was well known in the area and people knew us.

"We still have people some in today and ask if we sell jeans!"

They named the shop after the film because of the type of clothing they sell, which is similar to what the characters wore in the film.

The shop is now located on The Burges after it moved from its Clay Lane location several years ago.

[dutchman]