1970 Spon End Flood

[dutchman]

Both views are looking west towards the railway arches with the Plaza cinema just visible behind it.

You might think this had something to do with the river overflowing like the flood in 1907 but it was in fact the result of storm drains being blocked with dead leaves after a long hot summer. I was living in nearby Craven Street at the time and heard the story from drivers of the cars you see ploughing through the water.

The café between the post office and Ray Bennett's motorcycle shop is the Casino restaurant and Snack Bar. I wonder what the gorgeous dolly birds in the picture look like today and whether any of them are reading this now?

[rebbonk]

Wasn't there a café called "Goofy's" along there? I seen to remember it doing superb faggot and pea batches.

[dutchman]

Wasn't there a café called "Goofy's" along there? I seen to remember it doing superb faggot and pea batches.

More than likely Rebbonk. There were several cafés and takeaways specialising in cooked meats and batches. Most survive in one form or another.

[dutchman]

I'm not normally a fan of adding colour to black & white photos but this example by Tony Lay on Facebook really captures the look of the period:

[Melisandre]

I think he has chosen well with the colours.

[rebbonk]

[Blitzkid]

Spon=end floods where well known all of it's life,, in fact the river flooded every time they had a downpour, from spon street to well past cox street, until they tamed the river in the middle 19th century.
The north side of the river was always a bog, a morass, no buildings were built above two stories high, no factories, no, no silk mills, no Teams of horses could drag chains of tall tree scaffolding poles to those wet places. Well street had to be back far enough from the river to escape the flood zone, from Radford road to Radford bridge (Burgess) was a 75 feet drop, and Well street started from the Radford Bridge. the Spon street brook, Radford brook more or less were the beginning of the river, and the flooded lake of the Swanswell wasn't tamed till about 1860. Blitz-kid.

[Blitzkid]

Blitz-kid,
The arches you see in the above picture were not the original,, The Coventry and Nuneaton railway was constructed in 1848-9 the bridges of Spon-end fell down in Jan 1857 causing considerable sensation in the city. The bridges were said to be unsafe for some time before the accident. They were of red-sandstone and not sogreat a span as those re-erected and there were more Arches. the new arches built of blue brick. The arches and abutments of old just prior to there fall the in- security the builder said they would last as long as he would lived, that he died a day before the accident happened.
Near the Bridges was the pub THE PUNCH BOWL, several people planned to commit a robbery, they were detected in the act and a murder was commited, a youth Bradshaw called 'Duckfat' was in the house at the time, he was eating a meal, with knife in his hand a neighbour. When before the judge at the assizes he was thought to have something to do with it, being a simple fellow he defended himself, he was condemmed to be hung. The jailers believing he was innocent, sent him on errands hoping he might run-away, but he would not take the bait, and was hung on Whitley common, before 10,000 people.

[dutchman]

The Punch Bowl sadly ceased to be a pub circa 1909 and was destroyed by a bomb in 1940 along with the properties to the right. (The blast dislodged the wooden church on the opposite side of the road from its foundations). It's not immediately obvious from the photo but between the pub and the butcher's shop there's a tiny fish & chip shop.

It was replaced by a temporary building which housed the Casino Snack Bar and is currently the site of a Chinese takeaway.

[Blitzkid]

Dutchman
A house in fleet street about four in from St Johns church was completely wiped out, and so they built a temp shop around 1950, a one room coffee bar called the Casino, small, but frequented by Coventry sportsmen, boxer's swimmers, rugby players, they all met there after training and swapped training methods. I wonder if that moved on to spon street? in the sixties.

In the fifties I became a pro Gambler, a house in Spon street was an illegal betting shop for selected gamblers, a back room were you could listen and bet to races being run, the police where always trying raiding it but the owner had a tip off when they were due, and so they found no evidence, But they limited my bets to £5 that was no use to me.
I do believe it became the first betting shop In Coventry.