City Arcade as it was...

It looks different now. Have those stairs been changed?

Yes, it was mentioned by creteskyblue earlier in this this thread. Also that direct access to the upper level has now gone. I vaguely remember being able to enter the pet shop by the ground floor entrance, use their staircase to reach the upper floor and then leave via the balcony and outside staircase!

Just reviving this - the last shop on the left of that original photo was not only Pete Watermans 'Soul Hole' - now marked by a plaque on the wall but the ground floor was also Coventrys Virgin Records. I think I'm right in saying it was one of, if not the first Virgin Record shop outside of London. I bought my first piece of vinyl from that shop in 1981.

Do you have any more photographs of the old City Arcade, especially inside it?

Christmas 1962


Not sure of the year here:



Virgin Records where Pete Waterman worked upstairs:




...though this (the current) City Arcade is not the original one. Dutchman will have more info on that as I was not aware until recently.

Do you have any more photographs of the old City Arcade, especially inside it?

If you mean the pre-war one Spuffler then the only ones I've seen are of war damage like this one here: viewtopic.php?p=26639#p26639

Edit: please note that I've moved the replies to this post to the thread linked above so as to avoid confusion and to keep this thread reserved for the current City Arcade

Thank you for posting the pictures of the City Arcade.

My family owns the Jewellery Shop that has been in the City Arcade since 1969. I love to see old pictures of the City Arcade and how it looked in the good old days.

I would be grateful if anyone has any pictures of my family's shop to post them.

Thanks Again!

Hello Jewellers and to the forum

This is a recent picture of the Entrance to the City Arcade (Feb 2012)

There used to be a Games Workshop store in 1991. Does anyone have photographs of it or of the arcade in 1991?

Hi Lee

I don't have one at present. The Telegraph probably does but finding it is more a case of luck than judgement. I'll bump this thread if I come across one.