I have the misfortune to live in this backwater that God forgot. We have a council determined to to do more damage to the city than Hitlers bombs, their philosophy seems to consist of “If it’s old, tear it down and build some student flats. If it’s new leave it empty” The city centre has numerous empty office blocks around the station area, but that didn’t stop them building some more new ones to house the councillors and staff. What was wrong with the old buildings I hear you ask, they been sold to the University, anyway it was far to easy for residents to access the council when it was in the city centre, tucking it away by the station will obviously deter complaints.
From being a vibrant centre of music and culture through the 60s and 70s, The Specials, a coventry band summed it up with their hit Ghost Town, except even the ghosts seems to have left town now! Once the car industry declined something was needed to replace it, Coventry has a interesting history and would attract tourists except there is no tourist office and no will to promote the city. Signs on the city outskirts don’t proclaim City of Lady Godiva but “Welcome to Coventry home of Coventry University” Well I would never have thought that Coventry University would have been in Coventry – you live & learn!
We did have a city wall longer than Yorks and more gates than York, we still have a pile of bricks and a couple of archways. We used to have nice medieval buildings listed as of historic interest, now we have dirty scruffy facades left to fall into disrepair so they can eventually be demolished without upsetting English heritage.
There are numerous places to eat, if you like food poisoning and many places to get robbed or stabbed.
The whole city has an air of complacency and despair about it. Quaint cobbles have been replaced by litter strewn tarmac and concrete, in fact there’s so much concrete in the city I suspect the council has shares in a cement works. The two most popular places in the city are the station and the bus station, because they both take you away from the depressing vistas of this tired city. The coach park is dark with no cafe or toilets or seats, perhaps the powers that be don’t want you to linger too long. In fact that would be my advice: pass through on a train or a bus, don’t stop or you may never get this place out of your bones, it’s quite addictive, but there again so is leprosy.
