We went (note went, not sent) to Coventry again. It’s been a while.

So why Coventry? Well, it’s close by, and we had a lot of success with closeish places last year. It’s got main line railway connectivity, and it had things we wanted to see.

I declared it to have

too much 50s-60s concrete

at my last visit.

It has got a lot of concrete. You can thank the Luftwaffe for that (while probably drawing a veil over what the RAF did to Dresden), along with Donald Gibson. More of that later.

What is often forgotten is that Coventry actually has some fine historic buildings: is it possible that given that a lot was lost, there was more determination to keep the old?

You’ll see elsewhere that The Golden Cross wasn’t my favourite pub, but that and Spon St are just a couple of examples of remarkable survivors: The Golden Cross in particular, being just yards from the best-known casualty.

I’m getting ahead of myself again: we arrived in Coventry by train on Sunday, having had to share the train with a great many teenagers off to Wireless Festival, seemingly a festival of the worst music possible. A taxi ride to our first pub for lunch, then to the Coventry Music Museum, a small museum packed with stuff, and staffed by very knowledgeable volunteers.

Another swift pitstop nearby, a bus to the city centre, and we’re at our very nice hotel, in a bit of that 1950s concrete, rather fetchingly restored.

We then found ourselves in Spon St, where, believe it or not, there’s a hugely important collection of medieval timber-framed buildings- some native, some moved here.

Then we entered the fifties again: returning to Donald Gibson, Donald was responsible for what is recognised as the first pedestrian precinct of that type and size in Europe, and it’s still there, over 60 years later, and still pretty recogniseable, if (controversially (registration required, sorry)) modified in places.

Here’s the thing: this photo shows it- typically fifties brick and concrete, but in my opinion, that as started to be appreciated again, along with the even more marked 60s brutalism, but that’s architecture for you. At this point in time, the most offensive structure is the obviously 90s bit, ahead dead-centre, and in the bright sunshine with kids playing in the fountain when we walked through, pausing for a sit the next day, you can feel some of the optimism of the city when this was made.

Maybe by 2050, the 90s stuff will be retro and cool.

We end up eating really reasonably priced and delicious Vietnamese food in a restaurant in the precinct, and then retire to our hotel.

The next day saw us wander/hobble down to the cathedral. We’ve done this before, of course, but it never hurts to visit a cathedral: I love churches, just not what goes on in them, but this time there’s a n organ recital and a chance to newly appreciate the new cathedral: it’s very of it’s time, but again, literally 60 years on (the organ recital was part of anniversary celebrations and City of Culture celebrations) , it now feels right: the space is impressive, the construction elegant.

On from that and we went to The Golden Cross, as photographed above. A few more pubs and we found ourselves walking though the precinct again- few empty shops, generally busy and thriving. A few more drinks (back in Spon St, sat next to a conspiracy nutter busy posting demonstrable bollocks to TikTock), a gratifyingly cheap and tasty Chinese meal, and back to the hotel.

The next morning, we got up, and hobbled back through the precinct to our train.

So: conclusions?

I used to think Coventry was a dump with odd exceptions, and I’ve had to revise that. It’s a great city, admittedly with some city-like problems, but it has history and it has architecture that is now being appreciated. It’s gratifyingly multi-cultural still- this was the birthplace of 2-Tone, after all, which will annoy the racists and gammons, so that has to be good. We got a short break in a great hotel, got some culture, went to some great pubs, had some excellent food, and had minimum fuss. What’s not to like?