Coventry's history - let's get it noticed

Michael Portillo mentioned in the railway programme Coventry wasn't on the visitors attraction with the railways. Even on the road signs on Motorways I only have seen the Ricoh advertised, never our car museum, Cathedral old and new, neither Spon End, nor our walks around the city. Either Coventry wants to remain hiding thinking they are still in wartimes, or they want to cut back tourists so they don't need either to keep it clean or to replace all those concrete slabs through wear and tear in Broadgate with the cut backs

Not surprised if one of the "leading attractions" is Coventry Blaze ice-hockey

No, you're wrong. Why do you need lousy, overpriced tourist traps to make a family day out? The car museum, art gallery and a wander around the Cathedral is enough and doesn't cost much. Coventry is better off without that sort of drivel. They don't attract people, they're just leeches off existing attractions - this is why York has them and Coventry doesn't. We're better off without that sort of rubbish - the Coventry gallery in the Herbert is far, far better than a dumbed down ride. I won't even include shopping - Coventry isn't worth visiting for shops.

This is exactly my point. People don't come to Coventry at the moment, so there is no point building 'tourist trap' attractions for them. Priory Place & Cathedral Lanes [built for tourists] failed dismally because not enough tourists come to support the businesses, and many residents have long since abandoned the city centre and prefer to do their shopping or leisure elsewhere... If people who live here don't even use the city centre, why would anyone expect tourists to come here? I love the city's history and spend many hours and much money collecting books on it, but I'd rather the focus was more on providing things for residents rather than chasing sightseers who probably will just bypass the city and go to Warwick. There's too little left, and what is there is swimming in a city centre that so mediocre and ugly that no one in their right mind would want to spend more than an hour here... let alone traipse around through awful places that garden by the ring road near the transport museum to see a fragment of city wall or navigate tunnels under the ring road to see an empty chunk of abbey. That's if they haven't already turned round and gone back when they get to the ring road.

Sitting outside The Greyhound, Sutton Stop this afternoon. I was speaking to a Swiss lady on a canal cruising boat - on asking her is she was going into Coventry she said" I've seen it before, there is not much there, is there?" She was on the way to our neighbour, Birmingham!

Helen F The app idea is a good one. I have heard it mooted quietly somewhere, possibly during that CovJam thing or on another website. Matching up the place to get the equivalent view via a QR code would be great, and to get it just right the QR code could be printed onto the floor, using some sort of transfer, with a directional arrow so you know exactly where to stand and which way to face. Although with foot traffic it's difficult to say how well the image would stay on the ground. But I do agree with flapdoodle that it's not likely to increase tourism in any way, just improve the way it is presented to people. To get people in I still think requires a much more varied entertainment offer. I would like to see more advertising on the regional buses and trains to sell the city as a day trip.

Even though I agree there is not enough entertainment in the town to draw people in. Plus people now shopping a lot on the net. It is not only Coventry that is having trouble with the towns, I was watching Countryfile how they had allowed a big supermarket into one town's outskirts which destroyed their town yet a town not so far away allowed a smaller supermarket in the town itself but kept the town going as normal, as in large supermarkets you can buy near enough all under one roof, as work and life is now more demanding it's easier to shop under one roof, count how many retail parks we have here in Coventry with large supermarkets in them. The last few times I have gone to town I have found it quite busy with people, even my daughter who goes often says there is always lots of people, yes a few shops by where Allied Carpets used to be are empty but the rest are open. If we didn't have all the retail parks would the town cope with all those people with transport and traffic and parking now as the town has increased in size of population. What used to attract a lot of people like my mum in her mid 80s was the market and Sainsbury's by her bus stop but the distance to the bus of carrying was too difficult for her, plus she would get pushed being on a stick and frail which I too found when I was on walking sticks at the Mercia car boot. A lot used to visit for our Cathedral but now a fee you have to pay has put a lot off, when my daughter has her relatives or friends down to visit she takes them up the old Cathedral tower, small fee, Trinity Church, also the motor museum, as they are all free, also on school holidays for her child, then takes her visitors to the Old Mill at Baginton, not the Cathedral any more since the fee. Take a look at Nuneaton, still thriving, Leamington, still thriving, why because they have their little unique shops not retail parks all over their towns which forces the people to go into their town. The likes of their HMV, Top Shop, Bank Faith, clothes NOT FOOD shops etc all under one roof in the town, the Rope Walk, Nuneaton, Royal Priors in Leamington Spa. Picture taken from the net, my mum with the walking stick, brown hat, green coat, trying to walk up Hertford Street with her shopping from the market.

Hi Morgana, I do agree with all you say, just the same here. Whenever a new area is developed the same Supermarket, same department stores - Ikea, Woolies discount, Targets, same takeaways, they are all repeated in the next development, so there is no need to travel into Perth. Plenty of parking in all areas though. I would go as far as to say, it gets a bit boring when you want a change but find the same stores where ever you go. Open seven days a week, some think that is a waste of time but I think there are mixed feelings about that concerning the small shopkeepers. The history is hidden here by the skyscrapers and banks, and commercial side so I can see it going the way Coventry has. It's a shame the local history is not drummed into pupils these days. It makes you wonder how many students even studied history in the first place. In my day (here I go again) it was a 'must'.

And of course York has no history. Attractively packaged does not have to mean dumbed down. What do people know about Coventry? Lady Godiva - a myth - and bombed by the Germans. If you want to educate people you've got to get their interest first. However, we obviously disagree, so let's leave it at that.

Mods note : We seem to have drifted off subject again (shops, government, etc) - this thread is about getting Coventry's history noticed

I think what flapdoodle is saying, and I tend to agree with him, is that the kind of things you suggest don't in themselves attract extra visitors, they just try and cash in on places with tourists. Places with tourists are likely to get people using that kind of attraction, those without aren't, solely due to the volume of tourists. There's a similar thing now at Niagara, called Niagara's Fury, but in itself it wouldn't get many people. It relies on people coming to see the Falls themselves and gets a few of those in. That's not to say it wouldn't be able to provide a more memorable education on the city's history and appeal to a wider age-group as just traipsing round old places with someone talking about it really isn't going to interest kids, or families looking for a day out. More interactive and hands on would definitely help, but the interest needs to be there in the first place and at the moment it's not. That is what needs rectifying first and I don't think this can be considered until after that has occurred.

One of the problems of getting people to come to Coventry is overcoming all the negative publicity about it. Much of it we have to put up with but a friend of mine was coming here to visit did some googling and obviously this site came up. The factual part of the site he found excellent but when he browsed the message board he was surprised with all the negative comments, being a "naturalised Coventrian" I have always felt the need to defend the city which I did and he spent a week here and thoroughly enjoyed it and found plenty to do. I agree there are a lot of things I don't like about the city but I think we need to keep a balance. Sorry, rant over