Coventry
I am a Coventry Kid – born right in the middle of England. I've lived here all my life, so I've acquired one or two opinions about the place.
I think post war, the city's history has two phases. The re-building after the 2nd world war saw visionary thinking – the first pedestrianised shopping precincts, the first purpose built civic theatre, the worlds first theatre in education company etc etc. Of course, being the first, means we make the mistakes other people can learn from, but that’s the price of progress.
The 80s onwards replaced vision and courage with sheepish stupidity. Identikit shopping developments have been clunged into the city centre, ruining the grand vistas of the 1950s vision with glass elevators flopping into the precincts like a giant slugs and the cheapest imaginable mall and tent plonked right in front of the wonderful cathedral spire.
The 80s and 90s scorned the 1950s design and detail, and so much decoration was destroyed. Luckily the lower precinct has been preserved and put under a glass roof. It is a gem of its time – neon icons of Coventry's industry display wireless valves, artificial fibres and Herbert machine tools.
The shops are bland – buts that’s Britain for you! If Coventry invested in cheap starter retail units aimed at students etc, we'd quickly have shops worth visiting, but they never have . . .
The grimmest example of the aesthetic cowardice of the city is a proposed complete re-vamp of the city centre. US planners "Jerde" have drawn up plans that virtually a clean slate in the city. Places evolve over time, lessons are learned, solutions found . . . to crudely re-design from scratch displays an arrogance that you are somehow incapable of making mistakes (take a look at Millenium Square), and dismisses a whole prior history of thoughtful evolution.
The other aspect which doesn't get talked about is the shift from public ownership to private. The dreadful "Cathedral Lanes" shopping centre was built to lure visitors to the Cathedral area into the city. However it (predictably) failed and now stands as a crude fixture which undermines the whole open space connecting the beautiful churches with the shopping area. If it was owned by the council, they might conceviably admit the error and demolish it, but it is now the property of private owners, so we will have to live with it. The city 'masterplan' is bound to contain mistakes, but we won't have any control and will have no say in its future.
The fact that they think the best shape for a library is a giant egg, suggests their approach is far from practical.
Instead of a phallic salute to tasteless Las Vegas hotel architecture, why not open up some of the many mediaeval cellars that underpin the city centre? Or invest in Whitefriars – a wonderful monastic hall gracing a junction of the ring road, or the old grammar school – another mediaeval gem quietly rotting away?
In Coventry's first hey-day, the late mediaeval period, the city was split between the church and the earl, both trying to grab what they could of the place. Today not much has changed: Coventry University is intent on never-ending expansion regardless of its impact on everything else, and CV One, the "city centre management company", and the council are intent on options that will only benefit multinational builders of shopping precincts. New glass horrors go up, all the posh shops move in, and the pound shops take over their old premises - everything just takes one step to the left and another part of our city has a 99 year lease taken by some anonymous profit maker.
Coventry Market is a great place – a handful of good fish stalls, more fruit and veg than you could shake a stick at, more and more stalls reflecting Coventry's many communities from around the world and Darlingtons – a cheese stall. All too often good cheese shops are posh, selling great cheeses at posh prices. Not so, Darlingtons which sells great cheese to working people. No-one should ever have to choose slabs at a supermarket – if you want a white crumbly cheese – feast your eyes on the Cheshire, Caerphilly, Wensleydale, white Stilton etc and see what takes your fancy. A bit of Raclette is fantastic value for flavour – they even stock Gjetoste, quite possibly the most vile substance created by human endeavour.
The market is also the only place in the city centre that hints at the fantastic cultural breadth of Coventry. We have Polish, Indian, Thai, Portuguese and Zimbabwean stalls giving us that delightful challenge of new ingredients.