Coventry: City of Culture

Up until recently, this is what I knew about Coventry. It’s very close to Birmingham. The Blitz (the medieval city was pulverised by the Luftwaffe during WW2). The Cathedral (rebuilt after the said Blitz). Lady Godiva (yep, she did her naked thing through the streets of 11th century Coventry). Car factories (Triumph, Hillman, Jaguar and Daimler are all names associated with the city’s vintage motor industry). Oh, yes, and The Specials. A local band. Their Ghost Town is, of course, Coventry.

I had no real desire to visit a place I mostly associated with post-war concrete and the Hillman Avenger – but then it earned the title UK City of Culture 2021. Culture? Well, I must admit, that surprised me. So, here I am, wandering around Coventry looking for culture.

I drove here (from Bristol, it takes just under two hours). Then I checked into the new Telegraph Hotel. A cool, classy reinvention of the former offices of the local newspaper, the Coventry Telegraph, it was built in 1958 and is a classic example of the mid-century modernism that underpins the city’s post-war reconstruction.

My studio room is split level with an industrial staircase, a mezzanine bed-deck and doors opening onto an indoor ‘winter garden’. Like everywhere in the hotel, there is a framed front-page from a vintage edition of the Coventry Telegraph. I get Thatcher, 1979 – ‘Maggie at the helm’ – just above the toilet (best place for her).

The hotel is minutes from the shopping centre – the Belgrade Theatre is just opposite –everything is close; the city is surprisingly compact. Other things surprise me.

Coventry isn’t the concrete jungle I had expected. True, the city centre is wrapped in four lanes of ring-road (even on foot, the only exits are via bridges and underpasses) but the post-war centre is mostly brick and Portland stone; there are pockets of surviving medieval buildings, green spaces, church spires, students, the odd cobbled street…The city’s year-long programme of theatre, music, art and film, celebrates its legacy and diversity. But with or without the City of Culture events (which end in May 2022) I recommend a visit. Here are 10 reasons why:

The Telegraph hotel lobby. Credit: Telegraph hotel.

• The Cathedral

If you need just one reason to visit, this is it. The original 14th-century Cathedral Church of Saint Michael was partially destroyed during a single night of bombing in November 1940 and has been maintained as a roofless ruin (the slender tower remains intact). Alongside, the voluminous new Cathedral, designed by Sir Basil Spence, is a marvel of post-war architecture – one of the nation’s favourite 20th-century buildings.

Completed in 1962 and devoted to a ministry of peace and reconciliation, it features work by artists Graham Sutherland, Elizabeth Frink, Jacob Epstein and John Piper who designed the breathtaking and brilliantly coloured Baptistry window. Check out Cathedral events here.

The original 14th century Cathedral was partially bombed in 1940. Credit: Graeme Peacock.

• Herbert Art Gallery and Museum

First opened in 1960, the Herbert was extended in 2008, adding an impressive – cathedral-like– curved glass and timber arcade which bathes the entrance in light. There are galleries devoted to Old Masters, the Blitz and the city’s social and industrial history (all free). As part of the City of Culture programme, this year’s Turner Prize (29 September 2021 – 12 January 2022) will take place here; and exhibitions include 2 Tone: Lives and Legacies, a celebration of the 2 Tone music scene that originated in Coventry in the 1970s, looking at its influence on the music, fashion, politics and culture of the time (from now until September 12). www.theherbert.org

• Belgrade Theatre

Built in 1958 – and part of the city’s post-war reconstruction – it’s one of Britain largest regional producing theatres (Trevor Nunn, Ian McKellen, Joan Plowright and Frank Finlay are among the theatre A-lists that have been involved with the company). It’s now Grade II listed and has a swish new B2 auditorium (added in 2007). Wander into the foyer (I’m liking the original mosaic tile decoration), or book tickets for a show. City of Culture productions includes Faith (September 2021):  a Royal Shakespeare Company drama which explores how people of faith and of no faith celebrate the chapters of their lives. www.belgrade.co.uk

The Belgrade Theatre. Credit: Lesley Gillian.

• FarGo

At the far end of Far Gosford Street, to the east of the University Quarter, this creative village of indy outlets mixes vegan and vintage with crafts, craft ales, books, street food, street art, live music and all-day dining in an ‘artistically repurposed industrial space’. It has probably the worst website I’ve ever seen (fix it guys), but it’s worth the walk – about 15 minutes from the centre – especially at the weekends when it really comes alive.

• Lady Godiva

It’s nearly 1000 years since she rode naked through the city to protest against the harsh taxation her husband Earl Leofric inflicted on his people during the Dark Ages. Still, she’s everywhere (a newsagent, a local tailor and the Telegraph Hotel’s signature cocktail are some of the things that borrow her name) but she’s mostly in Broadgate – the pedestrian square in the heart of the city centre where you can stand by the Lady Godiva statue and wait for the automated, 1950s Lady Godiva clock to chime the hour. Doors open and out she pops; a naked lady on a white toy horse followed by a Peeping Tom. Charming in a post-modern Glockenspiel kind of way.

• Coventry Historic Trust

Before the war, Coventry was one of England’s best-preserved medieval cities. In the 14th century, when ribbon making was a major industry, it was one of the richest. Sadly, the Blitz obliterated much of olde Coventy (the fact that it’s twinned with Hiroshima and Dresden, says it all) but some of its historic buildings do survive. The Coventry Historic Trust is future-proofing some of the city’s ‘hidden heritage’ and are currently turning a handful of rescued buildings into holiday cottages.

From August 2021, visitors will be able to stay in two restored gatehouses – both previously on the ‘at risk’ register, they are the only remnants of the medieval city walls. Three half-timbered cottages at Priory Row are also being tarted up to provide five holiday lets in a great location overlooking the gardens of Priory Church. In addition, the city’s Charterhouse (former Carthusian monastery) is set to open as a visitor centre complete with posh restaurant under Michelin-starred chef Glynn Purnell.

www.historiccoventrytrust.org.uk

• Music City

City of Culture music events include the Terry Hall Home Sessions (July 2021), a three-day music event curated by the Specials’ front man; and the CVX Festival (12-15 August 2021), which sees Coventrian rapper Jay1, at a three-day arts-meets-activism bash created by young people around the themes of community and social change. Meanwhile, the city’s Ska legacy is celebrated all year round at the 2 Tone Village: a compendium of coffee, cocktails, Caribbean dining, fashion, live bands and the independent Coventry Music Museum. Visit www.covmm.co.uk

• Coventry Transport Museum

Paradise for petrol heads, the museum reflects Coventry’s glory days as the UK’s ‘motor city’ and exhibits over 400 bikes, 250 cars and commercial vehicles and over a million bits and bobs relating to life on the road. It’s billed as ‘the largest publicly owned collection of British vehicles on the planet’ and highlights include an 1890s Daimler Wagonette (built in Coventry), a 1940s Humber Super Snipe, a 1956 Ferguson tractor and the world’s two fastest cars (one of them a 1997 Thrust SSC). www.transport-museum.com

The Transport Museum exhibits over 400 bikes, 250 cars and commercial vehicles. Credit: Andrew Brooks.

• The Canal Basin

Coventry Canal runs for 38 miles from its urban basin (a short walk from the city centre) to the Midlands’ Fradley Junction. The first five-mile stretch to Hawkesbury is a Conservation Area and makes a pleasant, fairly peaceful place to walk, fish, cycle or hang-out among waterway wildlife while breathing in a bit of 18th-century industrial heritage.

This summer’s canal event is Small Bells Ring (July 2021), an Arts Council-Libraries Network collaboration in which you are invited to step aboard the RV Furor Scribendi, a decorative canal boat cum floating library claiming the UK’s largest collection of short stories.

The Coventry Canal runs for 38 miles from its urban basin. Credit: Andrew Brooks.

• The Telegraph Hotel

Opened for the first time on May 17 (it was all ready to go six months earlier), the former newspaper office has had a classy make-over that celebrates the buildings 1950s style and retains some of the newspaper’s original features: marble, wood, panelling, terrazzo floors in the stylish lobby-lounge and walls of digital photography from the newsroom’s archive. A collection of vintage mid-century furniture sits alongside print relics. Sleep in a Snug, Big, Bigger or Best room (they are all big), dine at Forme & Chase (the name of the hotel’s airy restaurant is a combo of printing terms), and try a cocktail at Generators cool, a rooftop bar overlooking Belgrade Square. Doubles from £80 a night. www.telegraph-hotel.com

The Telegraph Hotel’s ‘snug room’. Credit: The Telegraph Hotel.

Writer Lesley Gillilan is editor/author of travel blogazine eye-traveller.com – for hotel reviews, destination features and UK city architecture tours.

Main photo: Priory Row

Read more: Exploring the north of Scotland in a motorhome