Smithford Way

There's been a lot less physical change between this next pair of photos, and yet a totally different feel is obtained, mainly from the addition of the glass canopy.

People older than 40 or so will probably also remember spending their Friday or Saturday nights dancing at the Locarno, entered through the glass 'box' jutting out into the centre of this, the northern arm of the precinct. In years gone by, before becoming a household name, 'pop guru' Pete Waterman was a disc jockey at the Locarno. In place of dancing, the rather more sedate practice of reading is now performed there - it's now the home of the Coventry Central Library. The entrance box disappeared in the late 1980s to make room for the building of the West Orchards shopping centre from which this photograph was taken.