Burges from Bishop Street

Two years after the photograph of Well Street was taken we can turn the corner into Bishop Street, then look back for a 1932 picture of the Burges containing many elements still recognisable in 2024. The Grammar School from the previous picture is just out of view on the photographer's left. Hales Street is visible to the left though, as is the new Corporation Street on the right.

If the original photographer were to stand in Bishop Street and face southwards today, he would feel quite at home with this view.
The main difference lies farther into the distance. The view is now blocked by the large Primark store, previously Allders, but originally Owen Owen; the post-war replacement for the building which had only been built three years before its destruction in the November 14th Blitz of 1940.

The earlier picture, which comes courtesy of David Fry from his wonderful book, The Coventry We Have Lost, looks beyond the Burges, through Cross Cheaping and into Broadgate as one continuous street. With these places now cut into smaller chunks, it's more difficult to realise just what a long shopping street it once was.

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