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Lovely old Coventry now Concrete Coventry.

The Germans rebuilt their medieval citys after bomb damage. What happened here?

I wish I could see it back then. Amazingly, even though I am in the US and visit occasionally, I can still recognize some of the structures. I really just wished I could see it then before Hitler went and "boogered" everything up.

I can almost forgive the planners having to rebuild so quickly and cheaply after the war bombing. What is totally unforgivable is the post war destruction of so much of our surviving Victorian heritage in the name of modernisation. Birmingham city centre, Euston Station, The Imperial Institute, Nottingham Central Station. The list is endless. Stunning architecture that could have lasted a 1000 years. Lost forever to cheap concrete tat.

Despite the rebuilding of much of Coventry after the war, it still retained much of its prewar charm. The town planners after the early ‘70’s have progressively turned it into one of the ugliest cities in England. Thank goodness we moved away.

Wht did They replace those beautiful old buildings with square boxes. Does not look like they even tried to replicate the damaged old buildings

the fabulous post-war rebuild of Coventry has been completely shat upon, and then shat upon again. and again. i think Coventry might just be the worst place in Britain to suffer at the hands of local authority meddling. those responsible should be shat upon in return.

Wish i could turn the clock back

It once had an atmosphere and character, but now it is pretty much soulless. I loved the 60s and 70s in Coventry.

Look into Tartarian buildings,, council/gov buildings are the most grandest and a lot older than we are told.. Built in a time when horse and cart was the mode of transport? ...i think not..

Don’t like to hear Piers and his followers with all that bad language, not nice x

From a beautiful place to a monstrosity. Modern architecture has a lot to answer for. What on Earth is that ugly thing where the beautiful Art Deco Coventry Theatre used to be? Looks like something out of a bad science fiction movie.

Basically everything has gone to shit. Sad to see.

Thank you very much for the beautiful presentation of Coventry then and now. I was reading my undergraduate studies at Coventry Lanchester Polytechnic from 1977-1981. Love the city!

What the Blitz didn't fully achieve the Council did!

i lived all my childhood in the 60s about 100 yards behind the camera that took the picture of the arches. what a pity there was no google street view so i could walk virtually back up the road. a better time, a better place.

This is brilliant and heart breaking at the same time. Evidence of what the Luftwaffe and Coventry City Council did to what was one of the best preserved historic cities in England.

Completely different now again in 2022

Brilliant

soeey but the new photos are thaT MUCH OUT OF DATE its not worth watching

As an objective observation, it's a pity that the locations are largely unnamed; if they were, it would make identification easier. Some of the 'old' places I remember from the 1950's but, for me, the city has subsequently lost its heart, focus and direction. Even poor old Lady Godiva was shuffled off from centre-stage in the middle of Broadgate to a non-descript location, where people walk past and ignore the historical significance. It's almost as if she's an embarrassment... I suppose in a way that's symptomatic of Coventry, being a place where the 'planners' rushed to complete the job that the Luftwaffe started in November 1940. Such a shame - and what a completely wasted opportunity.

It really hits you hard when you see what they did to Hertford Street at 2:39. What a monstrosity. True story: "San Ling Centre" (shop on the left) was a "rub and tug" (now closed down). I found that out by accident after venturing in one day...

Lived in Coventry in the early 1980's and hated the ugliness of the the post war buildings. Just been reliving some memories on street view and then watched this. Seems we learned nothing and now even more old buildings gone and modern eyesores erected. It is worse than ever. So sad and depressing.

Wish i was around in them days it's all greed now its not safe anymore

Still the saddest video I think I’ve ever watched. Look how they destroyed the place

Coventry is now a dump.

Music is shocking

well researched and well presented. thank you. having grown up in post war Coventry i was always envious of the beautiful city that was destroyed. destruction initiated by german bombs and completed by city planners.

Cov's suffered from ugly, Brutalist architecture ever since WW2

Coventry now looks like a student city miss the old coventry! 😢

Very nice. So much lost, but so much restored. ♥️

She grew up and became like her father a greedy little spoilt princess

What do u think

Fantastic pictures, bring back the sun-blinds to shade the shoppers, or protect them from the rain!

There's many great things about the new Coventry. For one we had the world's first modern pedestrianized city centre, and set a precedent for healthier urban living And though the architecture of past days seems beautiful and lost to us, a lot of those buildings were essentially slums that were not pleasant places to be. A main reason that so many 19-20th century buildings were demolished post-war was because many of them were decayed, bodge-built and simply unsafe to live in. You can see on some of the photos many buildings with crooked frames and rough brickwork That being said, the newer architecture is a plastic injection that's incompatible with the soul of the city. It feels like what remains of our history is concealed and unprioritized as if it's some kind of wart, such as the block of restaurants concealing the window of the Old Grammar School The city needs it's architecture to breathe and reflect it's soul as something more than just a business hub for students and VIPs to pass through

What have they done to my City?

Now they are trying to remove some of the gaudy stuff they've built over the years for the City of Culture 2021. It's kind of offset by the growing number of massive blocks of apartments in the city centre that are all student accommodation. It's mixed feelings on those, as the students bring in a lot of money to Coventry, which I think would be pretty much dead if they were not there, as a lot of the big manufacturing has long ago gone. I hope Coventry rises like the phoenix one day, it's a good city with good people but has lost a lot of investment, made worse by 'fashionable' directions of the planners over the years.

The Ring Road has strangled the City Centre.

Heartbreaking

I miss all the diverse trade we had, the yellow pages used to be massive, now its barely a sliver, so sad.

Christiana Grimmie ❤️

City planners of late need sacking, how much nicer was it before all these monstrosity's were built in the city centre.... Disgrace, take me back to the 1950's

Absolutely brilliant! Ye did a grand job! Very sad to see such beautiful history torn down and disappear.

I grew up in Coventry decades ago and can't believe how the stupidity and arrogance have come to be. Other cities on the Continent were rebuilt, 'same as'. after the war and not replaced with 'progressive' BS. You can bet the Council House, churches and 'favorite' buildings of the arrogant elite will remain so forever.

Cologne in Germany was blasted by the RAF and has some hideous post war construction. But on the whole, they kept the prewar street plan, so it feels more intimate and in touch with its past. In Coventry the prewar street plan seems to have been almost entirely ignored so not only do you have cheap looking buildings, but they look as if they had been just dropped randomly on the city and if that meant that a street had to end in a brick wall or multi storey car park, tough!

This wonderfully made video needs to be retitled Coventry Then and Then because so many student accommodation blocks have been thrown up that the city is barely recognisable . And they are still building more and more . Meanwhile there is an entire population of Street Sleepers inhabiting the city centre .

The war destroyed coventry but the planners seem to have took it one step further ! just like todays planners , clueless!!!

A lot of the "NOW" photo's have changed with this new redevelopment going on. The Royal Mail depot is no longer there, they are building ugly tower block, and most of it is for students.

Thanks for this - one of the best I have seen - not on Netflix or Hulu or Amaxon Pryme - FhuK Yuh Jeff Benzos

Oh dear.. I came here expecting to see improvement!! Not severe damage. Wow this is extremely, sad, disappointing and somewhat scary... just imagine how dull it will look in years to come 😳. The cities today have no character at all, soulless. And walking through some areas you get a lot of stares your way. It’s a bitter country England has become