Opus Foods in former Co-op Emporium building, Foleshill Road, Coventry
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Opus Foods in former Co-op Emporium building, Foleshill Road, Coventry by A J Paxton as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
![](https://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/06/91/83/6918331_8bded40e.jpg)
Image: © A J Paxton Taken: 31 Jul 2021
The building stands at the corner of Foleshill Road and Holmsdale Road. It was built around 1931 to a design by W A Johnson, an in-house architect of the CWS (Co-operative Wholesale Society). Two storeys were intended originally, but it was built with three, which has evidently led to some cost-saving skimping on the details on the top floor https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MCT718&resourceID=1029 , but the parapet has attractive art deco flourishes nonetheless. The building was empty for some years and until fairly recently still bore a Co-operative Emporium sign on its Foleshill Road facade. Opus Foods moved in around 2011. Heart of England Co-op maintained a supermarket nearby until 2006, when competition from the Tesco hypermarket at the Arena site proved too much; the Co-op store continues to trade as a funeral director.