View under Samuel Hayward House of Riley Square and Alice Arnold House

Image: © A J Paxton Taken: 25 Mar 2023

This is a view underneath Samuel Hayward House Image], where it straddles the south-eastern entrance to Riley Square on pilotis or pillars. In the far distance, across the shopping precinct, can be seen a similar block of council flats over shops, Alice Arnold House. It is named after the first woman to become mayor of Coventry, in 1937. Born into poverty in the city workhouse, Arnold worked in factories from the age of 11, became a trade union organiser, then an independent Labour councillor on the city council; see Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Arnold_(mayor) . To the left, behind the parked cars, is the base of the 17-storey housing block Dewis House. To the right is a supermarket building, now occupied by Farmfoods, with a Polish food shop beyond. It was built by Sainsburys in 1969 and occupied by them for twenty years; see the Sainsburys Archive site, which includes historic photos of Riley Square https://sainsburyarchive.org.uk/catalogue/search/branch/ref/p1127-coventry-bell-green-riley-square-1969-1989-sainsburys-branch/view_as/list . For more on Riley Square see Image

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0