IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Northey Road, COVENTRY, CV6 5NF

The Faizan-e-Islam mosque occupies the premises of the former Foleshill Liberal Club, which opened in 1891. https://forebears.io/england/warwickshire/foleshill#sid17390 At this time the Liberals were stronger than the Conservatives in Coventry, but they declined in the 1920s with the rise of the Labour Party. https://liberalhistory.org.uk/resources/coventry-history-centre/ The club closed in 2010. https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/foleshill-liberal-club-goes-liquidation-3056714

The former Railway Hotel in Foleshill, Coventry, is seen here from the nearby road bridge that links Lockhurst Lane and Holbrook Lane and carries them over the Coventry-Nuneaton railway. Built to serve Foleshill station, it must have lost its purpose with the station's closure in 1965, but it found a new lease of life in the 1970s as a venue for the Indian and Caribbean communities. Annette Hay recalls in the Coventry Telegraph how, "In the 1970s one half [The Railway Pub] was owned by an Indian man, called Mr Nijjar but known as Deete, and the other half was used by the West Indians, and in the middle floor was a massive dance floor. In the West Indian side they'd be playing snooker and cards. I learnt to play snooker there, sometimes people would bring in their families, for many years many of the West Indian community would use that facility." This reflects, says Hay, a time when racism was much more explicit in Coventry and the club offered a safe space. The West Indian, now Caribbean, club moved in 1983 to premises in Spon Street (Hay is quoted here https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/extraordinary-history-coventrys-west-indian-19050407 ). When photographed in 2021 the building was disused.

Durbar Avenue Evangelical Church (affiliated to the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches) is situated in the southern area of Holbrooks, Coventry.

These two structures are the only obvious survivors of Lockhurst Lane buildings earlier than the late 19th century, and have been much extended with commercial frontages. Lockhurst Lane formed part of the parish of Foleshill and was a centre of the ribbon-weaving industry; one of the earliest co-operative societies was founded here in 1832. https://heartofengland.coop/society/roots/

This concrete bridge that carries the road over the Coventry-Nuneaton railway opened in 1931. The railway, which opened in 1851, had previously crossed the road at a level crossing. See Fry, D & Smith, A, The Coventry we have lost: Forgotten Foleshill, Simanda Press, 2018, p29.

Taken from the railway during authorised access as part of an inspection of the structure.

Taken from the railway during authorised access as part of an inspection of the structure.

A detail of the concrete bridge, built in 1931, that carries the road over the Coventry-Nuneaton railway, showing the steps that lead from the service road by Holbrook Lane onto the bridge itself, which joins Holbrook Lane to the north and Lockhurst Lane to the south. The railway, which opened in 1851, had previously crossed the road at a level crossing. See Fry, D & Smith, A, The Coventry we have lost: Forgotten Foleshill, Simanda Press, 2018, p29.

Street art signed by Lauren and enlivening a wall by an unnamed service road running off Holbrook Lane by the railway bridge.