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Hall Green Road, COVENTRY, CV6 7BX

The modern Coventry district of Bell Green grew from a hamlet of that name in the parish of Foleshill, a district of farm workers, coal miners and ribbon weavers. Houses clustered around a green where Church Road (now Old Church Road), Bell Green Road, Hall Green Road and Henley Road met. They included the Bell pub, which gave its name to the settlement. The Bell was known as a place where entertainers stayed while performing at the Coventry Theatre. It was demolished in the 1960s. A street of houses, Bellview Way, was later built on and around the site. It can be seen here, viewed from the green, now a busy traffic roundabout, in the wan sunlight of Christmas Eve 2022. See David Fry & Albert Smith, The Coventry we have Lost: Forgotten Foleshill, Simanda Press, 2018, p63 & p68.

The centre of Bell Green - always a busy road junction. The Polish delicatessen 'Kasia' is relatively new - previously there was a butcher's here for many years. The house next door to the left housed a barber's shop on the ground floor for many years. The tower block behind is Dewis House, part of the Riley Square development.

The River Sowe is among the trees, right. The viewpoint is in open space just off Roseberry Avenue.

Late on a Tuesday morning a depressing number of shops have their shutters down. There is a big Farm Foods outlet in the centre; an Aldi supermarket has opened a short distance away on the corner of Roseberry Avenue and Henley Road.

A pair of brightly-coloured murals enlivens the gloomy entrance to the Riley Square shopping precinct from Henley Road. They are painted on the walls of Joseph Latham House, the block of flats which straddles the entrance. This photo shows half of the mural on the northwest side. Riley Square is named after William or Billy Riley, the local boy who gave his name to Riley Motors and its cars. His son Percy built his first car in 1898 at the age of 16, working in secret because his father, a bicycle manufacturer, did not approve. It was not until 1907 that Percy and his brothers convinced their father to switch from making bicycles and motorcycles to automobiles. The company was bought by Morris Motors in 1938. See Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_Motor and Graces Guide https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Riley . In the background can be seen other scenes of Bell Green life. The pub is the Rose & Crown, which still stands at the top of Aldermans Green Road, although it was rebuilt in the 1950s. To the right, a double-decker tram with an advertisement for Lifebuoy soap descends Bell Green Road towards Coventry city centre. The other half of the mural can be seen here Image