Coventry

Coventry

What to see
You’ll find accounts of Coventry’s tourist attractions with additional information on shopping, eating out etc at Visit Coventry or Lonely Planet. (Note: Coventry City are groundsharing with Birmingham City.)

Towns of Two Halves extracts:

Coventry Cathedral: ‘On
John Hutton’s Great West Window, exuberant angels and rather austere saints mark the boundary between the new Cathedral and the old’

“There can’t be many cities that ask as many questions about post-war reconstruction as Coventry does. Some people will consider the rebuilt medieval centres of cities like Nuremburg as extravagantly sentimental, while regretting at the other extreme the utilitarian concrete in places like Plymouth. If you’re looking for a middle way perhaps Coventry Cathedral is a worthy attempt, but not everyone likes it and the attempt is not extended to the rest of the city.
“The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum is just across the square from the Cathedral. It’s free, which isn’t the least of its attractions; there’s plenty to look at and – an important consideration for families – to do: interactive exhibits, Lego, dressing-up and an emphasis on keeping children happy. While you’re in this corner of Coventry, spare a little time for St Mary’s Guildhall . This too is free and yet another of Mary Queen of Scots’ places of detention.
“If you were doing a Coventry tour before going to a match, the Coventry Transport Museum is on the way out of the city centre towards the Ricoh Arena. Alternatively, it’s only a short detour to the Coventry Music Museum. If you came in by air there’s the Midland Air Museum by Coventry Airport. Or you could just wander around the city, surprising yourself occasionally by encountering something really old amid the rather weary new stuff.”
This is taken from the Coventry chapter of Towns of Two Halves, published in 2018. To buy a copy, email info@townsof2halves.co.uk.