During World War II in the middle of the 20th century Coventry had the dubious honour of being the UKs third most bombed city after London and Plymouth. The reason that Coventry was so heavily targeted during the war was its industrial base in munitions and military vehicle production. Sadly, as with so many other UK cities, that industrial production base has virtually disappeared leaving only a few truly industrial scale companies operating in the city. Having played an important role in the UK motor industry for many decades with such illustrious names as: Hillman, Standard, Rolls Royce and Triumph – cars, motor-bikes and pedal cycles. Coventry now only produces vehicles for niche markets following the recent closure of the French owned Peugeot car production plant at Ryton. Coventry city council is currently securing inward investment to attract new businesses to replace those that have disappeared or are in decline.Car production does continue in Coventry, although for how long is a matter of much speculation. Although currently owned by the Ford Motor Company, Jaguar has its corporate headquarters in a production facility at its Browns Lane site in Allesley. Since opening in 1941 it has become the main veneer production plant for Jaguar cars, as well as having its head offices and heritage centre. At nearby Whitley is the Jaguar Design, Research & Development Centre, where all the companies engineering work is carried out. In total, Jaguar employs over 2500 people in the city. Ford Motor Company is currently trying to sell off Jaguar, in order to clear other company debts. One of the most familiar sites in all major UK towns and cities is the famous black cab or Hackney taxis. These are made by the LTI company who are based at Holyhead Road in Coventry. LTI have been making taxis for sixty years, in which time over 100,000 have rolled off their production line. LTI employs nearly 500 people at its production plant, making it a significant employer in the city. Formed by the amalgamation of two companies and now owned by AGCO, Massey-Ferguson is one of the best known manufacturers of farm tractors in the world. They began making tractors in Coventry in the early 1950s and now have their headquarters in Stoneleigh, near Kenilworth. The company now makes tractors and a range of combine harvesters and quad bikes.Ericssons is a telecommunications company with premises in the New Century Park, not far from the city centre. Having subsumed the former Marconi and GPT works in the city, it now employs over 2000 people, manufacturing and engineering networking and switching gear for international telecommunications clients. Another international telecommunications company – Cable and Wireless – has its UK training centre in the business park at Warwick University, on the outskirts of the Coventry. The headquarters for Dunlop Aerospace are located in Coventry to the north of the city near the M6 junction 3 at Longford. Where it not only manufactures aerospace braking systems but also designs and markets them. It currently has contracts for braking systems to BAE, Lockheed-Martin and the Airbus A380 aeroplanes.Along with many other cities that have seen their manufacturing base eroded over recent years, Coventry has attracted some service industries to the area to provide alternative jobs. Being very close to the centre of England and having excellent motorway links to the rest of the country, Coventry has become a major distribution centre for many delivery and courier companies. Parcel Force has its national depot at Coventry whilst TNT, DHL, ANC and UPS all have depots in the city employing several hundred people in all.Coventry has a long association with the textiles industry, particularly wool and silk, dating back to medieval times. Whilst several small textiles companies remain in Coventry it is currently best known for its Courtaulds factory and the development the Grafil carbon-fibre that is used in sports and automotive equipment and Tencel – the cellulose fibre made from wood-pulp.As well as the textiles industry, Coventry was, up to the mid 19th century, the centre of watch-making in the UK. During its heyday in the early 1800s it employed over 75,000 people and was making 200,000 watches a year. As the century progressed watch making declined, the market becoming flooded with imports from the USA, until by the turn of the century the trade had all but ceased. Many workers went on to find employment in the rapidly developing bicycle manufacturing businesses, which at his time employed nearly 40,000 people in Coventry alone. In time some of these workers quite probably went on to become the founding workers in the new motor car industry. By 1910 there were dozens of car manufacturers in Coventry, with long forgotten names like: Iden, Centaur and Aurora. Some other companies were more enduring such as: Humber, Rover and from 1928 – Jaguar.
Tag Archives: services
What Are The Greatest Changes In Shopping In Your Lifetime
What are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime? So asked my 9 year old grandson.
As I thought of the question the local Green Grocer came to mind. Because that is what the greatest change in shopping in my lifetime is.
That was the first place to start with the question of what are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime.
Our local green grocer was the most important change in shopping in my lifetime. Beside him was our butcher, a hairdresser and a chemist.
Looking back, we were well catered for as we had quite a few in our suburb. And yes, the greatest changes in shopping in my lifetime were with the small family owned businesses.
Entertainment While Shopping Has Changed
Buying butter was an entertainment in itself.
My sister and I often had to go to a favourite family grocer close by. We were always polite as we asked for a pound or two of butter and other small items.
Out came a big block of wet butter wrapped in grease-proof paper. Brought from the back of the shop, placed on a huge counter top and included two grooved pates.
That was a big change in our shopping in my lifetime… you don’t come across butter bashing nowadays.
Our old friendly Mr. Mahon with the moustache, would cut a square of butter. Lift it to another piece of greaseproof paper with his pates. On it went to the weighing scales, a bit sliced off or added here and there.
Our old grocer would then bash it with gusto, turning it over and over. Upside down and sideways it went, so that it had grooves from the pates, splashes going everywhere, including our faces.
My sister and I thought this was great fun and it always cracked us up. We loved it, as we loved Mahon’s, on the corner, our very favourite grocery shop.
Grocery Shopping
Further afield, we often had to go to another of my mother’s favourite, not so local, green grocer’s. Mr. McKessie, ( spelt phonetically) would take our list, gather the groceries and put them all in a big cardboard box.
And because we were good customers he always delivered them to our house free of charge. But he wasn’t nearly as much fun as old Mr. Mahon. Even so, he was a nice man.
All Things Fresh
So there were very many common services such as home deliveries like:
• Farm eggs
• Fresh vegetables
• Cow’s milk
• Freshly baked bread
• Coal for our open fires
Delivery Services
A man used to come to our house a couple of times a week with farm fresh eggs.
Another used to come every day with fresh vegetables, although my father loved growing his own.
Our milk, topped with beautiful cream, was delivered to our doorstep every single morning.
Unbelievably, come think of it now, our bread came to us in a huge van driven by our “bread-man” named Jerry who became a family friend.
My parents always invited Jerry and his wife to their parties, and there were many during the summer months. Kids and adults all thoroughly enjoyed these times. Alcohol was never included, my parents were teetotallers. Lemonade was a treat, with home made sandwiches and cakes.
The coal-man was another who delivered bags of coal for our open fires. I can still see his sooty face under his tweed cap but I can’t remember his name. We knew them all by name but most of them escape me now.
Mr. Higgins, a service man from the Hoover Company always came to our house to replace our old vacuum cleaner with an updated model.
Our insurance company even sent a man to collect the weekly premium.
People then only paid for their shopping with cash. This in itself has been a huge change in shopping in my lifetime.
In some department stores there was a system whereby the money from the cash registers was transported in a small cylinder on a moving wire track to the central office.
Some Of The Bigger Changes
Some of the bigger changes in shopping were the opening of supermarkets.
• Supermarkets replaced many individual smaller grocery shops. Cash and bank cheques have given way to credit and key cards.
• Internet shopping… the latest trend, but in many minds, doing more harm, to book shops.
• Not many written shopping lists, because mobile phones have taken over.
On a more optimistic note, I hear that book shops are popular again after a decline.
Personal Service Has Most Definitely Changed
So, no one really has to leave home, to purchase almost anything, technology makes it so easy to do online.
And we have a much bigger range of products now, to choose from, and credit cards have given us the greatest ease of payment.
We have longer shopping hours, and weekend shopping. But we have lost the personal service that we oldies had taken for granted and also appreciated.
Because of their frenetic lifestyles, I have heard people say they find shopping very stressful, that is grocery shopping. I’m sure it is when you have to dash home and cook dinner after a days work. I often think there has to be a better, less stressful way.
My mother had the best of both worlds, in the services she had at her disposal. With a full time job looking after 9 people, 7 children plus her and my dad, she was very lucky. Lucky too that she did not have 2 jobs.