Tales Of Heartache & Homelessness In Coventry 🇬🇧 

As a black lad from brum I agree coventry people are not racist they just don't like brummies 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

The govt have spent £100 billion on HS2. And it’s a total waste. We could’ve spent £10 billion modernising the existing rail system and £90 billion on hospitals, schools, the needy, etc, etc.

I can imagine someone coming here to justify their disgust with the homeless, then having to actually hear their side of the story through Wendall's compassionate interviews. Dammit! They're human!

No mention of the Lady Godiva or story behind it, probably what Coventry is most famous for along with Coventry Born Sir Frank Whittle with his creation of the Jet Engine. There is also saying being ''sent to Coventry'' which originates from the English Civil War, when Parliamentarian supporters would take Royalist prisoners of war to Coventry usually to be hung.

I'm a wheelchair user and recently went to a gig in the Fargo area of Cov. Surprised you didn't go there. The people I came into contact with from bus drivers to the gig organizers were so friendly and helpful. Fine proud city.

That Indian cracked me up, "my problem is not drink" (camera pans to can of Super), "I think my problem is ... some drugs are very good!" :'D

I’ve lived in Coventry for 18 years. Born and raised in London, but I love it here. It’s not a place for young people, not much for them. It’s not as violent compared to where I was in London. Most people are friendly, there is a sense of community that tries and strives, I never felt that in bigger cities. Coventry is a good place.

Born and bred in Coventry; Great memories of Foleshill and Jenna Street… christened in the cathedral in the 70s and proud of my grandad Who was an air raid warden during the Blitz… God bless Coventry and great video ❤

Your a great speaker, calm , collected, and knowledgeable. 👍

Coventry is full of wonderful people, who are kind and all look out for each other. Since this video there has been a lot of changes.

It’s a great city centre because there’s no room to put a retail park next to it so if you wanna sell your stuff in Coventry, you have to take a shop. I really like the little squares of shops, it’s so easy to walk around.

I remember Barnaby’s Toy 🧸 Shop in Coventry 💙. Back in the 70’s

I grew up in the 60's and 70's in Warwick/Leamington, we used to go to Coventry for the shops, the Belgrade theatre. and for concerts in the new cathedral. The post-war architecture is really aggressive. As a contrast, Nuremberg in Germany was flattened by the allies in the war and the city centre rebuilt around the same time as Coventry. The new architecture looks fine alongside the old, they respected the scale and style of the old city, and it's a lovely place to visit, despite its history

Spent a weekend there last year to visit the motor museum. It was very inexpensive and there was enough to do for a couple of days. The cuts to local authorities and the police, along with mental health services in the UK being privitised, means the same issues appear again and again. We need a radical change to the attitude of meanness and "not my problem" to turn places around. Empathy and proper services.

The area where Subway was is being knocked down and redeveloped. The majority of the shops that are closed have moved to other areas of the city. Noodle Bar in the corner will be relocating at the end of the year. City Arcade by the market is also being knocked down for redevelopment. That is why they're all borded up.

Been watching your latest uploads thinking 🤔 “this bloke is underrated as an interviewer!”. Top content and wish you continued growth and success with the channel buddy 👍🏻

I think you should do a RU-vid video in other areas of Coventry such as Foleshill Road, Woodend and Hillfeilds. It will make Coventry City Centre look like paradise!!

My grandad was based in Coventry during WW2. He was on the anti aircraft guns during the blitz. Didn’t really talk about it much though.

Keep doing these UK videos, they’re easily the most interesting ones. Every man and his dog is videoing Greece, Italy, etc. 🙏

9mins 44seconds “WAS” me, I remember wendll approaching me and asking if he could ask me a few questions and normally I would politely refuse but I agreed as wendll treated me with respect. My ginger beard and long hair has gone and I’m no longer homeless thankfully. I’ve worked since I left school was never unemployed and I never dreamt that I would one day be on the streets but anyone’s life can turn upside down in the blink of an eye. One minute I had everything going for me and inless than 3 months I had lost everything. Sleeping on the streets being treated and spoken to like s*#t, day in day out. I wish homelessness on no one. So before you judge someone on the Streets just remember that could happen to you and your a fool if you think otherwise. Thank you to everyone who ever helped me out when I was at rock bottom, not just with money, just saying hello or a smile meant just as much much some days. Being homeless is extremely lonely and I will never look down on anyone in my life again ❤

I’m born and raised a Coventry boy, but I moved myself and my family away 10 years ago to a leafy village in Hampshire. My son was 7 at the time and I could see what was coming for my once great City. It’s sad to see I was right. 😢

Just wanted to say thank you for these amazing videos. I'm becoming obsessed with yours and Wandering Turnip's, especially now that I'm up further North. I lived in Cov 3.5 years. I have a love-hate relationship with the town. There are some amazing cultural relics, old and new, about the city that will entice me to come back. However, its not a place I could ever live long-term again. All the money's pumped into three industries - CoventryU, the Hospital, and JLR - but the job market there isn't diverse enouh to accommodate the needs of the rapidly changing demographics. Many of the locals are pissed off drugs and booze as there's no work for them to do, which feeds into the homelessness and soaring crime rates. I recently revisited Cov in 2022, and they've made some topical changes to the city. Cov's got a reemerging night life, but nothing massive. New stores, Fargo, some cladding here and there... the Reel Store and the new Telegraph Hotel are both ace. However, people will need more than the small business district near the train station to keep the industry there from going bust, and the city will need to keep reinventing itself. Coventry was my gateway to the UK, and I'm proud to have started my new life here. But much like St Michael's Cathedral, its a bitter reminder of the spirit of the once great city. Its also a Phoenix City, so hopefully it will soon complete its transmutation.

I was born and raised in Cov city centre in 83, live in Birmingham now. It’s been sad to see the decline of my hometown, but I believe development will bring it up to speed again in the next twenty years, and the success of the football club has helped reinvigorate the people too. We lost our world famous speedway team recently which was a big blow. Great video and now subscribed

God bless you for reassuring and comforting the gentleman who was crying. I wonder if CBD oil could help him. Prayers for all the homeless people there. This was a really good video. It was so interesting seeing the landscape too. I have an uncle who lives there. Thank you so much for this ❤!

Shame you didn't show the improvements to the main shopping area with the water features etc there are some really nice areas of Coventry now

My grandfather was one of the fire wardens on duty during the blitz here in Coventry. The devastation to the old city was immeasurable and Hitler subsequently coined the term to Coventrate something meaning to wipe it off the map.

Coventry isn't a bad place. It's no different to any other city or large town in that there are some problems, but overall a welcoming City proud of its history and future

Glad people treated ya friendly, lots of visitors say we're welcoming overall and then others say the opposite so sometimes it's hard to know if we're doing okay as a city. Cheers.

Amazing work here, Wendall! Your soothing, calm, collected and knowledgeable Journalism. If you ever get the chance to come to Nottingham in the future, let me know and I’ll be happy to show you around sand some stories about “the city of legends” keep up the good work, my friend!

Coming originally from the South East, I’ve lived in Coventry for close on 10 years. Aesthetically, it looks and feels like a London Borough which may be why I’ve felt more settled. Yeah admittedly it’s not the prettiest place, but it doesn’t pretend to be something it isn’t and though there’s better, there’s also worse places.

Thanks Wendall the Cathedral was our first stop in 2016 once we negotiated our correct exit off the Spagetti-Junction fly over/ freeway system , looked for the remains of Alfred Herbert a massive UK machine tool company who employed me in Australia , they still have some community buildings there. Waiting for vision of Primark and the customers walking out with supermarket trolleys full of clothes just across from Lady Godiva on the stone horse . Manufacturing seems to have given way to numerous Students in this City , hence the push for a " renewed culture ." this has all happened in Australia 2 decades ago BHP pulled out of Newcastle NSW and Wollongong NSW ..(massive high quality steel manufacturing) . Cheers

Born and bred in Coventry. I feel like a stranger in my own city. I do not recognise it anymore. It has changed so much from the 90s.

Good on you for going to Cov, i did suggest it a few weeks back. I grew up there and worked as a paramedic up till 1996. It was a lovely place in the 60s and 70s, it was multicultural then. The music scene was fantastic. My father moved down to Coventry to work in the automotive industry, it was huge. Recently the Chinese have invested huge amounts of money in the development of the Old Lanchester polytechnic (university!) and it’s student accommodation. It’s sad to see the alcohol and drugs problems are still there ,if not worse, I never saw an Asian or Black abuser when I worked there.. In the 50s and 60s the Coventry council destroyed more medieval buildings than the Germans did. I was back down there a few weeks back to see my old work mates, I went for a drink in the Windmill in Spon street. I meet a lovely Asian couple in the curry house who told me Coventry was most welcoming to them, unlike Canada where they moved from. Thanks for going there. 👍

The people of Coventry are brilliant, lovely people.

When I went for my theory test part of the centre streets were shut due to a stabbing. And gangs are drive by shooting at dealers outside pubs. The flying standard an innocent lad got hit by a shotgun spray. It’s some of the surrounding towns that are even worse. It’s all on “Coventry Live”.

You should go back and visit some of the suburbs of Cov, get the real insight to life. Try Hillfields, Willenhall, Wood End, Stoke Aldermoor etc. Love these inner city videos you are doing. Keep up the good work

Some good hearts in this video, I hope they turn their lives round.

I moved away from Cov 10 years ago, grew up in Woodend, it’s always been kind of rough but it’s home. Last time I visited was 4 years ago.

I'm from Coventry, the reason the shops are boarded up at 4:00 is because that whole area was bought by the council for demolition and building better buildings for a revamp

Interesting video, I live in Cheltenham, when I'm in UK and we visit Coventry now and again, to visit the market to buy Chinese provisions. There's a good Chinese restaurant near the main car park, but a bit expensive.Their stir fry cabbage is about £12, compared to less than a quid, in China. Always gravitate towards the cathedral and see there's a TV programme about the West Orchard shopping mall.

A very good non judgmental video , Will always have a soft spot for COV because it gave us 2 Tone and The Specials , good people too .

Cool. The Canal Basin reminds me of the back of 1980's "More Specials" album. Coventry was the home of the 2-Tone ska phenomenon. Lots of fun tunes and cool fashion that is still heard and seen today.

Coventry was supposed to have been beautiful before the war.

The bottom half of the city, the bull yard, city arcade and the areas you mentioned boarded up are part of a regeneration programme, most of the businesses that were in those units were given financial support to relocate as part of the plan. The wacky wall in the bull yard many years ago was a bar and nightclub called bar Aztec - hence the theme of the wall which was installed after the pricing was built many years later in the 90s

This is my home town and I really feel like you only showed the run down alerts of Coventry not the beautiful central reconstruction of the shopping area . Coventry is full of wonderful people please go back and show the great sides of Coventry the beauty and grandeur its posesses

Great video, your videos are more interesting than anything on TV. Nice one. Aaron and Debs. Gunnislake cornwall

I lived in Coventry for nearly 4 years. Its a bit rough and ready but I generally always felt safe, even when walking around at 2am in the morning. I heard there used to be conflicts between Asians and Cov City footie fans but that was all well out of the city centre area. I like that Cov doesn't pretend to be something its not. I do feel sad for its decline. Selling off our car industry to Germany & India really hurts places like this. Its softer side, it seems to be a major university town these days which brings new blood to the place and potential opportunities.

You warrant your own television programme on mainstream TV because you're a natural speaker, host narrator

This video has highlighted exactly what is wrong with the City I grew up in. I never go into the City Centre anymore and none of my friends do. Gosford Street used to be a wonderful safe place. The cause of the decline can be seen clearly in this video. Do I need to spell it out!

Man stands in hideous concrete dump and says it’s beautiful and has nothing wrong with it. Anything called a precinct is invariably a post war concrete mess of graffitied bleakness. No hope.

In our Coventry homes. We speak with accent exceedingly rare, you want a cathedral we have one to spare...in our Coventry homes

Do you remember the good old days before the Ghost Town? We danced and sang, and the music played in a de boomtown.

I grew up 5 miles from Coventry, left when I was 18 to move South. I enjoyed going there for shopping and clubs in the early 90's. It was always a little rough but no more than any other city. It has a rich and interesting history and is very multicultural. I visited there last year and it seemed OK, I was alone and did not feel at all uneasy or vulnerable.

Was my closest city. Home of 2tone. Always proud to be a Midlander at heart. ❤

I played a Soul gig here at the Old Fire Station. Hated driving around this place. IIRC it's opposite where those folks were sat.

Love this Oli, what brilliant piece of journalism.

That was enjoyable positive look at my home city, it would be easy to find all the bad things to say about any town but this clip was really well balanced. Coventry is different to how it was 40 years ago but so are most places. People are what matter and having had a shop for 25 years in Coventry I can say that 99 per cent are great people.

@Wendall - Please do Penge, London. A Great history and its more than rough and down stroden these days. I do enjoy the historical aspects

Good video, I used to live near Coventry & during the 80s & 90s it was a place of skin heads, dog fighting & glue sniffers, everybody from the other towns would consider it a place of desperation. A lot has changed although its still has a bad reputation locally, as to Banbury things are improving for the better. Daventry is still a place to avoid from what I have heard & Leamington still has a lot of homeless issues & drug related violence sadly. But like you said a lot it’s problems are sadly to do the lost of British industry during the late 70s as many people originally flocked to Coventry for work from as far as London as Coventry used to be a major engineering city with many factories. These days I have heard its very diverse culturally & with Warwick & Coventry universities being either excellent or of good standing in reputation.

Great video! I'm living in Coventry (Gosford area!) at the moment doing my PhD. I didn't think I'd like living here at first. However, after a few months, I'm starting to really enjoy the place. It's nice and small, so very convenient. Great for walking around and finding random hidden places. There certainly is a lot of crime (according to statistics), drug use, homelessness, fights etc. However, I have never felt unsafe at any point. People generally seem to keep to themselves, and the city is very quiet. I often walk around at night and the city is virtually empty. It can be quite peaceful.

Love Coventry, my mum was from here, grandmother still lives in Earlsdon. My Mum came to London at a young age and we were born here. Very different to Coventry. It has really changed over the years, when we were younger visting my gran, there weren't many people of other cultures, which was strange as we did have that in London. Loved the market too.

Glad you had a positive time but there is so much more to see. The City Centre South development is literally all of the derelict area - everyone has been removed ahead of the new year.

The area that is boarded up is shortly to be re-developed, most of the store owners have moved out due to being given notice and leases not being renewed.

The old sports centre and the Britannia hotel is a big eye sore and need renovating massively

Great video again. It is good you got a more positive impression than you thought you would get 😊

Coventry is not as rough as it was in the 80s. The roughness is generally not in the city centre itself, rather it is in a handful of the inner city areas and some suburbs. There are probably some areas that you would want avoid unless you live in the city or live in those areas. They include Wood End, Willenhall, Hillfields, Foleshill, Stoke Aldermoor, Bell Green. Actually that's about half the residential areas in the city😅😂. If you are just visiting the city centre then likely chances are you will be absolutely fine and have a good day out. There is undoubtedly some great medieval architecture to be found within the city centre such as the ruins of the old 13th century Cathedral (bombed during the world war 2 Blitz) and Old Spon Street. The rebuilt cathedral is also highly impressive. The three spires of Coventry are made up of the spires of St Michael's Cathedral, Christ Church and Holy Trinity Church. There are also pockets of recent modernisation and several decent bars, pubs and eateries such as The Botanist, Slug and Lettuce and even a Five Guys😊. Earlson near the city cnetr also has a good selction of places to eat and drink. The coventry transport museum has a fantastic array of vintage vehicles for car enthusiasts. There is a large ice skating rink for people are into that. Coventry is associated with Lady Godiva which who was historical figure and for those of you that don't know is mentioned by the legendary late Freddie Mercury in Queens don't stop me know song).😂 Like most major cities of the UK Coventry is multicultural but still retains a strong sense of identity. There is homelessness as with any major uk town or city. The Godiva festival, which takes place every year at Coventrys war memorial park, hosts many famous singers. There is the impressive Ricoh Arena home to Coventry city football club which also holds major artists for concerts. On the outskirts of the city there is the Coombe Abbey Park, which has some 500 Acres of very scenic grounds and an impressive hotel which was founded in 1150 AD originally as the Abbey of cumbe. Coventry has 2 major universities, Coventry University and Warwick universitiy (yes warwick uni is in Coventry not in Warwick). There is somewhat alot of student accommodation, not just housing but many new developments, which some say are talking over building developments within the city centre. Geographically it has a central location within England and has good tranpsort links to both London and Birmingham. All in all Coventry is a decent place and quite alot going for it.

A piece of the Coventry cross (which remains in the ruins) was attached to the wall of HMS Diamond our principal Destroyer of the British Naval Fleet to bless her voyage to the Red Sea around Yemen. Diamond, named after HM Queen Elizabeth jubilee will be looking out for shipping and protecting waters for the next 9months. God Bless Diamond and all who sail in her.

Man: i lose everyhing but i dont know what happened Also man: i do drugs, alcohol, weed lose money... Of course she going to leave you pal

You are such a good documentary filmmaker! I’d love for you to come back to coventry and see the bits you’ve not had time to show in this video.

I was born in Coventry and lived through the 70s. More violent than it is today.

The area you first visit in the precinct has a demolition order. Hence, the boarded you shops

Love hearing about history of different places, so thankyou for another great video. As always my heart goes out to those poor homeless people. ♥️

Thanks 4 sharing great to see u in Blackpool with wild side

The whole of the black country, Birmingham and Coventry are hell holes, the nice parts are the Lichfield area, Solihull town and it's rural areas and the south of the West Midlands

Worth saying that the boarded up shops you point out are part of the area that is listed for demolition so the shops moved out from there. The downside is that they seem to be taking longer that needed to start the redev.

My heart broke for that guy at 11 minutes. I hope he can recover some day soon. Interesting video, pal

Interesting video, good to see something real on RU-vid

The hit single Ghost Town by the Specials in the early 80s was said to be about Coventry.

Born and bred in Coventry mate. Growing up there in the 70's and 80's was fantastic and it was safe. Since the 90's the city centre has been closed down bit by bit in order to hand it over to the University and associated 'entertainment and service businesses', all the small independent businesses in the city centre were priced out by the corrupt council. There are areas of the city that are 'no-go' for women and young white people now, the housing estates where I grew up are filthy and occupied by enclaves of immigrants who don't want to integrate, just form their own ghettos and live in filth, whilst giving nothing towards what is left the communities they have split by taking housing from locals. I moved my family out of there 5 years ago when our local area became over run and filthy. There's more to towns and cities than speaking to a few local homeless and addicts.

Wicked video Wendall, I’m watching one’s back since seeing my hometown one in Walsall and subscribing to the channel. I now cover Coventry for work and people as most are in the Midlands are salt of the earth. I go through places that are not so great but that’s the UK full stop. Mohammed’s story touched me…. It can be so easy to lose everything and so hard to get back to where you want to be. I hope he succeeds!! ….. Smithy

You could quite easily make another video on Coventry where you would not see so much deprivation, but focus on the majority of the good things of the city. History, culture, sport, art, Coventry has many beautiful rural areas. There’s another side.

I went to Coventry for a day out on train from Birmingham 8 years ago and it was OK everywhere was open?????? Thanks for sharing my friend 😊

You didn't show the good bits?....new shopping area/landscaping in the heart of the city centre!

I was sent to Coventry, now nobody will talk to me

Good to see a video about Coventry that treats the city fairly. Like the ladies say later in the video, the reason all the shops are boarded up in the part of town around the 3:00 mark onwards is because they're demolishing that whole area as part of a planned redevelopment scheme. Most of the businesses there have moved elsewhere in the city. You can actually see 'we have moved' signs on some of them. There are still a fair few empty retail units around town, though, but that's unfortunately the same in a lot of British cities. Coventry has had a lot of ups and downs. It's a lot better than it was a few decades ago, but the recovery was set back by the austerity years and covid. There are a lot of people who like to talk down the city unfairly, especially people who've never actually been here but get their impressions from dated stereotypes, and a few local racists who just don't like how diverse the population has become. The people who moan the most about Coventry getting the City of Culture title are almost always people who never had any interest in local culture to begin with. Gosford Street isn't anything like as bad as the man makes out. For a while there was a problem with gangs targeting eachother in the evenings while trying to sell drugs to the students around there (which is probably what he's talking about), but the trouble's mostly died down or moved elsewhere. It's perfectly safe in the daytime. I used to walk up it every day without any issues, even when the gang war was at its worst. It has some nice shops, pubs and restaurants as well as the Fargo Village development, which is sort of an attempt to create a mini Camden market.

That area of units boarded up is part of the clearance plan for redevelopment.

The area that has all the boarded shops is being redeveloped, hence why all the shops have gone , it’s being made into flats and an entertainment centre

Very interesting indeed 👍

The area where the shops are boarded up is going to be knocked down and redeveloped. Most of the shops have moved to other parts of the town centre.

There’s so much poverty in the uk because of the minimum wage..the underclass supports the rest of the population..like the pompadours and the Romans…the need for peasants and slaves will always be there..to support the gentry..

The strange thing is that there’s nothing especially “unsightly”, as you put it, about the post-war buildings. Some of the architecture and design is fantastic and in many parts of the world would be cherished. Coventry’s problem is instead the people - residents, building owners, and local officials - who have been left in charge of maintaining the buildings and townscape. That was possible in the 60s through to the 90s when there was still civic pride and a largely indigenous populations, sharing common values, culture, language and heritage. But since the floodgates opened to uncontrolled immigration and the joys of multiculturalism, that’s when the rot really set in. What’s the point in locals trying to maintain and keep clean and crime-free a place, if outsiders with no interest in or attachment to Coventry, are going to come in and take everything they can but offer next-to-nothing in exchange?

I’ve been to Coventry twice and I’ve had a good time there. Combe Abby is nice also. That old cathedral is really cool . Yes it’s had a bad reputation back in the 1980’s and 90’s as a rough and violent town especially on a Friday and Saturday night. But I met some really cool people from Coventry. I’m from Leeds and I now live in Atlantic Canada 🇨🇦. Been here 25 years went to Cov in 2014 and 16.

I wouldn't want to be sent there... At 04:31 there's a blue plaque on the wall. Anyone who knows Britain knows this means history. Turns out this is a tribute to John bailey Shelton MBE. He was an archaeologist, born in Nottinghamshire who unearthed a lot of the ancient history of the Coventry area. In case you were wondering my favourite person from Coventry is Delia Derbyshire.

Please do Slough , Windsor . Maidenhead and Reading

Hi Mate, Coventrian here and just wanted to touch on the first shopping precinct with the boarded up shops, this whole area is to be demolished with development plans underway to revamp that whole area this is why all these shops have vacated.

Completely agree with the guy outside the transport museum all the violence isn't really in the center and the youths that create it use postcode as the reasoning but really its because they are bored and the government over the last 20 years has cut a lot of the facilities, created the housing crises and everything else they could use etc

Excelent coverage on the city 💯

Just to say clarify all those shops in the Precinct are closed down or they have relocated because there is a massive development called City Centre South that have just started and that covers all that part of town. It is nothing to do with economic crisis or derelict building, it is just part of the development, those buildings are getting demolished.

Hello Wendell thanks for the video, I do think this would have been a lot better if you moved out of the centre a bit it feels like you have stayed in the safer places. Go visit Hill fields, Woodend, bell green etc. I would go with some backup. stay safe-Ashley

Cov is known to be quite a rough city unfortunately, I think some of nicer places around West Midlands are the little towns like Stratford, Warwick, Leamington etc