A trip down memory Lane

More than 100 years since it opened, a Coventry tackle shop is still in the family

T’S one of the country’s oldest tackle shops, in business in one form or another for 111 years. to its current premises here on London Road, Coventry. When my grandfather died in 1980, my dad Alan Lane took the shop on and went on to create the Lane’s Bait side of it. We’ve bred our own maggots ever since. Dad died in 2008, and as his children we were keen to keep our family shop going,” he continued.

Lanes has its own maggot farm off site and in the height of summer sells 4,000 pints a week. It’s renowned for the size and quality of its grubs, which Tom puts down to the tiny details in the production process, from having the right flies and meat to blow on, to what they are fed and where they are stored.

“As long as the tackle prospers, we intend to keep it in the Lane family for as long as we can. It’s more than just a business, it’s a tradition and a legacy!” said Tom.