End of era as major work starts to cover long-forgotten city toilets

MAJOR construction work is taking place in Coventry city centre and it looks to be the end of an era for part of the city’s post-war past.

The ongoing work at the Upper Precinct is to fill in the long-forgotten underground toilets.

It appears as though workers are preparing to fill both underground loos with concrete, in what is one of the first phases of the Upper Precinct redevelopment.

When the toilets were closed down nearly 20 years ago, they were simply left as they were and sealed up.

That means that they are currently, essentially, hollow holes under the pavement.

But as part of the Upper Precinct renovation work, heavy machinery will need to be in place, which will need solid ground to work on.

As such, concrete will be filled in to both toilets, confining them to permanent history, allowing for the next stage in the work - the removal of the green escalator.

A sight which divides opinion, the escalator is another casualty of the huge plans for that part of the city centre.

It is unclear if the overhead link bridge will need to be removed before this work can continue.

However, a florist and a mobile phone accessory stall are being relocated as park of the work.

The news will come as a blow to those who campaigned to turn the once forgotten toilets into a creative space.

Coventry architect and developer Alan Denyer, who was responsible for the pop-up at the old Coventry Telegraph offices, called for the loos to be opened up as a creative space.

He said: “I think there is masses of potential there. The area has massive footfall.

“When I hear about an interesting space I think about what can be done with it.

“It’s quite a dark space,