Things to do in Coventry

The cathedral and the ruins

Coventry has had three cathedrals. The medieval St Mary's was demolished at the Reformation. St Michael's, a fourteenth-century church made a cathedral in 1918, was bombed almost to destruction in the Coventry Blitz of 14 November 1940; its ruined walls, tower and spire, 284 feet high, still stand. The new St Michael's, consecrated in 1962, was built right beside them.

Together they are the city's defining sight. Inside the new cathedral hangs Graham Sutherland's Christ in Glory, a tapestry 23 metres tall woven in one piece. John Piper's baptistery window and John Hutton's west screen are close by. Entry is free, with a suggested donation of £5. The cathedral is usually open from 10am to 4pm Monday to Saturday and 12.30pm to 3pm on Sunday.

Coventry Transport Museum

Coventry was once the centre of the British car industry. Its Transport Museum holds the largest collection of British-made road transport in public ownership: more than 240 cars and commercial vehicles, 100 motorcycles and 200 bicycles. Its stars are Thrust2 and ThrustSSC, the jet cars that took the land speed record in 1983 and 1997.

Many of the vehicles were built in Coventry, from Jaguars to Triumph, Humber and Standard cars. Tickets are valid for a year of repeat visits.

The Herbert

Next to the cathedral, the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum tells Coventry's story through art, history and its archives. It is named after the industrialist Sir Alfred Herbert, whose gifts paid for it. It reopened in 2008 after a £14 million refurbishment. Since April 2025 it has charged for entry, with under-fives free.

The canal basin and FarGo Village

The Coventry Canal begins at the canal basin just north of the city centre. The basin opened in 1769 and the canal runs 38 miles north to Fradley Junction. The restored warehouses are listed. The towpath makes an easy walk out towards Hawkesbury Junction, where the Coventry and Oxford canals meet.

On Far Gosford Street, FarGo Village is a creative quarter of shipping-container shops, street food, a craft brewery and The Box, a 500-capacity music and drama venue. It opened in 2014 and hosts car shows, open-air cinema and food festivals.

Getting there from the houses

Humber Hub, in Lower Stoke, is about 2 miles by road from the cathedral and FarGo Village and about 3 miles from the canal basin. Sullivan Heights, in Upper Stoke, is about 2 miles from the cathedral and about 3 miles from the canal basin and the Skydome.