Coventry Canal Basin

Summary

The 18th-century terminus of the Coventry Canal — a canal basin with a toll house, canal company warehouse, and the original wharf infrastructure from 1769, a short walk from Coventry Cathedral.

About this location

Coventry Canal Basin is the original terminus of the Coventry Canal, opened 1769. The basin is a compact water area surrounded by the canal company’s original infrastructure — the toll house, the coal wharf warehouse (now a pub), the bonded warehouse, and the canal company offices. The Coventry Canal Society maintains a number of preserved boats on the basin.

The basin is in the centre of Coventry, a short walk from the cathedral ruins and the new Coventry Cathedral. The surrounding city is largely post-war reconstruction following the 1940 bombing, but the canal basin is a pre-bombing survival that gives an 18th-century scale and character in the middle of the modern city.

For productions, the Coventry Canal Basin gives a Georgian inland waterway terminal — compact, period-character, within a city centre context. The combination of the 18th-century canal infrastructure and the proximity to the bombed cathedral ruins gives a compressed history within a small area. Canal and River Trust handles filming on the canal itself; Coventry City Council handles the surrounding streets.