#Monument
Owen & Owen Store Memorial Plaque
The Owen & Owen building once stood in the location of the now existing department store on Broadgate. During the Blitz in Coventry, the building was severely damaged resulting in it being demolished. It was a prominent building to many Coventrians, a large department store and a building which many residents still refer to as the Owen & Owen building today. Today, a commemorative plaque marks its location.
Opened in 1937, the store represented modern shopping at its finest, with several grand floors filled with clothing, furniture, and household goods. Its elegant Art Deco frontage dominated Broadgate and symbolised the growing prosperity of pre-war Coventry. The building quickly became a cornerstone of city life, a place where locals shopped, met friends, and gathered beneath its bright window displays.
Everything changed on the night of 14 November 1940, when the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) launched one of the most devastating air raids of the Second World War. As bombs rained down across the city, the Owen & Owen building was struck by incendiary bombs that ignited its interior. The store’s large windows and stock of fabrics and furnishings helped feed the flames, and the building soon became a towering inferno visible across the city. Firefighters from the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) and regular fire brigades worked tirelessly through the night, battling against impossible odds.
Their bravery was evident as they tried to save the building and surrounding shops, but with the city’s water mains shattered by high explosives, they were left almost powerless. They resorted to using emergency water supplies, buckets, and stirrup pumps, but by dawn the structure was completely gutted.
The ruins of Owen & Owen stood for a time as a stark reminder of the destruction that had engulfed Coventry. In 1942, the remains were demolished, clearing the way for the city’s post-war redevelopment. Today, on the site where the building once stood, a small commemorative plaque marks its place in history. It quietly recalls the Blitz and the night Coventry burned, a piece of hidden heritage that many pass by without ever realising its powerful connection to the city’s past.