Coventry’s weirdest shopping centre

Cannon Park is an oddity. The name alone raises questions, seemingly only answered by a modest looking cannon embellishing the entrance, serving to create a surreal sense of timelessness. According to the official website, “You can get everything you need and more at Cannon Park.” In that sense it is your average suburban shopping precinct and a staple of life for those living on campus at Warwick. However, as soon as you walk through those automatic doors, you realise that Cannon Park is anything but average.

A serene vibe greets you as you enter this lost world. A sensual bombardment of unnecessary jazz music and squeaky floors accompanied by a backdrop of boarded up shops. Hailing your arrival are seas of grey faces donning a uniform grimace. Wandering amongst the folk of Canley you instantly feel like an outcast; students seem unwelcome at this exclusive club.

Passers-by have their eyes glued firmly to the floor, carefully retracing the same worn footsteps around the zigzagged mall – you notice a desperate sense of cyclical eternity. A kaleidoscope of daytime society glimpsed in a few fleeting moments: whether it is catching the mother shouting at her buggy-bound child, or glancing at a shop worker’s momentary escape from drudgery in a brief encounter with nicotine.

Many a trolley has made a bid for freedom, dreaming of better days littered around campus, living the dream. They chance it, checking for security guards, adrenaline building, steel heart pumping, taking a running start, only to have their hopes cruelly snatched by that omnipotent ‘red line’, harshly denying them liberation. A sad parable of life, perhaps?

How this relic of a bygone age, symptomatic of years of underinvestment, still exists is a mystery. Evidently the centre owes a lot to the university, but taking a trip around Cannon Park you will notice the majority of clientele are not students. Cannon Park serves as a hub for the local community: elderly people who cannot travel to the city meet for a quiet cuppa, mothers bring their kids out to play on the amusement rides, after dragging them around the charity shops.

Major redevelopment is planned at the site over the next few years, constructing the largest Tesco Extra in Coventry and refurbishing 35 shops that serve the South Warwickshire region. Whilst the area is crying out for investment, attracting new shoppers from further afield will spell an end to the ‘Cannon’ in its current form. Sadly, this unique time capsule will never quite be the same again. This snapshot of modern life will fade from memory. There is something beautiful in the quaintness of Cannon Park. Experience it whilst you can.