Café culture arrives in a new sector
of Coventry city centre soon when Belgrade Square will be decked out with parasols, tables
and chairs.
The Belgrade Theatre expects to be granted the relevant licences shortly to allow its
in-house restaurant to spread outside into the square.
Hiccups over a drinks licence have been ironed out and the magistrates are expected to
grant it at a licensing meeting in the near future. The theatre will then need a licence
from The City Centre Company to trade on their land.
Customers will be able to sit outside the theatre a la continentale in the shade of the
parasols sipping their capuccinos and watching the world go by to the accompaniment of
street musicians.
They will also be able to enjoy the gushing magnificence of ‘the fountain that
time forgot’.
The water feature which relies on a single gusher powering a jet twenty feet into the
air, burst back into life this month after being out of a action for a year.
The Belgrade fountain dates back to the 1950s when its unusual style caused a lot of
comment. It was showing signs of age until The City Centre Company took steps to spruce it
up.
More problems were encountered however and it became a major renovation costing
£10,000.
Peter Collard of The City Centre Company said:
"We know people missed the fountain because of the comments made to us.
"It is a well known feature which has been seen by many thousands of people
through the years. We found more faults than we had imagined. There were cracks in the
pool floor, it needed painting and all the pumps and electrical equipment had to be
replaced. We had to employ specialist companies to do the work.
"It is back in full working order now and though it is a very old structure, it
will be gushing for years yet."
