The city that needs to ‘increase the pace and increase the volume’

Nick Button, partner at Band Hatton Button, speaks at the Coventry and Warwickshire panel event
Nick Button (left), partner at Band Hatton Button, speaks at the Coventry and Warwickshire panel event

Coventry and Warwickshire should look to increase the pace and increase the volume as it looks to shape its future, leading figures from the sub-region have said.

Speaking at a TheBusinessDesk.com panel event at City College Coventry, Band Hatton Button partner Nick Button said: “We have got so much going on we should be shouting about it.

“We are going for the City of Culture bid. I really, really hope we get it because I think that will give us a great boost.

“It will boost the confidence of the city and the positioning of the city and I really do think we should be shouting more about what we do in Coventry.”


Coventry and Warwickshire LEP vice-chairman Nick Abell agreed, and believes “there’s no reason for us to be like that”.

He added: “Weaknesses? it’s about us and what we are saying to the outside.”

“I know there’s been a movement for years and years and years – let’s shout about Coventry – and I think it is beginning to pay off.

“I think that Wasps have had a huge part in that and it is great to have them here.”

David Armstrong, chief executive of the rugby union club, reiterated the strength of support Wasps had received since they had relocated to Coventry. But he wants some focus put on the current “pace of change” to see if the transformation that is planned can happen more quickly.

“There’s an opportunity, particularly in the regeneration of the centre of the city,” he said.

“There’s a great long-term vision for that and I would love to see it come forward a little faster and I think it will be great for the city and everyone living in it when it’s done.

“But there’s an opportunity possibly for it go a little bit faster.”

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