During World War II, the Community Centre was known as The Cheylesmore Hostel and was part of a network of utilitarian residential/ suburbal sites built to support the war effort including a feeding and administration centre.
Cheylesmore Hostel’s role was also to accommodate war workers employed in factories across Coventry.
Coventry became a major centre for aircraft, vehicle, and munitions production. To support this rapid industrial expansion, the government built a network of purpose‑built wartime hostels on the edges of the city to house workers who were conscripted or relocated under the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act. Coventry had 16 such hostels, and Cheylesmore Hostel was one of those.
Cheylesmore Community Association was established on Saturday 8th May 1948 in order to manage Cheylesmore Community Centre. Now it is the only surviving Coventry Ex World War 2 Hostel. Charity status was granted in 1965.
The building was also used as a school and a church before Quinton Baptist Church and local schools were built in the 1950s. If you look carefully you can still see a school road sign on Arundel Road!
The Association was formed as a charitable company in March 2010. In 2012 the City Council approved a 50-year full repairing lease until 2062 for the buildings and site.
The name “Cheylesmore” is believed to derive from early English, “cielde” meaning well or spring and “mor” meaning moor. Cheylesmore is pronounced “Charlesmore,” and occasionally “Chellsmore.”! One old Coventry map from 1610 spells it: ‘Chilefmore’ Gate.
Cheylesmore Community Centre is a social, recreation, training and educational space. In addition, we feature Cheylesmore Community Library, Coventry’s first entirely volunteer-run library and our catering wing C3 Coffee Shop/Cafe.
Cheylesmore also offers twelve versatile spaces that can be hired, with Wi-Fi, and free parking plus disabled access and parking.
Despite being a rather open site, the Centre grounds have several grass areas with 29 mature trees including Wild Cherry, Maple, Ash and Silver Birch. We are always looking to make improvements to the Centre complex.
Average drive time from Coventry Train Station is 5 mins (1.5 miles), Coventry City Centre is 7 mins (1.7 miles) Birmingham International Airport is 20 mins (12.4 miles).
There are several defined purposes for Cheylesmore Community Centre:
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Be a venue for local residents’ activities ~ not necessarily running activities in the Centre ourselves as an Association, but providing the facilities in which other community groups can operate.
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Facilitating local groups to meet community needs ~ helping with community capacity building so that groups can better meet local needs, especially where gaps in provision are identified. This has happened since 2017 with the Library, Food Hub in 2020, C3 Coffee in 2021 and Cheylesmore Car Boot in 2025.
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Support volunteering ~ mobilising individual residents to engage with the activities going on, both of running the Centre itself and supporting those activities taking place.
