Thousands of Coventry City fans will be lining the streets of the city today, as the club celebrates a long-awaited return to the Premier League with a bus parade and music festival.
An open-top bus parade will begin at the Coventry Building Society Arena at 1pm.
It will travel through Holbrooks, Whitmore Park, Keresley, Coundon and Chapelfields, and end at Hearsall Common.
The city council’s website has listed these estimated timings for the route:
Depart Coventry Building Society Arena at 1pm, travelling south on Jimmy Hill Way
Holbrook Way, onto Holbrook Lane (approximately 1:20pm)
Left onto Parkgate Road, join Beake Avenue (approximately 1:45pm)
Down Beake Avenue onto Bruce Road, then Wallace Road (approximately 2:05pm)
Norman Place Road, left onto Hollyfast Road (approximately. 2:20pm), onto Westhill Road
Down Barkers Butts Lane (approximately 2:30pm), right onto Moseley Avenue
Cross Holyhead Road (approximately 2:45pm), onto Four Pounds Avenue, then Queensland Avenue (just before 3pm)
Concludes at Hearsall Common (around 3:05pm)
Players and staff will then travel to the War Memorial Park, where they will take to the stage at 4pm.
The bus will pass pubs, community hubs and residential streets and people from all across the city are being encouraged to gather, celebrate, and share in the moment together.
Roads on the route will be closed between 8am until 9pm today, with sections reopened once the parade has passed on.
No parking will be allowed on the parade route.
Watch the route the bus parade will take across the city.
A one-day music festival in War Memorial Park will then welcome around 50,000 fans from 4pm, as the party continues into the evening.
The council is reminding the public that there is no on-site parking at the event, except for blue badge parking.
The pick-up and drop-off point for “We Are Back: Live” will be Grovesnor Road Car Park.
The following council-owned car parks will be open and free of charge. All are around a 15-minute (a mile) walk to the memorial park:
Bishop Street
Gosford Street
Grove Street
Lower Ford Street
New Union Street
Salt Lane
Spon Street
Whitefriars Street
There will also be free on-street parking in designated bays in the city centre.
Manager Frank Lampard took his side to the top of the Championship table in his first full season in charge at the club, and won Championship Manager of the Season.
He told ITV News Central he was ignoring growing promotion “party” talk around Coventry City as the season progressed, insisting his focus remained firmly on the job.
“People can talk about parties – I focus on the work,” he told ITV News Central Sports Correspondent Dan Salisbury-Jones in Coventry City: The Resurrection, a new documentary now streaming on ITVX charting the Sky Blues’ remarkable rise from crisis to contention.
The documentary charts the resurgence of the Sky Blues, from years of turmoil to the brink of a return to the big time, under Lampard’s leadership.
It revisits defining moments in Coventry City’s history, including their famous 1987 FA Cup Final triumph under George Curtis and John Sillett.
It also explores darker chapters – from financial crises and administration battles to the club’s controversial ground-sharing spell away from the city in 2013 – testing the bond between the team and its supporters.
The programme highlights the revival led by Mark Robins, whose tenure delivered a climb back up the English football pyramid, as well as the stabilising ownership of Doug King and the eventual return to their home ground.
“You’ve got to celebrate”
Club owner Doug King spoke to ITV News Central about the importance of celebrating now with the fans, while looking back on previous celebrations, citing the importance of safety at these events.
Reporting History sees journalists join News At Ten anchor Tom Bradby to revisit their remarkable on-the-day reports of the defining events of the modern age. Listen to the episodes below…