City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

[Parafox]

12 minutes ago, davieG said:

1992

I wish someone would explain why iconic buildings like this couldn't be saved.

[davieG]

Just now, Parafox said:

I wish someone would explain why iconic buildings like this couldn't be saved.

££££ and to be fair to Leicester City Council and all District Council the balance of power is heavily on the side of Developers as they have the £s to appeal against any blockages whilst it costs Council Tax payers to stump up the readies to appeal or defend a decision.

[Parafox]

3 minutes ago, davieG said:

££££ and to be fair to Leicester City Council and all District Council the balance of power is heavily on the side of Developers as they have the £s to appeal against any blockages whilst it costs Council Tax payers to stump up the readies to appeal or defend a decision.

 

Reminds me of that Joni Mitchell song:

 

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone

[Wymsey]

A former showroom on Welford Road is set to be used for student accommodation.

[davieG]

29 minutes ago, Parafox said:

 

Reminds me of that Joni Mitchell song:

 

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone

Remember it well.

[SemperEadem]

 

[Free Falling Foxes]

12 hours ago, Wymsey said:

A former showroom on Welford Road is set to be used for student accommodation.

Personally, I think they should now put a hold on yet still more student accommodation.

I read that student numbers are down and waiting lists for home tenancy is high, so what do they do?

Any areas/old sites like that could be put to better use building homes/flats.

 

[davieG]

25 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

Personally, I think they should now put a hold on yet still more student accommodation.

I read that student numbers are down and waiting lists for home tenancy is high, so what do they do?

Any areas/old sites like that could be put to better use building homes/flats.

 

Again the developers win the regulations push them this way as the specs for student accommodation allow them to squeeze more into each plot as the room sizes can be smaller, that's as I understand it.

 

The other argument  is that it frees up more of the existing housing stock.

 

But I agree it just seems to have gone too far now.

[davieG]

Under the Grand on Belvoir Street 1984

 

 

[davieG]

Born and Raised in Leicester

 

ELBOW LANE

Happy memories of days at Elbow Lane school

Leicester's old schools are always popular with readers, who often write to me with their memories of their own schooldays, and I am grateful to B J McAllister for sending me some reminiscences of her time at Elbow Lane School, pictured. She joined the school in 1939 – but war clouds loomed:

"Up to the end of the 1938 school year, the school had boys, girls and infants, but it was decided, due to house clearances, to make it a girls only school and widen the catchment area," writes Mrs McAllister, of Anstey.

"So, in September 1939, my year were due to start there, but the air raid shelter in the playground hadn't been finished and we had a letter to say we were to go to other schools.

"I was to go to Willow Street. We were to go in the mornings one week, and afternoons the next. It didn't last long and we were soon back at Elbow Lane.

"The way we went was very interesting. We'd meet at the bottom of Lee Street, where there was a static water tank for any fires due to bombing. It stretched from Eldon Street to Lee Street, fronting Wharf Street.

"Then we went over the clinker path to the underground shelters, which we used at night.

"Then past the job centre, crossing to Abbey Street. Sometimes we crossed further up and went through the Savoy opening to the bus station.

"We often went through St Margaret's churchyard to Lower Church Gate, where facing the church was a row of shops with a wide opening half way along to Long Lane where the Elastoplast factory was.

"If we had time, we would watch the men making the plasters. Finally, we went along Long Lane to Burgess Street and Elbow Lane.

"The assembly hall was very large and at the top was a classroom which had showers over the pegs.

"We were told it was in case of gas attacks.

"To the left was the headmistress' – Miss Medlicott – room and right was our classroom, for first years.

"We also had a science lab and a biology classroom, while above the hall was the gym.

"The cookery room, at the side of the hall, had five large stoves in it: three gas and two electric.

"We were divided into three groups: cookery, laundry and housewifery.

"It was a very instructive time and I remember cooking Woolton Pie and taking it home. It went down well, too!

"The cleaning we did was in the teachers' room. Upstairs was the art room with its sloping desks and the library with a wide range of books.

"In 1940, we were told that the ground at the back of the school was for us to make a garden and Dig for Victory.

"It had previously been a court of small houses that had been pulled down.

"We found some unusual things digging, such as a sheep's jawbone. I enjoyed growing things and we bought the results, which went down well with the pupils and staff.

"As for sports, we played hockey on the St Margaret's Pastures and tennis on the courts just inside the Slater Street entrance to Abbey Park.

"Despite the shortages, which made it difficult for the teachers, we enjoyed our time at Elbow Lane, or at least I did – most of the time.

"I don't know whether you will be interested in my memories, but I've felt for a long time, they needed to be written down. There are a few of us left. A lot of the places I've mentioned are no more, including the house I lived in."

B J McAllister

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

On 26/07/2022 at 17:14, davieG said:

 

Born and Raised in Leicester

Messrs Faire's Premises (Alexandra House), corner of Southampton Street and Wimbledon Street, 1902.

 

 

A survivor.

 

There's some nice(ish) buildings that way but this one sticks out as just being almost out of place. Really fantastic looking building and whoever maintains it does a great job.

[Finnegan]

On 27/07/2022 at 19:36, Parafox said:

I wish someone would explain why iconic buildings like this couldn't be saved.

 

On 27/07/2022 at 19:46, Parafox said:

 

Reminds me of that Joni Mitchell song:

 

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone

 

Give over, man, that's an objectively hideous building. There's a difference between "I like that building because it had sentimental value to me because it reminds me of when I was younger" and "that building is truly iconic."

 

Tearing down the Clock Tower, Guild Hall or Town Hall would be tragic. Getting rid of some art-deco-meets-brutalist shambles that's not a good example of either is just progress. 

 

I'm pretty sure Joni Mitchell would consider that concrete abomination to be the thing they built OVER paradise, not paradise itself. 

[davieG]

 

High Street in the 1920

[davieG]

Coleman Road

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/huge-700-bed-student-flat-7388136

 

Huge 700-bed student flat plan for narrow Leicester street

 

Developers have revealed hopes to build a massive student development in Leicester – and they have a location in mind. The developers, Corvette Capital and Crown Student Living, have selected Leicester as the site for one of its four planned developments.

While the Leicester plans are still in the very early stages, it is expected to create around 700 rooms for students at the two city universities. It will also have social facilities such as gyms, cinemas, lounges and leisure facilities, break out study rooms and landscaped outdoor spaces.

The developers are eyeing up Little Holme Street, off Braunstone Gate, as the location of this huge development. They would need to file a planning application with Leicester City Council and get development approval before any work could take place.

READ MORE: Charity reveals plan to create 72-bed care home for people with dementia and complex needs

The site, opposite Tesco, it less than a 10 minute walk from the De Montfort University campus. It is around a 30 minute walk from the University of Leicester.

[kenny]

On 28/07/2022 at 08:49, davieG said:

Again the developers win the regulations push them this way as the specs for student accommodation allow them to squeeze more into each plot as the room sizes can be smaller, that's as I understand it.

 

The other argument  is that it frees up more of the existing housing stock.

 

But I agree it just seems to have gone too far now.

The council in Leicester do impose minimum space standards on student accommodation. 

 

It is true to say that they are cheaper to build as the acoustic rules are less stringent meaning the build costs are lower.

 

However, the reality is that foreign students pay obscene rent levels compared to traditional apartments which is why they are so attractive. An 18m2 room is rented for £600+ a month.

[davieG]

Queens Road 1965

 

I was living just around the corner from here at that time.

[Parafox]

10 minutes ago, davieG said:

Queens Road 1965

 

I was living just around the corner from here at that time.

Queens Road has always seemed a classy, eclectic street, particularly since you moved away. Even more so in the last few years. Restaurants, a few bars, good independent shops etc. 

[davieG]

LEICESTER PAST: Royal Standard Hotel, Charles Street, 1957.

 

Grand Union Canal
South Wigston
July 1976
(Leicester Mercury Photo)

 

Scraptoft Lane 1961

[davieG]

1880s

[davieG]

Woodgate

[Free Falling Foxes]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

Woodgate

I used to work just around the corner from here. Often there would be a sickly sweet whiff in air from the baking of the biscuits.

Edited 31 July 2022 by Free Falling Foxes

[davieG]

Quorn & Woodhouse Station
 · 
On this day in 1952, the 1st Bn Royal Leicestershire Regiment arrived at Quorn and Woodhouse station having travelled home from Korea. They docked at Southampton on the Empire Orwell  and travelled to Leicester in a special train hauled by "The Leicestershire Regiment".
During a two-hour stay in Leicester they paraded through the city to march to the home crowds to the regimantal band and drums before re-boarding the train and for Quorn and Woodhouse station. They were bound for Camp Quorn for their six-week leave. 
During their march from the station to Camp Quorn they were greeted by large crowds, and many of the houses on the route were decorated with flags. Local dignitaries greeted the men as they arrived on the station including veteran Joe "The Warrior" Burton who wore his medals from 1887-1889 Burma campaign. 
The attached photograph has been recently discovered and depicts a military regiment in the yard sometime during the 1950s. The quality is poor but perhaps one of our followers could identify the regiment?

[davieG]

#ThrowbackThursday from our Leicester Stories Gallery. #Throwback to 1958 when building started on Leicester’s inner ring road at Vaughan Way. http://leicestermuseums.org/leicesterstoriesgallery #Tbt

[davieG]

#Throwback to 1973 the completion of the Haymarket Shopping Centre with Sir Ralph Richardson opening the Haymarket Theatre. http://leicestermuseums.org/leicesterstoriesgallery #Tbt