City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

[davieG]

History of Leicestershire in Images
Graham Hulme
Old postcard view of Loughborough Road sent from Leicester in September 1912 to someone at the Grosvenor Hotel in Dublin.  This stretch of Loughborough Road is not far from the junction with Belgrave Road, though looking in the opposite direction, and most of the buildings seen here are still standing.  Later housing was built further along the road where the trees can be seen.  The corner of Ellis Avenue can be seen on the left side.  The sign in the upper window of the corner building says ‘Ellis Avenue Rooms’.  This is listed in Wright’s 1911 directory of Leicester as at 46 Loughborough Road and the manager was called H. Pich.  This business may not have lasted very long and by the time of Kelly’s 1916 directory number 46 was occupied by a printer named George Henry Garner.  The building on the opposite corner of Ellis Avenue was at 44 Loughborough Road and was a shop.  The 1911 directory shows the shopkeeper to be Mrs Mary Ann Clarke.  By the time of the 1916 directory the shopkeeper was Alfred Edgar Jones.  To the left of the shop is a lower building with a signboard at the top.  This was 42 Loughborough Road and was occupied by Henry Charles Hunt who was a joiner and builder according to the directories.  He is shown residing at the address in the 1911 census when he was aged 60 (he was born at Hinckley in 1850).  His occupation is entered as ‘Builder’ and residing with him were his wife, Sarah, aged 53, and their daughter, Beatrice Annie, aged 21 (working as a friendly societies clerk), plus a general domestic servant, Margaret Ann Ward, aged 14, and two female boarders, Lily Margaret Grindrod, aged 30 (single) and Eliza Hannah Capey, aged 49 (widowed), who were both elementary school teachers, possibly teaching at the Ellis Avenue School which was built in 1899.  Henry Charles Hunt appears to have died in Leicester in 1927.  Mary Ann Clarke at the corner shop next door is also in the 1911 census.  She was then aged 53, having been born at Swithland in about 1858, and was described as a general shopkeeper.  Her daughter, Ida Clarke, aged 17, was also residing there.

[davieG]

King Street - Then & Now - 1973 & 2022

 

Much has changed along here over the years, but not this corner...

Learn it's history from residential neighbourhood to industrial quarter at:

 

https://storyofleicester.info/a-working-town/king-street/?fbclid=IwAR0_V6wNGti-9_50ZFXoFMbOXM0uQJ85scMFxn6cvDn2thSPtSChbeWpqDM

[Free Falling Foxes]

On 03/11/2022 at 15:21, davieG said:

 

Then. Now

[davieG]

 

Story of Leicester
  · 
Epic House - home of the first BBC Leicester Radio studios.   Image credit: BBC

BBC Radio Leicester pioneered local radio, with England's first transmitter located on Anstey Lane. It was from here that BBC Radio Leicester made its opening broadcast at 12.45pm on 8 November 1967. The first voice to be heard was presenter Michael Murray.
BBC Radio Leicester was the first of eight local community stations. These were funded by their local councils, who paid the running costs of £1,000 per week.
This was a whole new way for the people of Leicester to receive the local news. As presenter Dave Challis put it, “for the first time, the sound of Leicester will be heard”.
#StoryofLeicester #Leicester

[Stadt]

12 minutes ago, davieG said:

 

Story of Leicester
  · 
Epic House - home of the first BBC Leicester Radio studios.   Image credit: BBC

BBC Radio Leicester pioneered local radio, with England's first transmitter located on Anstey Lane. It was from here that BBC Radio Leicester made its opening broadcast at 12.45pm on 8 November 1967. The first voice to be heard was presenter Michael Murray.
BBC Radio Leicester was the first of eight local community stations. These were funded by their local councils, who paid the running costs of £1,000 per week.
This was a whole new way for the people of Leicester to receive the local news. As presenter Dave Challis put it, “for the first time, the sound of Leicester will be heard”.
#StoryofLeicester #Leicester

Hard to imagine the council showing the same ambition now.

[davieG]

Just now, Stadt said:

Hard to imagine the council showing the same ambition now.

We used to get a lot of 1sts back then, 

First Traffic Wardens outside London.

Lee Circle card park with the Tesco was ground breaking.

The Bowling Alley at the back with it's 36 lane was the biggest single floor alley in the Uk, might even have been in Europe

To name but a few.

 

Now it all goes to Nottingham.

 

[Stadt]

3 hours ago, davieG said:

We used to get a lot of 1sts back then, 

First Traffic Wardens outside London.

Lee Circle card park with the Tesco was ground breaking.

The Bowling Alley at the back with it's 36 lane was the biggest single floor alley in the Uk, might even have been in Europe

To name but a few.

 

Now it all goes to Nottingham.

 

One of the most frustrating things is how often they make developers revise the number of floors. They seek planning for 14 or 15 (not exactly mega tall) and planning dept. make them settle for 10 or 11. The council don't seem to appreciate how stark the housing situation is, especially as Leicester has a huge volume of new arrivals each year.

[WarehamFox]

6 hours ago, davieG said:

We used to get a lot of 1sts back then, 

First Traffic Wardens outside London.

Lee Circle card park with the Tesco was ground breaking.

The Bowling Alley at the back with it's 36 lane was the biggest single floor alley in the Uk, might even have been in Europe

To name but a few.

 

Now it all goes to Nottingham.

 

Hopefully the King Power plans around the stadium will help. The wife wants to see Peter Kay and the closest place to see him is in Nottingham. Could the new arena in the plans attract that sort of act?

[davieG]

 

Story of Leicester 

A fantastic old photo to share with you this Tuesday morning.

It shows an early view of Saint James the Greater Church, with the former trams running along London Road by Victoria Park.

Image credit: Leicester & Leicestershire Record Office.

Henry Goddard designed the Church in the late 19th century like an Italian basilica. The Church was consecrated in 1901, the same year the Leicester Corporation took over the tramways!

There's a new heritage panel about Saint James the Greater Church, facing it on Victoria Park.

#StoryofLeicester #Leicester

[davieG]

Bad news for speeders

 

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/seven-new-locations-patrolled-mobile-7796045

 

Seven new locations to be patrolled by mobile speed camera vans in bid to catch lawbreaking drivers

 

Seven new locations to be patrolled by mobile speed camera vans in bid to catch lawbreaking drivers

 

The new locations

• Wigston Road, Oadby
• The Moor, Coleorton Moor
• Ashburton Road, Hugglescote
• Northampton Road, Market Harborough
• Hathern Road (30mph), Shepshed
• Croft Road, Cosby
• Leicester Road B4668 (30mph), Hinckley

[davieG]

Memories of Leicester

Langham Bridge, 1952, Leicester to Coventry Road, Narborough..

[davieG]

1950s

[davieG]

Graham Hulme

Old postcard of Loughborough Market Place with lots of busy market stalls.  The card was posted from Loughborough to an address in Brixton, south London, postmarked 7th September 1904.  The front of the card has the date September 9th 1904 written on it which might be when the card was received.  Most of the buildings seen here have been replaced by later buildings, except for the Town Hall and the large bank building next to it at the far end of the left side.  The tall chimney in the distance belonged to Clarke’s dyeworks which stood behind Devonshire Square.  The dyeworks closed down in the 1950s and was demolished.  On the far right of the photo is seen Waterloo House which at this time was E. H. Allsopp’s draper’s shop.  The site is now occupied by the extended part of Boots the chemist.  A draper’s business had existed here, at no. 11 Market Place, since at least the early 19th century, though it had passed through several ownerships.  By the 1880s it was in the hands of William Tidd, who had moved up from no. 9 Market Place and the 1881 census shows that Elijah Hermon Allsopp was an assistant draper in Tidd’s household at no. 11.  E. H. Allsopp was born in Shepshed in 1855, where his father John Allsopp was a wheelwright.  He seems to have been named after his grandfather, Elijah Allsopp, who was a baker in Field Street, Shepshed.  E. H. Allsopp had been an assistant in Tidd’s business since the 1870s and after William Tidd’s retirement about 1892 Allsopp took over the draper’s shop at no. 11 (William Tidd was Mayor of Loughborough in 1897-98 and died in 1920).  The 1901 and 1911 censuses show Allsopp to be residing at no. 11 with his wife Lily and daughter Rosaline and he is described as ‘General Draper’.  Allsopp's business at no. 11 was also listed in local directories from the early 1890s.  Elijah H. Allsopp died in September 1928, aged 72, when his home was then on Ashby Road.  The draper’s shop was subsequently run by Samuel Arthur Simpkin, who had worked as a draper’s assistant.  He remained as managing director of Allsopp's until his death in 1950 when he was succeeded by his son, Harold Simpkin.  Allsopp's closed down in 1962 and the building was demolished shortly after.  A modern retail block was built on the sites of nos. 10 and 11 about 1963 - next to a new Boots store at nos. 12 & 13 (the new Boots store opened in 1959 and was built on the site of James’s Vaults which once stood to the right of Allsopp’s). Later, Boots expanded into no. 11 and extended at the back to link with the shopping precinct which had been built in the early 1970s.

[davieG]

[Parafox]

On 07/11/2022 at 11:36, davieG said:

 

Story of Leicester
  · 
Epic House - home of the first BBC Leicester Radio studios.   Image credit: BBC

BBC Radio Leicester pioneered local radio, with England's first transmitter located on Anstey Lane. It was from here that BBC Radio Leicester made its opening broadcast at 12.45pm on 8 November 1967. The first voice to be heard was presenter Michael Murray.
BBC Radio Leicester was the first of eight local community stations. These were funded by their local councils, who paid the running costs of £1,000 per week.
This was a whole new way for the people of Leicester to receive the local news. As presenter Dave Challis put it, “for the first time, the sound of Leicester will be heard”.
#StoryofLeicester #Leicester

IIRC, local radio stations were being established as a way of warning and advising local people of what to do in the event of a nuclear attack as were in the middle of the cold war with Russia, because national radio (only the BBC at the time) would be too busy with news and events if there was such a crisis and each area of the country would probably have to manage things differently.

[Parafox]

9 hours ago, davieG said:

Memories of Leicester

Langham Bridge, 1952, Leicester to Coventry Road, Narborough..

 

My uncle was a director of Rootes group in 1952. (See the name above Castle's). His company car was a Sunbeam Rapier. 

 

Like this one:

 

 

I remember it well. Took me and my mum, him and my aunt to Berwick on Tweed in 1964. I had a toy steering wheel that could be attached to the back of the front seat (I sat in the back) and I'd pretend to drive. Such fun. As a result, I've always loved driving.

 

Edited 9 November 2022 by Parafox

[davieG]

3 minutes ago, Parafox said:

IIRC, local radio stations were being established as a way of warning and advising local people of what to do in the event of a nuclear attack as were in the middle of the cold war with Russia, because national radio (only the BBC at the time) would be too busy with news and events if there was such a crisis and each area of the country would probably have to manage things differently.

Sounds feasible, not that there was anyway we could be saved, hiding under the stairs or under a door you've removed were laughable but I guess we knew no better.

 

https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/MSX/3659

[davieG]

1 minute ago, Parafox said:

 

My uncle was a director of Rootes group in 1952. (See the name above Castle's). His company car was a Sunbeam Rapier. 

 

Like this one:

 

 

 

Classy of the period.

[Parafox]

6 minutes ago, davieG said:

Sounds feasible, not that there was anyway we could be saved, hiding under the stairs or under a door you've removed were laughable but I guess we knew no better.

 

https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/MSX/3659

Seems I was misinformed:

 

www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/research/local-radio

[davieG]

[Parafox]

2 minutes ago, davieG said:

Had many a good time in there back in the mid 70's.

Although I remember a few fights in there where those big, heavy, chunky beer mugs with a handle would be used to whack someone on the head. Chairs being chucked around and the bar staff ducking behind the bar. No door security back then. Either scrap, or leg it out of there.

[davieG]

Granby street 1965 Britannia Works & Barley Mow Hotel

 

To this 

[davieG]

On 08/11/2022 at 11:48, davieG said:

 

Story of Leicester 

A fantastic old photo to share with you this Tuesday morning.

It shows an early view of Saint James the Greater Church, with the former trams running along London Road by Victoria Park.

Image credit: Leicester & Leicestershire Record Office.

Henry Goddard designed the Church in the late 19th century like an Italian basilica. The Church was consecrated in 1901, the same year the Leicester Corporation took over the tramways!

There's a new heritage panel about Saint James the Greater Church, facing it on Victoria Park.

#StoryofLeicester #Leicester

Story of Leicester
  · 
Another look at the London Road junction with Victoria Park Road, taken way back in 1878.
It shows the toll gate and toll house, that were used to control the passage of goods and people back in the days of horse-drawn stagecoaches. A fee would be collected from those passing through for the maintenance and upkeep for that stretch of road.
Doesn't it look much calmer than the busy roundabout route we know it as today...

[davieG]

A statue of a Sikh soldier was unveiled on Sunday October 30 2022 in Leicester to honour Sikhs who fought for Britain in conflicts around the world. The bronze figure was sculpted by Taranjit Singh is displayed on a granite plinth in Victoria Park. Its very near the De Montfort Hall entrance. In the first world war, 34,252 soldiers, mostly Sikhs, died while during second world war 89,218 soldiers died.

 

 

[FoyleFox]

7 hours ago, davieG said:

Granby street 1965 Britannia Works & Barley Mow Hotel

 

To this 

It's appalling we've gone from the top picture to the bottom picture. So many towns manage to retain their grand old buildings. Sad.