City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

[Out Foxed]

3 hours ago, Voll Blau said:

I don't know if it's just me but Granby Street looks a little bit nicer every time I walk down it? There really aren't many walks out of stations in major UK cities where you're greeted with a great view/nice architecture on your doorstep or the first five minutes of your journey on foot (Liverpool Lime Street probably one of the exceptions).

hmmm i'd have to do the walk, usually i enter down new walk. i know there was a load of roadworks last time i worked out of the city that way. my main thing is the class and design of the shopfronts. would be nice to get improvement there. for example the green and gold uniformity on the left is a lot nicer than a load of random food and mobile phone shops with tacky advertising. 

[Voll Blau]

16 minutes ago, Out Foxed said:

hmmm i'd have to do the walk, usually i enter down new walk. i know there was a load of roadworks last time i worked out of the city that way. my main thing is the class and design of the shopfronts. would be nice to get improvement there. for example the green and gold uniformity on the left is a lot nicer than a load of random food and mobile phone shops with tacky advertising. 

Agree there's still plenty to be done and, you're right, there's a lot of potential with a bit of imagination like the idea you mention there.

 

I always walk as far as Belvoir Street from the station every matchday and it's nowhere near the junkie-addled shithole people on here are so often quick to portray it as. As usual with Leicester, we're just too harsh on ourselves and don't think about how we compare to similar-sized cities elsewhere. Hopefully this plan with the station leads to further investment over the road and beyond.

[The Fox Covert]

13 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

Agree there's still plenty to be done and, you're right, there's a lot of potential with a bit of imagination like the idea you mention there.

 

I always walk as far as Belvoir Street from the station every matchday and it's nowhere near the junkie-addled shithole people on here are so often quick to portray it as. As usual with Leicester, we're just too harsh on ourselves and don't think about how we compare to similar-sized cities elsewhere. Hopefully this plan with the station leads to further investment over the road and beyond.

Completely agree with this. I live twenty odd miles south of Bristol which is my nearest city. Bristol has its good bits, a waterfront (which Leicester also has) and College Green, but the streets nearest to the main shopping streets are a traffic nightmare and the traffic congestion generally is officially recognised as the worst of any city outside London. Bristol's public transport network is also desperately haphazard and although the city now has a ULEZ in the centre I bet it has not made a jot of difference to the level of air pollution in the city centre.

[Voll Blau]

4 minutes ago, The Fox Covert said:

Completely agree with this. I live twenty odd miles south of Bristol which is my nearest city. Bristol has its good bits, a waterfront (which Leicester also has) and College Green, but the streets nearest to the main shopping streets are a traffic nightmare and the traffic congestion generally is officially recognised as the worst of any city outside London. Bristol's public transport network is also desperately haphazard and although the city now has a ULEZ in the centre I bet it has not made a jot of difference to the level of air pollution in the city centre.

Exactly. And you hardly walk out from Temple Meads straight into any of the nice bits you mention, is it?

[Free Falling Foxes]

4 minutes ago, The Fox Covert said:

Bristol has its good bits, a waterfront (which Leicester also has)

How have I managed to have missed that?

[kenny]

1 minute ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

How have I managed to have missed that?

There is the oft forgotten boating lake in Abbey Park.

[The Fox Covert]

1 minute ago, Voll Blau said:

Exactly. And you hardly walk out from Temple Meads straight into any of the nice bits you mention, is it?

I might sometimes walk out from Temple Meads if my town still had a railway. It once had two! The area round Temple Meads is dreary and much less pleasant than the walk from Leicester London Road Station down Granby Street to the city centre.

[The Fox Covert]

2 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

How have I managed to have missed that?

If you remember what the canal was like when I was at school, a watery rubbish dump full of car tyres, shopping trolleys, traffic cones, mattresses, Honda 50 mopeds and other stuff too horrible to mention you will know what I mean. The school fishing competition once yielded 3 tiny fish as the total catch, with the largest a stonking 5 grams! One day it will be tidied up as far as Frog Island. It's getting there.

[davieG]

22 hours ago, davieG said:

 

 

 

 

LEICESTER TRANSPORT HERITAGE TRUST  · 

Join

 

Jake Toby Clay  · odopeSsrtn1mt07m6711114hit11lml2ug66h4c9ht65h0h3a1509fh8fuic  · 

New images have been shared showing how the train station will look following a proposed multi-million-pound transformation.

Leicester City Council is planning to restore the station building back to its Victorian glory, relocating its main entrance so that it opens onto Station Street and directly faces the city centre.

With taxis being moved to a new purpose built looped taxi rank, it will open up the current taxi space as a new plaza for cafes, bars or retail. However the proposed plans do require the demolition of The Parcel Yard and next door taxi office.

The city council has already successfully secured £17.6million from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund to help realise the ambitious plans. Planning and listed building consent will be required before work can start on site, but if given the go-ahead, work is expected to start later this year.

 

Used to be across the road

 

Born and Raised in Leicester

dorpSstone2glha6fg8t4acl98ml08t2uf05u0c1g7m44thggmmal1u89hug  · 

 

Wyvern Hotel: The London Road hotel was designed by architect Arthur Wakerley to complement the city's new railway station.
It was hailed as one of the most up-to-date commercial hotels in the country when it opened in the 1890s, but it shut down in 1933 and the building was eventually demolished in 1974 to make way for Elizabeth House, a high-rise block of flats

[davieG]

Story of Leicester

oosnSepdrta22hia63ih57ic435ftmc20gf1t55664lul48a7fi81f9673cl  · 

 

With new plans announced to transform Leicester's Railway Station: https://bit.ly/3KrHi2j
...let's look back to 1892 when it first opened.

The Leicester London Road Station, as it was known then, was built to replace the "cramped and dingy" Campbell Street Station and to accommodate an ever-increasing volume of passenger and parcel traffic.

Designed by the Midland Railway architect Charles Trubshaw, the station frontage features four entrance archways; two for “Arrivals” and two for “Departures”. These dramatic arches make little sense now but originally assisted horse-drawn cab drivers when dropping passengers off to catch their trains or looking for business from passengers who had just arrived. Beneath the “Departure” lettering are “IN” and “OUT” panels, one featuring a cherub holding a globe and the other with a cherub sitting by a steam train.

Learn more history on our website: https://storyofleicester.info/.../campbell-street-and.../

[davieG]

 

Rob Hubble

resopdotSna586006fff593af0m1c5m50f709ami491hh9080t0g0ifg8im1  · 

 

Becketts Buckets
London Road 1950.

[Free Falling Foxes]

2 hours ago, davieG said:

 

Rob Hubble

resopdotSna586006fff593af0m1c5m50f709ami491hh9080t0g0ifg8im1  · 

 

Becketts Buckets
London Road 1950.

Love this pic - really of its time.

No high viz jackets, no hard hat's, no safety barriers.

In fact, one guy whose digging (partly obscured) looks like he's wearing a waist coat. He probably was even wearing a tie!

The guy behind him, if you zoom in, looks like the Brassneck character from the Dandy of years gone by.

 

Edited 23 February 2023 by Free Falling Foxes

[The Fox Covert]

20 hours ago, davieG said:

Used to be across the road

 

Born and Raised in Leicester

dorpSstone2glha6fg8t4acl98ml08t2uf05u0c1g7m44thggmmal1u89hug  · 

 

Wyvern Hotel: The London Road hotel was designed by architect Arthur Wakerley to complement the city's new railway station.
It was hailed as one of the most up-to-date commercial hotels in the country when it opened in the 1890s, but it shut down in 1933 and the building was eventually demolished in 1974 to make way for Elizabeth House, a high-rise block of flats

Interesting post. I don't remember the Wyvern Hotel but I can picture Elizabeth House in my head. A pretty dismal piece of seventies brutalist concrete architecture and putting coloured panels all over it does not make it look any better. There is a Wakerley Road in Evington which is presumably named after this man. This stimulated me to a little bit of lunchtime research.

Arthur Wakerley was a Leicestershire man, born in Melton and became Mayor of Leicester. He has his own Wikipedia page and there are fourteen buildings in Leicester that he designed which are now listed buildings. Not just large and impressive buildings but the 1920s council houses, pretty revolutionary for the time, in Highfields and Knighton Fields. YouTube video linked. I will give it a watch later. 

 

[Wolfox]

On 21/02/2023 at 17:45, davieG said:

Born and Raised in Leicester

  · 

Victorian buildings being demolished in New Walk, Leicester, to make way for an office block, in 1969

 

Tom Logue

 

In the 1950s the Planners of Leicester City Council produced a plan for an Inner Ring road to cut across New Walk at the point next to Holy Cross Church. Having publicised it and compulsorily purchased what were then viable solidly-built well-maintained family houses in the affected zone (some examples of which are extant next to the Waterloo Way footbridge) the former owners moved out leaving them empty awaiting demolition but the Council then had second thoughts due to strong Public objections and suspended the whole plan whilst it was reassessed. The now-empty houses were left to their own devices and quickly a combination of neglect, metal theft, vandalism and use by homeless people to doss in (which lead to several houses having fires of varying degrees as the floorboards were burnt by these homeless) made them become derelict. After several years the route of the Ring road was moved by the Planners to where Waterloo Way is now (leading to the destruction of the homes, workshops, shops, cafe and the Admiral Beatty pub along Waterloo Street, Hastings Street and Lower Hastings Street) so the now unwanted and now derelict houses in the original route zone were sold off by the Council to the highest bidders who quickly demolished them. That horrible grey concrete "egg box" office block was built next to Holy Cross Church (and closer to the tree line than the demolished houses were which is why that part of New Walk is darker than the rest of the houses along that side) whilst the purchaser on the opposite side of New Walk (which this photo shows) saved some of the original frontage which could be salvaged then, in an admirable act of Civic Responsibility, built the rest of the frontage of the office block which was then built in that location in the same frontage style as the demolished houses which had stood there.

In fairness those brutalist concrete buildings (IBM?) have a certain charm now if you ask me…. I quite like ‘em

[Wolfox]

On 22/02/2023 at 09:42, Stadt said:

Gents 

Unfortunately they no longer make clocks…. Fire alarms are not a problem though 

 

I work with them

Now called Gent…. A highly successful brand sold all over the world with a lot of engineering R&D done in Leicester 

[Stadt]

34 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

Unfortunately they no longer make clocks…. Fire alarms are not a problem though 

 

I work with them

Now called Gent…. A highly successful brand sold all over the world with a lot of engineering R&D done in Leicester 

Honeywell is the successor company right?

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

On 22/02/2023 at 10:01, Voll Blau said:

I don't know if it's just me but Granby Street looks a little bit nicer every time I walk down it? There really aren't many walks out of stations in major UK cities where you're greeted with a great view/nice architecture on your doorstep or the first five minutes of your journey on foot (Liverpool Lime Street probably one of the exceptions).

Once the work is done Nottingham is going to have a pretty tidy gateway into town now the Broadmarsh has been levelled. 

 

Don't necessarily think Granby St itself is an absolute tip but being greeted by Elizabeth House and that garbage blue tower once you leave the station makes this feel a bit like putting shaping wax (firm hold) on a bald head. The former especially is going to look starkly out of place given how close it is to this.

 

 

[Wolfox]

58 minutes ago, Stadt said:

Honeywell is the successor company right?

That’s right…. It’s now Gent Honeywell…. Based out of Carlton Hayes Narborough…. Sadly manufacturing shut up a couple of years ago

 

They have some brilliant engineers doing some really interesting stuff

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/end-e-bike-scheme-leicester-8181816?fbclid=IwAR3bidUOW9ADhRsN4EeWzxeKi2t5DZrYlHETh-XnrkVmAzMQnCE6yNKaJVM

 

Not so good.

 

End of e-bike scheme in Leicester as company goes bust

The council has said the scheme cannot continue

 

Leicester's e-bike hire scheme has been scrapped after the company which ran it was declared insolvent. Ride On Scotland halted the Santander e-bike scheme in the city last week, with users told the issue was temporary.

But the company, based out of Dundee, has now ceased trading and made its nine employees redundant. Leicester City Council has confirmed the scheme will not be able to continue in the city, describing its end as “a great shame”.

A spokesperson for the council said: “It’s very disappointing that the operators, Ride On Scotland, are not in a position to continue running the bike share scheme. We are talking to the liquidators to understand what happens next and working with them to ensure the bikes and infrastructure are kept safe.

READ MORE: Vandals targeted e-bike docking stations in spate of disorder

“It’s a great shame that the scheme will not be able to continue and have the chance to develop and expand, as it did have the potential to increase cycling as a preferred form of transport in the city.”

The e-bikes placed around the city, along with the charging docks will be sold off, the company has said. It blamed its insolvency on a lack of investment which resulted in cash flow problems.

[davieG]

 

Story of Leicester

sptSornoed774f6407i0687g0l54chc2ll96tcff6u441a120g9h3tgmtu0g  · 

 

Inside a Clyde Car erecting shop, in the early days of the motor industry.

G.H. Wait & Co was one of several motor engineering firms in early 20th century Leicester. George H. Wait began making bicycles in Leicester in the late 19th century. He later added engines to the bicycles to make an early form of motorcycle.

From about 1901 he began to make motor vehicles under the brand name Clyde. These cars were hand built in the Belgrave Gate garage and works. Wait's cars were innovative and efficient for their time. A rare example of a Clyde Car from
1908, called the “Old Grey Mare”. can be seen on display at Abbey Pumping Station.

Learn more about G.H. Wait & Co on a new heritage panel, recently installed on Queen Street.

Image from the Leicester & Leicestershire Record Office.

#StoryofLeicester #LeicesterMuseums 

[Wolfox]

Knighton Church Road - very early 20th century 

 

This is before the junction with Goldhill Road where the Londis (formerly Flynn’s) is…. The old dye works (yet to be built) would have been to the right…

 

Rose cottage can be seen in the background- the UKs smallest detached house (according to the Merc!)

 

A lot of the area was owned by the Cradock family (pub) who’s main residence was in the Isle of Wight, hence Shanklin Drive & Ventnor Road etc.

 

[Free Falling Foxes]

2 hours ago, davieG said:

 

Story of Leicester

sptSornoed774f6407i0687g0l54chc2ll96tcff6u441a120g9h3tgmtu0g  · 

 

Inside a Clyde Car erecting shop, in the early days of the motor industry.

G.H. Wait & Co was one of several motor engineering firms in early 20th century Leicester. George H. Wait began making bicycles in Leicester in the late 19th century. He later added engines to the bicycles to make an early form of motorcycle.

From about 1901 he began to make motor vehicles under the brand name Clyde. These cars were hand built in the Belgrave Gate garage and works. Wait's cars were innovative and efficient for their time. A rare example of a Clyde Car from
1908, called the “Old Grey Mare”. can be seen on display at Abbey Pumping Station.

Learn more about G.H. Wait & Co on a new heritage panel, recently installed on Queen Street.

Image from the Leicester & Leicestershire Record Office.

#StoryofLeicester #LeicesterMuseums 

In those days then, it wasn't an assembly line, more an erection line!

The mind boggles.....

[davieG]

[davieG]

History of Leicestershire in Images

Derek C Goodwin  ·  · 

I was given a big list of pubs from the past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[davieG]

 

 

History of Leicestershire in Images

Jayne Wills  ·   · 

 

 

Groby Road 1950s