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davieG

Getting to the Match 1930's style.

By davieG, in Leicester City Forum

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davieG

davieG

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Chaotic, but nonetheless still integrated transport on city match day

Busy scene at Leicester's Welford Road junction in the 1930s

 

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By

Austin J Ruddy

11:46, 28 FEB 2018

 

Traffic chaos, 1930s-style. Buses, trams, cars, vans, cyclists and pedestrians, all happily mingling together, in what looks to be a completely higgledy-piggledy way – yet, presumably, it all worked out somehow.

This shot was taken looking towards the Welford Road junction with Aylestone Road, on a football match day.

The Aylestone Road recreation ground – ‘reccy’ (now Nelson Mandela Park) can be seen towards the upper left of the picture.

As today, there’s an impressive avenue of trees lining Welford Road and for the really eagle-eyed, there’s a glimpse of the white-painted entrance to the skating rink of the old Granby Halls, at the centre right, towards the top.

So, that just about gives us our bearings.

The tram nearest the camera is a football special, as I guess, so are the buses on the right, as, in those days, the vast majority of football supporters, both for Leicester City, at Filbert Street and the Tigers, just along Welford Road, would have walked, cycled or taken the bus/tram to the match.

The days of surrounding streets being crammed with supporters’ parked cars were a long way away yet.

As always in these period photos, the crowd is very formally dressed, with most, whether men or women, wearing hats.

Many men are in long overcoats or the ubiquitous gabardine mac that was so popular for decades.

Most people are heading in the same direction and I wonder if the cyclist on the lower far right of the photo is thinking about where he can leave his bike for the match?

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Now gone: The Victory pub, left, and the now demolished Pride of Leicester pub, on Welford Road, Leicester, in 2009.

If so, he may well decide to leave it with one of the residents of the houses that surrounded the Filbert Street ground, as many of the householders round there would supplement their income on match days by allowing cyclists, for a small charge, to leave their bikes with them where they would be safe and out of the way.

Others I believe, would allow hard-up fans to view the match from their bedroom windows! I love the sign in the left foreground: “Teas with Hovis.” This must refer to a long-gone café in the vicinity.

Either way, I’m sure they did a roaring trade on match days – as did the local pubs – and there were several of them in the 1930s.

Some have now closed others are still going. Those that have gone altogether include the old Bedford Inn (later the Victory) and the Freemen’s Arms, later the Pride of Leicester, which faced each other either side of Knighton Street, just a little way along Aylestone Road.

These two pubs would be packed to the rafters when there was a match on at either ground.

The same could be said of the Swan and Rushes, on Infirmary Square, the Bricklayers Arms, on the corner of Welford Road and Regent Road and the Sir Robert Peel, in Jarrom Street and the many pubs in the Walnut Street area that were demolished in the 1960s.

Today, this area is still a busy junction, now dominated by the Royal Infirmary to the right and in the distance, the giant Holland and Barrett Stand of the Tigers Ground.

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Fox92

Fox92

Posted
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59 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

A decent tram/light rail system would make getting to games much easier today, never mind when there were no cars on the road.

Trams are the way forward. Getting to Man Utd & Man City away is much easier with their tram system.

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simFox

simFox

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Cool story, but they're actually off to watch the rugby. The guy with bike probably just knicked it on his way home to Beaumont Leys.

Wolfox

Wolfox

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Why did we ever do away with trams?

 

i remember getting hammered in that pub back the late 90”s on a particularly bizarre New Years Eve...  ended up dancing on a pool table to The Smiths with a load of the barmaids!

foxinsocks

foxinsocks

Posted
Posted (edited)

After the game we went out ...saw a show..had a steak dinner....washed down with 4 pints of porter each...and still had money for double whiskies and a taxi home out of £2.   Marvellous.  We quite forgot the lack of creativity in the second half. And the poor marking at set pieces

Edited by foxinsocks
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Fox92

Fox92

Posted
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5 hours ago, Wolfox said:

Why did we ever do away with trams?

 

i remember getting hammered in that pub back the late 90”s on a particularly bizarre New Years Eve...  ended up dancing on a pool table to The Smiths with a load of the barmaids!

Most Cities got rid of them, if not all, for some reason. Thankfully the likes of Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester have reserected them. Much better way to travel than bus or taxi.

Sampson

Sampson

Posted
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2 hours ago, MC Prussian said:

Imagine if Leicester were to push for the construction of a monorail transportation system within the city limits - try the Wuppertal approach:

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I hear those things are awfully loud...

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davieG

davieG

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3 hours ago, Ian Nacho said:

No idea why the city even got rid of the trams.

Buses that could go anywhere

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