City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

[Free Falling Foxes]

2 hours ago, davieG said:

Born and Raised in Leicester  · 

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Aylestone Road. Leicester.

Today.

 

[PAULCFC]

On 21/02/2025 at 08:59, davieG said:

Leicester Memories
Peter Taylor 
The Cricketers Rest Inn . Abbey Gate / Frog Island Leicester .
( Year Unknown )

My dad used to play darts for them in the 70's! If its the pub next to the Soar?One of my school mates tried to "End it" by jumping off the bridge there....very shallow,so just ended up breaking both his legs!

[PAULCFC]

It was funny at the time @davieG! He's still alive now and in a better place! This was the 80's!

[davieG]

26 minutes ago, PAULCFC said:

My dad used to play darts for them in the 70's! If its the pub next to the Soar?One of my school mates tried to "End it" by jumping off the bridge there....very shallow,so just ended up breaking both his legs!

Had a few points in there. I seem to remember there was a small patio / terrace overlooking the canal. 

[PAULCFC]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

Had a few points in there. I seem to remember there was a small patio / terrace overlooking the canal. 

That's right! Just coming up from Groby Road was Robin Hood,Friar tuck across the road,Cricketers,Foresters,North Bridge,Duke of Cumberland,Sanvey gate tavern,Joiners....and that was even before you got into town!

Edited 23 February by PAULCFC

[davieG]

24 minutes ago, PAULCFC said:

That's right! Just coming up from Groby Road was Robin Hood,Friar tuck across the road,Cricketers,Foresters,North Bridge,Duke of Cumberland,Sanvey gate tavern,Joiners....and that was even before you got into town!

So many and mostly gone. 

[PAULCFC]

1 minute ago, davieG said:

So many and mostly gone. 

I think they have sadly all gone! Friar Tuck is a "super Market", Robin Hood a "Shisa Bar",Cricketers is offices,Foresters i think is still going as a music venue,North Bridge has been boarded up for years with pictures of a Council candidate who probably isn't with us any more(used to sit behind him in the Kop and didn't look well then)Duke of Cumberland was where the storage place is now,Sanvey Gate Tavern turned into a "Knocking shop"...now flats......not sure about The Joiners......But yes i was brought up on Frog Island and the state of it now is a real shame!

[davieG]

Born and Raised in Leicester  · 

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Vic Berry established his Leicester scrapyard in 1973 on the site of what had been the former GC Braunstone Gate goods yard, just south of Leicester Central (GC) Station.

Like Woodham Brothers at Barry, Vic Berry focused initially on breaking up redundant passenger coaches and goods wagons. The first locomotives did not arrive until 10 years later in April 1983 when three BR Class 76 electric locomotives arrived for breaking up.

The yard was best known for scrapping large quantities of Class 25 and Class 27 diesel-electric locomotives. This led to the famous 'stack' of Class 25 and 27 locomotives which reached its peak in 1987 with 30 examples stacked.

The yard did not exclusively deal with these locomotives, as examples of classes 02, 03, 08, 20, 26, 31, 33, 37, 40, 45, 47, 50, 82, 83, 84, and 85 were scrapped on site, along with a large quantity of BR DMUs. Vic Berry also scrapped a London Underground train and ex-CIE 201 Class locomotives 208 and 219 in 1990.

Vic Berry also specialised in asbestos removal as well as scrapping withdrawn locomotives and rolling stock. This was of value to railway preservation societies, who sometimes would benefit from purchasing a locomotive from Vic Berry as it would have already been stripped of asbestos.

As the scrapyard was connected to the Leicester to Burton upon Trent Line, the yard contained a large number of locomotives, coaches, wagons and DMUs which were held for either purchase or scrapping.

The yard moved from scrapping locomotives to DMUs and rolling stock in December 1990 when what was believed to be the last complete locomotive in the yard, 25213, was scrapped. Another 18 class 25s were broken up by Vic Berry at other sites; five were broken up off-site while the other 13 were also broken up off-site but with their cabs subsequently transported to Leicester.

[PAULCFC]

2 hours ago, davieG said:

Born and Raised in Leicester  · 

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Vic Berry established his Leicester scrapyard in 1973 on the site of what had been the former GC Braunstone Gate goods yard, just south of Leicester Central (GC) Station.

Like Woodham Brothers at Barry, Vic Berry focused initially on breaking up redundant passenger coaches and goods wagons. The first locomotives did not arrive until 10 years later in April 1983 when three BR Class 76 electric locomotives arrived for breaking up.

The yard was best known for scrapping large quantities of Class 25 and Class 27 diesel-electric locomotives. This led to the famous 'stack' of Class 25 and 27 locomotives which reached its peak in 1987 with 30 examples stacked.

The yard did not exclusively deal with these locomotives, as examples of classes 02, 03, 08, 20, 26, 31, 33, 37, 40, 45, 47, 50, 82, 83, 84, and 85 were scrapped on site, along with a large quantity of BR DMUs. Vic Berry also scrapped a London Underground train and ex-CIE 201 Class locomotives 208 and 219 in 1990.

Vic Berry also specialised in asbestos removal as well as scrapping withdrawn locomotives and rolling stock. This was of value to railway preservation societies, who sometimes would benefit from purchasing a locomotive from Vic Berry as it would have already been stripped of asbestos.

As the scrapyard was connected to the Leicester to Burton upon Trent Line, the yard contained a large number of locomotives, coaches, wagons and DMUs which were held for either purchase or scrapping.

The yard moved from scrapping locomotives to DMUs and rolling stock in December 1990 when what was believed to be the last complete locomotive in the yard, 25213, was scrapped. Another 18 class 25s were broken up by Vic Berry at other sites; five were broken up off-site while the other 13 were also broken up off-site but with their cabs subsequently transported to Leicester.

Suprised anything grows in the gardens of the houses their now......must be so many chemicals in the soil!

[davieG]

Story of Leicester

 

An unusual view of Leicester today - looking along Belgrave Gate from the top of The Clock Tower circa 1900.

Read more about The Clock Tower including who the carved figures on the corners of it are - four of Leicester's most prominent benefactors:

https://www.storyofleicester.info/civic.../the-clock-tower/

 

Comments

Ian Baker

Little round window on the left still appears to be the one above Mallard jewelers

 

[davieG]

 

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble  ·

 

Remember when it looked like this......

[davieG]

 

Born and Raised in Leicester  · 

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MRS DOUBTFIRE

Anne Fine, OBE FRSL, the writer of Mrs Doubtfire was born in Leicester on 7 December 1947. Anne is best known for children's books although she also writes for adults. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and she was awarded an OBE for services to literature in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

She has written more than 50 children's books since her first at the age of 24, including two winners of the annual Carnegie Medal and three highly commended runners-up. For some of those five books she also won the Guardian Prize, one Smarties Prize, two Whitbread Awards, and she was twice the Children's Author of the Year.

For her contribution as a children's writer, she was a runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1998. Fine is one of only seven authors to win two Carnegie Medals (1936–2012) and the only author of three Highly Commended books, and she was the second Children's Laureate (2001–03).

Her book Madame Doubtfire was made into the film Mrs Doubtfire starring Robin Williams, and Goggle-Eyes was adapted for BBC TV.

Her work has been translated into 45 languages.

Information credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Fine

[WarehamFox]

17 hours ago, davieG said:

Story of Leicester

 

An unusual view of Leicester today - looking along Belgrave Gate from the top of The Clock Tower circa 1900.

Read more about The Clock Tower including who the carved figures on the corners of it are - four of Leicester's most prominent benefactors:

https://www.storyofleicester.info/civic.../the-clock-tower/

 

Comments

Ian Baker

Little round window on the left still appears to be the one above Mallard jewelers

 

Amazing photo, how many tall chimney's there are.

[davieG]

2 hours ago, WarehamFox said:

Amazing photo, how many tall chimney's there are.

.....and that's just in one direction.

[davieG]

 

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble 

Belgrave Gate / Foundry Square 1956.

[WarehamFox]

7 hours ago, davieG said:

.....and that's just in one direction.

Never even thought of that, probably 100's more when you think that is just a slice of Leicester. Nothing South, East and West or anything in between 

[WarehamFox]

15 minutes ago, davieG said:

 

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble 

Belgrave Gate / Foundry Square 1956.

At least one thing in that picture is still there.

[davieG]

[davieG]

 

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble 

Narborough Road / Celt Street 1963.

[davieG]

 

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble  

Silver Street / Loseby Lane 1963.

[davieG]

 

Leicester Memories

Peter Taylor  

The soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division arrive in Leicester on 14th February 1944 .

The 82nd Airborne Division established its headquarters on the Braunstone Park before the invasion of Europe .

 

 

Peter Taylor

All-star contributor

  Nissen Huts left empty by the 82nd Airborne on Braunstone Park , were readily used for emergency housing after the war .

[davieG]

History of Leicestershire in Images

Graham Hulme  

An old postcard view of Belgrave Gate, looking towards Haymarket, with the old Palace Theatre towards the right of the picture. The card was posted to Derbyshire in March 1930. The Palace Theatre of Varieties, as it was originally called, was built on part of the site of the old Floral Hall and opened on Monday 17th June 1901. (The original Floral Hall was built in 1876 as a skating rink, but was subsequently used for many purposes, including indoor markets and circuses. Much of it was demolished for the new Palace Theatre, but a new Floral Hall Picture Theatre was built in 1910, behind the Palace, with a narrow entrance to it from Belgrave Gate.) The Palace Theatre was built for Oswald Stoll (1866-1942) the theatre manager and impresario who established a national chain of variety theatres in London and the provinces. Together with his business partner Edward Moss he also presented the first Royal Variety Performance (originally called the Royal Command Performance) in 1912. Stoll used one of the most renowned of British theatre architects, Frank Matcham (1854-1920) to design the Palace Theatre, and used him for several other theatres. Matcham's most famous theatres include the London Coliseum (1904), the London Palladium (1910), the Victoria Palace London (1911), the Buxton Opera House (1903) and the Blackpool Grand (1894) as well as the Blackpool Tower Ballroom (1897-98). The architect designed his Leicester theatre in an elaborate Moorish style and gave it a very large stage. The original seating capacity was 3,500 and at the time of its opening it was the largest theatre outside London, having a splendid auditorium with three tiers above the stalls on the ground floor. These were the Grand Circle, Upper Circle and Gallery, plus three stage boxes either side of the proscenium arch. Inside the building there was also a Winter Garden, with rockeries, fountains and wells, intended to represent scenery of the Peak District. This was known as the Crush Room and had a glass and iron domed roof. The vestibule had an ornate Moresque dome. The auditorium had a sliding roof for ventilation. Among the performers in the first week of the Palace's opening was the famous music hall singer Charles Coburn, known especially for his song 'The Man Who Broke the Bank at Montecarlo'. In its great early years many of the top stars of the day performed there, including Marie Lloyd, W. C. Fields, Dan Leno, Sir Harry Lauder, Florrie Forde and Vesta Tilley. Charlie Chaplin also appeared here in his early days, with the Fred Karno Company. Following World War One revues began to be presented at the theatre and by 1929 Movietone News was being screened. The Palace went over to showing films in the early 1930s but returned to variety shows after the Second World War. These attracted such stars as Max Miller, Ted Ray, Robb Wilton, John Hanson, Jimmy Jewel and Ben Wariss, Frank Randle, Shirley Bassey, Frankie Vaughan, Terry-Thomas, Harry Worth, Peter Sellers, Roy Castle, Old Mother Riley (Arthur Lucan) and her daughter Kitty, the Billy Cotton Band Show, Geraldo, Benny Hill and the great silent movie star Buster Keaton (who appeared there in June 1951 for the theatre’s 50th anniversary). Even Bela Lugosi appeared there to play his famous Dracula in August 1951. After Oswald Stoll's death in 1942 his company was taken over by the impresario Prince Littler, but during the later 1950s, with the rise of television, the theatre's popularity began to decline dramatically. The Palace Theatre closed on 21st February 1959 after the Leicester Operatic Ensemble's production of 'The King and I' had played to a packed house of 3,000. Having been sold to Sketchleys Ltd. and the contents of the building auctioned off, the theatre was demolished shortly after its closure - a great shame for Leicester. The Floral Hall cinema also closed but for a time remained in use as a warehouse for Stead & Simpson. It was itself demolished about 1970. A very drab parade of shops was subsequently built on the site of the Palace Theatre.

This information is mostly drawn from the article written by David Garratt, which features on the Arthur Lloyd website. http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/.../PalaceTheatreLeicester.htm

[Free Falling Foxes]

On 25/02/2025 at 17:25, WarehamFox said:

At least one thing in that picture is still there.

My Mam and Dad were married there.

[Parafox]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

History of Leicestershire in Images

Graham Hulme  

An old postcard view of Belgrave Gate, looking towards Haymarket, with the old Palace Theatre towards the right of the picture. The card was posted to Derbyshire in March 1930. The Palace Theatre of Varieties, as it was originally called, was built on part of the site of the old Floral Hall and opened on Monday 17th June 1901. (The original Floral Hall was built in 1876 as a skating rink, but was subsequently used for many purposes, including indoor markets and circuses. Much of it was demolished for the new Palace Theatre, but a new Floral Hall Picture Theatre was built in 1910, behind the Palace, with a narrow entrance to it from Belgrave Gate.) The Palace Theatre was built for Oswald Stoll (1866-1942) the theatre manager and impresario who established a national chain of variety theatres in London and the provinces. Together with his business partner Edward Moss he also presented the first Royal Variety Performance (originally called the Royal Command Performance) in 1912. Stoll used one of the most renowned of British theatre architects, Frank Matcham (1854-1920) to design the Palace Theatre, and used him for several other theatres. Matcham's most famous theatres include the London Coliseum (1904), the London Palladium (1910), the Victoria Palace London (1911), the Buxton Opera House (1903) and the Blackpool Grand (1894) as well as the Blackpool Tower Ballroom (1897-98). The architect designed his Leicester theatre in an elaborate Moorish style and gave it a very large stage. The original seating capacity was 3,500 and at the time of its opening it was the largest theatre outside London, having a splendid auditorium with three tiers above the stalls on the ground floor. These were the Grand Circle, Upper Circle and Gallery, plus three stage boxes either side of the proscenium arch. Inside the building there was also a Winter Garden, with rockeries, fountains and wells, intended to represent scenery of the Peak District. This was known as the Crush Room and had a glass and iron domed roof. The vestibule had an ornate Moresque dome. The auditorium had a sliding roof for ventilation. Among the performers in the first week of the Palace's opening was the famous music hall singer Charles Coburn, known especially for his song 'The Man Who Broke the Bank at Montecarlo'. In its great early years many of the top stars of the day performed there, including Marie Lloyd, W. C. Fields, Dan Leno, Sir Harry Lauder, Florrie Forde and Vesta Tilley. Charlie Chaplin also appeared here in his early days, with the Fred Karno Company. Following World War One revues began to be presented at the theatre and by 1929 Movietone News was being screened. The Palace went over to showing films in the early 1930s but returned to variety shows after the Second World War. These attracted such stars as Max Miller, Ted Ray, Robb Wilton, John Hanson, Jimmy Jewel and Ben Wariss, Frank Randle, Shirley Bassey, Frankie Vaughan, Terry-Thomas, Harry Worth, Peter Sellers, Roy Castle, Old Mother Riley (Arthur Lucan) and her daughter Kitty, the Billy Cotton Band Show, Geraldo, Benny Hill and the great silent movie star Buster Keaton (who appeared there in June 1951 for the theatre’s 50th anniversary). Even Bela Lugosi appeared there to play his famous Dracula in August 1951. After Oswald Stoll's death in 1942 his company was taken over by the impresario Prince Littler, but during the later 1950s, with the rise of television, the theatre's popularity began to decline dramatically. The Palace Theatre closed on 21st February 1959 after the Leicester Operatic Ensemble's production of 'The King and I' had played to a packed house of 3,000. Having been sold to Sketchleys Ltd. and the contents of the building auctioned off, the theatre was demolished shortly after its closure - a great shame for Leicester. The Floral Hall cinema also closed but for a time remained in use as a warehouse for Stead & Simpson. It was itself demolished about 1970. A very drab parade of shops was subsequently built on the site of the Palace Theatre.

This information is mostly drawn from the article written by David Garratt, which features on the Arthur Lloyd website. http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/.../PalaceTheatreLeicester.htm

 

That's an incredible story. 

[davieG]

 

 

History of Leicestershire in Images

Charlotte Victoria Hubbard  ·

Found this fantastic photo of the Tram lines being laid on Granby Street outside the Barley Mow pub.