City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

[kushiro]

3 hours ago, davieG said:

 As well as the races, the Pavilion was used for other sports events on the park 

 

Nice subtle reference to our early days.

[davieG]

British roadscene 1955-1995  · 

Stan Barnes ·

Wesley Street, Leicester June 1981

This was a Saturday.....as it always was at the scrappy as you needed to get your car sorted ready for work on Monday.

That Mk I Escort would be worth a year's salary now.

[Parafox]

7 hours ago, davieG said:

British roadscene 1955-1995  · 

Stan Barnes ·

Wesley Street, Leicester June 1981

This was a Saturday.....as it always was at the scrappy as you needed to get your car sorted ready for work on Monday.

That Mk I Escort would be worth a year's salary now.

 

Trying to remove an alternator and water pump from a wrecked Mini that was 3 cars up in a quite unstable stack of wrecks.

 

Been there. Risking your life to save a few quid.

Edited 1 February by Parafox

[Parafox]

7 hours ago, davieG said:

That Mk I Escort would be worth a year's salary now

The reg plates would be worth more.

[davieG]

3 minutes ago, Parafox said:

 

Trying to remove an alternator and water pump from a wrecked Mini that was 3 cars up in a quite unstable stack of wrecks.

 

Been there. Risking your life to save a few quid.

But the few quid you hadn't got.

[Free Falling Foxes]

Leicester's lost railway line.

 

[davieG]

Made In Leicester

Nigel Freestone 

 

 

 

 

 

Leicestershire Football Archive  · 

Nigel Freestone 

Did you know Leicester’s obsession with football actually started on eight wheels? 

Forget the grass pitches for a second! Back in 1882—two years before our city’s most famous club was even founded—Leicester was swept up in "Rinkomania." We’ve unearthed a fascinating story about a chaotic, high-speed football match played entirely on roller skates at the old Rutland Hall!

From the roar of wooden wheels on Rutland Street to the grand 1909 opening of the Empress Roller Rink (right next to the Tigers ground!), this is the forgotten history of how skating shaped the sporting city we love today.

For more: https://shorturl.at/hnEkK

[davieG]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c050315l16no

 

Proposed safari site could house bears and wolves

 

Brown bears, lynx and wolves could be seen in Rutland as part of plans to create a 1,000-acre British safari experience.

A planning application has been submitted to build the Wild Rutland attraction on Burley Estate farmland, parkland and woods between Oakham bypass, Rutland Water and Burley Wood.

Long-term aspirations could see native animals including Eurasian brown bears, lynx and wolves reintroduced inside holding pens, according to developers.

Planning documents said the project would showcase "the wonder of British wildlife" if given the go ahead.

Boardwalks will need to be built to allow visitors to access the different habitats, sculptures, viewing platforms and animal enclosures planned across the site, the Wild Rutland Partnership said.

A barn on the site is planned to be refurbished while the scheme would also see a Close Encounters area to show small mammals, reptiles and insects to visitors, and a high ropes course and outdoor woodland play area built.

[davieG]

Mowmacre Hill 1950 to 1970  · 

Liz Millington

[davieG]

Hidden Leicester  · Graham Hulme

Old postcard view of a busy Humberstone Gate, possibly late 1930s. On the left, at the corner of Haymarket, is the tobacconists shop of Salmon & Gluckstein Ltd. The slightly taller building beyond the corner was the Tower Vaults and after that was the Stag & Pheasant Hotel. These buildings were demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Littlewoods building which contained a new Littlewoods store, opened by the local MP Sir Barnett Janner on 17th May 1967 (now the TK Maxx store). Further along that side was the Bell Hotel, a former Georgian coaching inn, and W. A. Lea’s department store, but all was demolished in the 1970s to make way for the building of the Haymarket Shopping Centre and a new C&A Store (now Primark). On the right of the picture, at the corner of Gallowtree Gate, is the store of Burton’s the tailor which was opened here in July 1928 (the building is now an HSBC bank branch). The store was designed by Harry Wilson of Leeds who was a chief architect to Montague Burton's vast tailoring company and he designed many of Burton's buildings around the country. The premises of the wine and spirit merchant John Allen & Co. had previously stood on the site for many years. Unmissable beyond Burton’s is the bulky edifice of Lewis’s department store. Lewis’s opened their new store here on Saturday 21st March 1936 when thousands of people gathered in Humberstone Gate to witness the event. The Lord Mayor of Leicester, Richard Hallam, declared the building open and the opening ceremony was broadcast to Lewis’s other stores across the country. Outside, a fanfare of trumpets sounded from the roof on the opening and flags unfurled from flagstaffs. Around 20,000 people were said to have poured into the new building in the first hour after the opening. The store, Lewis’s seventh, cost about a quarter of a million pounds to build and was designed by Gerald de Courcy Fraser of Liverpool, who was architect to the company. The chairman of the company, Harold Cohen, and the full Board of Directors attended the opening, including Sir Frederick Marquis, joint managing director together with Cohen. Sir Frederick Marquis was to become chairman of Lewis’s a few months later on Cohen’s death (Sir Frederick was subsequently made Earl of Woolton and in political life he was Minister of Food from 1940 in the wartime government - in this capacity he was responsible for food rationing and the famous “Woolton Pie” was named after him). A large extension was added to Lewis’s store towards Charles Street and the Manchester Working Men’s Club in the mid 1960s. The store closed down in January 1994 and was demolished, except for the 160 feet high tower, during the summer of that year.

[davieG]

[davieG]

John Ghent Leicester Estate Agent

Here’s a glimpse of everyday life in Leicester a century ago. The Clarendon Park Post Office served locals on Queens Road, while residents went about their daily routines. A vintage car, a passing cyclist, and a row of charming houses tell a story of a quieter, yet vibrant Leicester.

History isn’t just in books — it’s in streets like this, where every building and every moment had a story to tell.

#LeicesterHistory #LeicesterPast #QueensRoad #ClarendonPark #UKHistory #VintageLeicester #HistoricStreets #ThenAndNow #LeicesterHeritage #PostOfficeHistory

[davieG]

Leicester's Hospitals  ·

Follow

 

Consultant Cardiologists at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) have become the first in England to treat atrial fibrillation using a new pulsed field ablation (PFA) procedure.

Consultant Cardiologists, Dr Riyaz Somani and Dr Zakariyya Vali, completed the Trust’s first successful treatment using the new Volt™ PFA System, developed by healthcare company, Abbott. The new technique uses thousands of electrical pulses every second to target the areas of the heart that trigger abnormal rhythms. This allows doctors to create safer lesions more quickly, reducing the risk of damage to surrounding cardiac tissue. As patients are placed under conscious sedation an anaesthetist isn't required, which means patients can be treated and discharged on the same day.

Stuart Crossland, was the first patient to undergo the procedure at the Glenfield Hospital and he is already seeing the benefits. He said: “I was happy to be the first person to have this new treatment. Six weeks on, I’m already back running 5k, and knowing this could stop my atrial fibrillation for years to come is incredible."

Dr Riyaz Somani explained the benefits of using the new procedure: “By providing a treatment option that doesn’t require general anaesthetic, we hope to deliver atrial fibrillation ablation safely, effectively and more efficiently, allowing us to treat more patients and reduce waiting lists."

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1370020075163039&set=a.628119339353120&__cft__[0]=AZYjnQFNbV08fY0XGbq1xlzYFtv1KHkRihmXk1sduyZh1pSNp3k7r_W1pIJE55cy3mjCC_UAnWdd7NmeEXu76QxpseusWdhF8rQJ2bKICFFkekU5PaACRULhKqJBms7ifd5pxXvfXRjX97IO9XgiZC27hkO1Y3zgDeOlrfD3_QqqVdaJ4pj_f5sv2HfIxvnbjotch6YsQ2EFHaoU2U4K2yIh&__tn__=EH-R

[davieG]

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1HLegucWzn/

 

 

Made In Leicester

Cam Jest Hart 

Drive In And Buy (1961) Leicester some footage of when lee circle drive in and buy was open, wow seems like a time forgotten

 

 

 

 

First time I used the Lee Circle car park I thought someone had stolen my car. I went to the kiosk where you paid on exit to report it and he said Red or Blue and like an idiot I said the car was green. No he said which level are you on Red or Blue, that's when I realised there was two entries, two exits for the two levels that wrapped around each other. 

[davieG]

John Ghent Leicester Estate Agent

The Palais… now there’s a name that instantly unlocks memories for half the city.

It was one of those classic Leicester night-out venues where you’d end up whether you planned it or not. The kind of place that had different eras, different names, different crowds — but always stayed part of the nightlife DNA.

And it’s honestly heartbreaking that it’s now just sitting there derelict.

Because places like this weren’t just buildings — they were memories, nights out, friendships, music, chaos, and stories you’ll never admit in daylight.

A proper Humberstone Gate legend.

[davieG]

History of Leicestershire in Images

Mervin Wallace 

ON THE 16th FEBRUARY 1495

Sir William Stanley was executed. He is best known for taking sides against Richard III, at the battle of Bosworth in 1485, which helped to secure Henry VII's victory. The new king bestowed many favours on Sir William, including the post of Lord Chamberlain and Chamberlain of the Exchequer. However, in 1495 Sir William was convicted of treason, on circumstantial evidence, and was executed for his support of the pretender Perkin Warbeck.

Stanley Road in Hinckley was named to commemorate the Wars of the Roses and the Battle of Bosworth (1485), which took place nearby. It is part of the Middlefield Lane Estate, with the name highlighting the historic significance of the Stanley family (notably Lord Stanley) in that conflict. 

 

 

[davieG]

Leicester Memories

Mervin Wallace

It’s Pancake Day - Who remembers ever going to The Hungry Eye Pancake House in Leicester

 

Went there a few times after the pubs shit.

[Foxdiamond]

7 hours ago, davieG said:

History of Leicestershire in Images

Mervin Wallace 

ON THE 16th FEBRUARY 1495

Sir William Stanley was executed. He is best known for taking sides against Richard III, at the battle of Bosworth in 1485, which helped to secure Henry VII's victory. The new king bestowed many favours on Sir William, including the post of Lord Chamberlain and Chamberlain of the Exchequer. However, in 1495 Sir William was convicted of treason, on circumstantial evidence, and was executed for his support of the pretender Perkin Warbeck.

Stanley Road in Hinckley was named to commemorate the Wars of the Roses and the Battle of Bosworth (1485), which took place nearby. It is part of the Middlefield Lane Estate, with the name highlighting the historic significance of the Stanley family (notably Lord Stanley) in that conflict. 

 

 

This bloke was the brother of Thomas Stanley stepfather of Henry Tudor who became King after Bosworth and was present at the battle too. It was his son George that was held hostage by Richard the Third in what proved to be a vain hope to influence what side the Stanley's would fight for

[davieG]

 

Hidden Leicester  · 

Graham Hulme

An old postcard view of Clarendon Park Road, looking west towards the junction with Queen’s Road. The card was posted in Leicester to “Gimson Rd The Fosse” in March 1907. The street going off to the right of the picture is Central Avenue. The buildings shown here still exist. The prominent tower seen in the distance is that of the Clarendon Park Road Wesleyan Methodist Church which was built in 1900. It became the Christchurch Baptist-Methodist Ecumenical Church in the early 1990s. The Wesleyan Church had first opened in October 1900 and had been designed by the prominent Leicester architect Alderman Albert Edwin Sawday (1851-1923) who was himself a Methodist. He served as Mayor of Leicester in 1903-04. The church is designed in a free Perpendicular Gothic style and is of red brick with stone dressings. The tower is octagonal and has a top stage of stone. Above the main entrance, the frontage has a large 5-light window with gothic panel tracery. The church originally accommodated about 950 people and the cost of the site together with the building was about £8,400. In addition to the church, classrooms, a large church parlour and a lecture hall to seat 400 were provided (The Methodist Times, 18th October 1900). The first Minister of the new church was the Rev. John Ernest Rattenbury who, in 1902, became Minister of the Albert Hall Wesleyan Mission at Nottingham (the hall burnt down in 1906 and Nottingham’s present Albert Hall was built in 1909-10). In 1907 the Rev. Rattenbury moved to be Superintendent Minister of the West London Methodist Mission which post he held for 18 years and during this time the Mission’s new base, Kingsway Hall, was built in 1912. The Rev. Rattenbury moved in 1925 to take up a post as a minister at Southport. He died in 1963 aged 92, having been hailed as “the Grand Old Man of Methodism”.

 

 

On the left there is a road going off which is Cross Road where my brother and I imposed ourselves on a work mate of my brother after we'd been turfed out of our previous accomodation. It was a single room with a double bed and single bed and a wash basing in the corner, there was a shared kitchen. The workmate moved out and left it to us to use. There were a few others that we ended up putting up for the night, two young very attractive girls friends of a mate nearby - a missed opportunity but we were both naive being 17/18. Another over nighter was a Scottish guy Jock (what else would you expect. A most generous guy who often bought us drinks in the nearby Clarendon Pub although drew the line at corrupting whisky with anything added. Sadly he had to go home to Scotland when he found he'd got TB.

 

We didn't stay there long as we moved to just around the corner on Clarendon Park Road almost opposite the church, we had a much larger room overlooking the road. Queens Road shopping was just a little bit further on and there was a cold milk machine opposite the house.

 

Great times and great memories. Was living there when we won the World Cup.

[davieG]

 

Leicester Memories

Julia Mason 

John Bull - Evington Valley Road

 

 

Following on from my post about telephone boxes and the one from my youth, located outside of the John Bull factory........... many Leicester people will recognise this impressive archive photograph.

 

 

This is the John Bull Rubber Company factory, on Evington Valley Road, in the 1950s when it was a major employer in this area of the city.

 

 

The building is still standing today, although divided up into different units for small businesses.

 

 

The firm, whose name became known around the world, can be traced back to 1906 when John Cecil Burton (28) and his brother, Hubert Henry Burton (19), used £400 of savings to open a tiny warehouse in Granby Place, Leicester, from where they sold imported cycle tyres.

 

 

They named their fledgling business the Leicester Rubber Company and, within two years, initial trademarks had been dropped in favour of one destined for commercial fame - John Bull - although the latter was not formally incorporated into the company's name until 1934.

 

 

By 1909, the business had moved to larger premises in Post Office Place, Leicester, and acquired a patent for a novel method of fitting and joining perambulator tyring, which it was customary to buy in lengths in those days.

 

 

About this time, too, the John Bull repair outfit came onto the market and, when later red patches (in place of the grey ones which had been sold separately) were included in the pack, sales rocketed with as many 'outfits' being sold in a week than there had previously been in a whole year.

 

 

In 1915, a site for a new factory was found in Evington Valley Road where the company started manufacturing its own cycle and pram tyres.

 

 

During the Second World War, production was switched to the war effort and the firm made gas masks and solid rubber tyres for tanks.

 

 

In 1955 the John Bull group companies merged and in 1958 the company became part of the Dunlop Rubber Company.

[Free Falling Foxes]

This smashing series on the history of Leicester and surrounding towns, has some new episodes.

This is a link to a four part series on Braunstone. Other areas can be found in the show more tab.

 

[Parafox]

2 hours ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

This smashing series on the history of Leicester and surrounding towns, has some new episodes.

This is a link to a four part series on Braunstone. Other areas can be found in the show more tab.

 

Nice but I had to watch Elle Fanning climbing a tree first.

 

However, I'm pleased that people like this presenter puts the history of our town and environs, for us all to learn about.

Edited 19 February by Parafox

[Parafox]

4 hours ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

This smashing series on the history of Leicester and surrounding towns, has some new episodes.

This is a link to a four part series on Braunstone. Other areas can be found in the show more tab.

 

Thank you. It's absolutely fascinating and the presenter isn't a twat.

 

Also worth a look at his other YouTube series about the hidden history of Leicester.

Edited 19 February by Parafox

[Footballwipe]

Stumbled across this very zanily-presented video on YouTube the other day

 

 

The comment section is hilarious, it's like a bingo-card of boring "back in the day it was so much better" people.

Edited 23 February by Footballwipe

[Stadt]

5 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

Stumbled across this very zanily-presented video on YouTube the other day

 

 

The comment section is hilarious, it's like a bingo-card of boring "back in the day it was so much better" people.

Spookily I was just about to post the exact same thing. I'm in my late 20s and some prospects are completely unrecognisable, the old council offices added scale, even if the Mattioli Woods building is less of an eyesore.

 

The volume of shops occupied is also really notable as well as less clutter in street furniture, road markings, signs and litter (generally)