City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

[davieG]

Did you know? The Cedars pub in Evington, pictured here in 1974, used to be the home of well-known author Edward Phillips Oppenheim.

Oppenheim, and his American wife Elise, lived at The Cedars from 1901 until the beginning of the First World War.

He wrote his first book “Expiation” in 1887. He went on to write another 115 novels including crime, thrillers and romances, and may have influenced the author Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond!

You'll find a new heritage panel about The Cedars and Oppenheim right outside the pub on Main Street.

#StoryofLeicester #Leicester

[davieG]

Byfords. Abbey Lane. Leicester

 

They don't build factories like this anymore.

[Wymsey]

More student accommodation is proposed.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/derelict-buildings-leicester-become-giant-7412177

[davieG]

15 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

More student accommodation is proposed.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/derelict-buildings-leicester-become-giant-7412177

This want's remaking about modern student and other large buildings

 

 

[davieG]

Story of Leicester

  · 

With the street improvement works underway, here's a timely look back at Braunstone Gate in the early 1980s.

It looks pretty similar with a familiar mix of independent small businesses

[davieG]

Goldhill, Saffron Lane Estate ~ 1964.

[Parafox]

58 minutes ago, davieG said:

Goldhill, Saffron Lane Estate ~ 1964.

 

Note, no old armchairs, mattresses or broken fridge-freezers in the front gardens back in 1964. 

[Parafox]

6 hours ago, davieG said:

This want's remaking about modern student and other large buildings

 

 

TBF they are an improvement on the existing buildings. It's not like they are proposing to destroy anything attractive or interesting, for a change.

Edited 3 August 2022 by Parafox

[davieG]

7 minutes ago, Parafox said:

TBF they are an improvement on the existing buildings. It's not like they are proposing to destroy anything attractive or interesting, for a change.

Quite but why do they all have the same appearance, the new Leicester Uni  and Brooklyn Hotel just rectangular blocks of brick.

[Parafox]

17 minutes ago, davieG said:

Quite but why do they all have the same appearance, the new Leicester Uni  and Brooklyn Hotel just rectangular blocks of brick.

This is true and there seems to be a very limited vision for constructing buildings. whether it's to do with cost and materials, I don't know. I imagine DMU and LU will want what they can get on a budget. It seems they aren't paying for imaginative architects to produce something aesthetically pleasing. Something that, in generations to come, people posting on FT in the year 2122 will be saying "I really love that old building".

I guess some of the hideous constructions we see today will become the listed buildings of the future. 

Edited 3 August 2022 by Parafox

[Wymsey]

Will be a great day for the city when the Lee Circle car park block gets knocked down into something decent..

The ugliest side in Leicester, personally.

Edited 3 August 2022 by Wymsey

[Parafox]

41 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

Will be a great day for the city when the Lee Circle car park block gets knocked down into something decent..

The ugliest side in Leicester, personally.

Agreed. The whole Belgrave Gate/Belgrave Road side of the city is a mess. I hope if there are to be any improvements, they won't be more concrete eyesores for the future.

[davieG]

1 hour ago, Wymsey said:

Will be a great day for the city when the Lee Circle car park block gets knocked down into something decent..

The ugliest side in Leicester, personally.

Well if it had been maintained properly and the old shack like factories had been cleared so that the shops and facilities, like the 36 lane Bowling Alley in the ground floor had flourished it would look ok

 

Lack of maintenance and allowing building to disintegrate is how builders get away with righting off good quality builds and replacing them with stuff that's designed to last no more than 30 years like the old Council Offices.

[davieG]

This appeared, uncredited, in the Manchester modernist society.

 

On Charles Street

 

Has been the Electricity Showrooms, Road Tax office, Willie Thorne Snooker upstairs Now the LCC Offices

.

[davieG]

 

Around the corner

[davieG]

Humberstone,the top end of Gipsy Lane,looking towards Main Street c1930s.

[The Fox Covert]

On 03/08/2022 at 11:47, Wymsey said:

More student accommodation is proposed.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/derelict-buildings-leicester-become-giant-7412177

Just read the article which I haven't seen before because I am not a local. The new buildings are definitely an improvement on the existing delapidated structures and it is the right sort of scale but the local built environment is highly sensitive. Considering that it is right next to the Jewry Wall museum something a bit more architecturally distinctive would be a big step forward. Not another lego box.

[SecretPro]

18 hours ago, Parafox said:

Agreed. The whole Belgrave Gate/Belgrave Road side of the city is a mess. I hope if there are to be any improvements, they won't be more concrete eyesores for the future.

Charles Street is ****ing dirt too. Needs bulldozing.

[davieG]

History of Leicestershire in Images

Mervin Wallace  · 

ON THIS DAY: 4th August 1265

Simon de Montfort, The 6th Earl of Leicester born in Normandy around 1208, was killed during The Battle of Evesham (Worcestershire), in which the army of Prince Edward, the future king Edward I of England, defeated the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort. In 1965 the British Post Office issued two special stamps to commemorate the 700th Anniversary Parliament of 1265. This is regarded as marking the first step towards the foundation of the modern House of Commons and the democratic government of today.

He is represented in the stonework figures in Leicester’s Clock Tower.

 

 

 

[davieG]

Belgrave Gate no date.

[davieG]

LEICESTERSHIRE PAST: Thurnby & Scraptoft Station ~ Postcard from 1912. — with Shelly Abraham.

[davieG]

c1880s

[davieG]

Leicester, the corner of Checketts Road & Loughborough Road. The Champion Hotel is on the right. 1910

[Parafox]

4 minutes ago, davieG said:

Leicester, the corner of Checketts Road & Loughborough Road. The Champion Hotel is on the right. 1910

Now Club Tropicana, I believe. I DJ'd there for a while years ago. It was supposed to be members only but there was always a "lock-in" for the locals.

[davieG]

CITY ARMS

Saffron Lane Leicester c.1982

 

Saffron Lane, 1981