ChrisB

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Everything posted by ChrisB

  1. Must admit. I don't visit this site now as much as I used to. But when I do, that old saying keeps coming into my head: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
  2. I have to agree with the last two posts. I'm sorry to say it's lost much of it's appeal for me now, it's too much hassle trying to find anything, it was much simpler when the most recent posts were listed across the top.
  3. Remember the mixed grill and how they used to make cuts along the side of the frankfurter sausages so they would curl round the half tomato?
  4. Due for a new one but the thought of getting it upstairs and the old one downstairs puts me off. A double mattress is one of the most unwieldy bloody things in the house!
  5. Trent are still very much in business but when they took over Bartons some years ago, they changed their name to Trent Barton. They don't seem to display it very prominently now though, they're more obsessed with silly brand names for every service they operate.
  6. As benjamin says, it's a miserable and totally dead area nowadays but both the old Barton and Robin Hood garages (which were literally side by side) are still there, although nobody seems to want the nice art-deco Barton one anymore.
  7. So, benjamin and Blondie, you are regular contributors in more ways than one!
  8. As a long time resident of Derby, I can categorically say it's not one of the biggest dumps in the country. It is THE biggest dump in the country! The city centre abounds in drunks, drug addicts, beggars, vagrants and nut cases. Also boarded up shops, Assembly Rooms which have been closed over three years now,following a fire. River Gardens which are a muggers paradise, a bus station which is hell on earth, two indoor markets with more empty stalls than occupied ones, a city council which is not fit for purpose, a shopping centre which has totally killed the rest of the town, homeless people
  9. My local has gone bust! I spotted this today at Nottingham station, the shop on the concourse had an administration notice on the door. To be honest though, since they bought the local shops from Morrisons, they've been stocked with very poor quality stuff at very expensive prices. The station shop is still trading but many of the shelves are empty. On another note, work on the old Gresham Hotel is nearing completion, two shop units have been created at ground level, one is already occupied and guess what: it's another 'up market' coffee shop! Is Britain overdosing on caffene? I think we m
  10. Let's face it, we just don't like being in Europe. That's twice in three days we've left!
  11. Another thing I've noticed in the picture of the demolition of the garage is what appears to be a pedestrian subway, presumably going under the bottom of Derby Road. I never knew there was a subway there, how long did it last?
  12. Going back to that picture looking up Derby Road, there appears to be a rather nice art-deco style garage on the right which bears the names Chapel and Garage. If it was called Chapel Bar Garage, it wasn't exactly on Chapel Bar, was it?
  13. In the last picture, looking up Derby Road, was the road on the right known as Tollhouse Hill in those days, as it is now?
  14. Who used to bit the crimped plastic bit off the end and then find the ice pop wouldn't come out because you hadn't bit low enough?
  15. To be honest Bubblewrap, even if they do start selling their stuff off cheap, I don't think there's anything I'd want, none of it is very appealing. And, of course, this will mean yet another empty space in the lovely Broadmarsh Centre!
  16. Ah, well the same thing applies when travelling from Skeggy. Once through the tunnel before arriving at Grantham, then again through the tunnel after leaving there for Nottingham. But as catfan says, only if the train calls at Grantham that is.
  17. It's before Grantham actually, Valuer Jim! It's the only tunnel between Nottingham and Skeg and I would guess it's about 700 yards long. If you travel to Skegness on a train which stops at Grantham, you pass through it twice now, because the train will reverse and come back to Allington Junction before turning off to Skeggy. If you get a direct train to Skegness which doesn't stop at Grantham, you won't pass through it at all!
  18. We seem to get this every year now, fantastic weather in May. Then the summer months are absolute crap!
  19. Compo, thanks for that, I've often heard of them but never seen one of the actual razors. So that's how John Bloom got started!
  20. I wonder if anyone still has a Rolls Razor!
  21. One I spotted in the library a couple of weeks ago and thought it might be a good read was 'Northern and Proud' It's the biography of Bob Stokoe, manager of Sunderland FC in the 1970s, also manager at Bury, Blackpool and Carlisle amongst others. There's interesting accounts of when Don Revie offered him a bribe to throw a game, also his bust up with Cloughie which was never reconciled and of course his epic time at Sunderland when, as a second division side, they won the FA cup. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish, highly recommended!
  22. I remember the proposal to close the Trowell branch permanently, I think it pre-dated this crash by a few years. It was all about saving money when BR was seriously strapped for cash and the Erewash Valley passenger trains were diverted via Toton centre, crossed onto the goods lines, up to Meadow Lane Junction and then down to Attenborough Junction and into Nottingham from there. The one big flaw in the scheme was that the lines from Toton very slow and not up to passenger standards. I remember there was a story at the time that when one passenger train was crossing over, it lurched so badly
  23. Camms set up an operation in Derby running local services. At first it was a pretty ropey affair but it developed into quite a smart operation and was taking quite a lot of passengers away from Derby Corporation which was by then owned by it's employees. It looked like Camms were there to stay and after trying to drive them off the road in all sorts of dubious ways, Derby decided the only way to get rid of them was to buy them out. Apparently, a quite substantial offer was put to them and Camms made it a condition that their name should be retained. Unbelievably, this was conceded (which sho
  24. Yes they did, Not only did the Corporation have some utility Guys but Barton and Midland General ran them into Nottingham as well.
  25. Didn't realise he was 86. It's only a few years ago he was having a romantic dalliance with Audrey in Coronation Street!