Garden Street area - Radford


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My last Christmas Eve visit to Garden Street was 54 years ago. Yet, every year on this day, my thoughts are irresistibly drawn to number 4.   By today's standards, the place was primitive in

A bit of a surprise for me on this topic.   My interest in Garden Street arises from the fact that two aunts lived there in the 1940s - 60s. They worked in one of the nearby clothing factori

Personally, I've never liked supermarkets. Much preferred the shops of my childhood like those on Denman Street and our local grocers where everything was weighed out and wrapped in paper. Loved the s

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This photo, from the Photos of Alfreton Road thread via NEP, shows Garden Street running up the immediate centre left of the frame. Number 4, where my relatives lived, is clearly visible next to Vann's hosiery factory. The photo is dated 1963 but, judging by the redevelopment which appears to have encroached right up to the rear boundary of number 4, I'm a bit sceptical about that. The building on the side of number 4 nearest Ilkeston Road also seems to have gone.  My relatives moved out in 1965 and I don't recall any demolition taking place round that immediate area prior to then.

 

Not only is the entire gable end of number 4 visible, the garage which was constructed in the 1930s, is no longer there, so this must have been taken after the Wards moved out.

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I also had relatives on Garden Street - on the odd-numbered side - and I've enlarged the relevant area. In the original photo, the white building at the lower left on Ilkeston Road was the Old Peacock pub. It has recently been converted to student accommodation.

 

kliojX2.jpg

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Thanks for that, CT. I can now see the outbuildings at the rear of number 4 and the doorway to where the toilet was situated at the bottom of the yard. Also the metal staircase to the exterior of the storage buildings adjacent to number 4. I can see them because I know they were there, others might have difficulty!  I still think this image is later than 1963.

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54 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

 I still think this image is later than 1963.

 

I think I agree, mainly by the fact that the low-level flats at the top end of Denman Street have obviously been built and occupied. I doubt if that had happened by 63.

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The strongest evidence, for me, is that uncle George's greenhouse isn't there. Just an empty space where it stood. I know for a fact that he dismantled it and took it with him to the new house.

 

Someone once told me that Garden Street wasn't demolished until the late 60s but I have no idea whether that is true. I do recall going with my father to see someone he knew who had just moved into a maisonette around the Denman Street area...it wasn't one of the flats...around the late 60s. I assumed that Garden Street had gone by then but I may have been mistaken.

 

I'm sure people think I'm a bit obsessed with that house and I suppose I am but it was such an important part of my first 7 years, I will always feel drawn to it. It's such a shame that it doesn't seem to be on the 1911 census...at least, I can't find it. Emily and George hadn't taken up residence then but it would have been nice to fill in the gap and establish whether it was still in use as a pub at that time.

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On 10/17/2018 at 1:48 PM, Jill Sparrow said:

I'm sure people think I'm a bit obsessed with that house and I suppose I am but it was such an important part of my first 7 years, I will always feel drawn to it. It's such a shame that it doesn't seem to be on the 1911 census...at least, I can't find it. Emily and George hadn't taken up residence then but it would have been nice to fill in the gap and establish whether it was still in use as a pub at that time.

 

Following a bit of digging around, here's a bit of additional information.

 

No. 4 Garden Street was called The Cherry Tree; it was technically a Beer House rather than a pub.

 

In the early 1890s the landlord was William Reppen; in the late 1890s it was Samuel Gutteridge; in the early 1900s it was John Goulder. It stops appearing around 1910.

 

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Yes, CT, your research agrees with mine. My grandfather, born in 1883, remembered it as The Cherry Tree but, as you say, the name doesn't appear on the census after 1901.  The building, I am convinced, had been altered by the time I knew it. My relatives lived in what amounted to half of it but there was an equal amount of structure at the side, some of which was used as storage on the upper floor and accessed by a metal fire escape type staircase which was external to the rear of the property. The ground floor of this part of the building had been converted to a garage, large enough for several cars.  The house section didn't look as though it had been altered in any way and I wonder now whether the other part of the building had originally been the pub. There is some confusion over whether the place is number 4 or numbers 4 to 6 on one of the census returns.

 

The place was bought by a Mr Smith who owned Smith's Bakery in Lenton. He is someone else I would love to find out more about...why are they always called Smith??

 

Smith lived in one of the large houses around the Harlaxton Drive area and 4 Garden Street was tied accommodation for my relative, George Ward, who maintained the bakery equipment and could be called out at all hours if it broke down. He was also Mr Smith's chauffeur and drove the Rolls Royce which was kept in the converted garage. Bakeries obviously paid well!

 

On Smith's demise, he left 4 Garden Street to George and his wife.

 

There is a chimney stack clearly visible on the gable end side of the section my relatives lived in but there is also what looks like an external flue running up the gable nearest Ilkeston Road, with no chimney stack. Could this indicate that what I knew as a garage and storage areas was once inhabited or used as a beer house?

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I lived in Denton street I used to walk up grant street on my way to Douglas road junior school, ( Ilkeston road). There used to be a leather factory on grant St./highurst St. corner, opposite was Pearce's ice cream factory, as kids we used to sneak in and try and pinch some pieces of dry ice or 'hot ice' as we called it. I went to Douglas road until 1954, then moving on to Radford boulevard. I can't say I remember a nursery on highurst street though, ( first nursery I ever saw was on Radford ' rec next to the bowling greens. B.

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On 10/7/2018 at 2:24 PM, k p lehmann said:

Rarely visit this site but like to now and then.  Does anybody remember a nursery of sort on Highurst Street.  I was born on Bentick Road opposite the Ukranian Club and attended some such place in the early fifties but remember nothing.  

 

1 hour ago, Beekay said:

When I lived in Denton street I used to walk up grant street on my way to Douglas road junior school, ( Ilkeston road). There used to be a leather factory on grant St./highurst St. corner, opposite was Pearce's ice cream factory, ...... I can't say I remember a nursery on highurst street though, 

 

In answer to both posts, it looks like there was a Nursery School on the lower part of Highurst Street, at least in the early 50s.

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Sorry Cliff, I completely for got about Baldwin street. My route would have been, grant street turn right onto Baldwin street down to Ilkeston road and over to Douglas school. Apologies for my foggy memory. B.  NOW I do remember it and the fence round it!

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There are meet-ups from time to time (more than just annual) but they are announced and visible only to members who have made 250+ posts.....which unfortunately you are a long way off.

However, now you've mentioned it, I'll try to remember (or perhaps someone else will) to notify you if you want to make an appearance.

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2 hours ago, k p lehmann said:

Much appreciated Cliff Ton.  Do you think Nottingham City Council would provide any useful information re: premises shown ?

 

I assume you mean the various places on the map. 

 

Best bet for that might be the Local Studies people at the Library.  https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/libraries/local-studies-and-family-history/local-studies-resources/

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  • 1 month later...

My last Christmas Eve visit to Garden Street was 54 years ago. Yet, every year on this day, my thoughts are irresistibly drawn to number 4.

 

By today's standards, the place was primitive indeed. No indoor toilet, no bathroom, no electricity above the ground floor. It didn't matter a jot.  Kettle boiling on a roaring fire in the front parlour, aroma of freshly baked, home made mince pies drifting in from the kitchen...Emily would not have understood the concept of Marks & Spencer deep filled mince pies!

 

Dusk falling over the wet cobbles outside as dad arrived, having broken up for Christmas, been to collect the pork pie and Christmas dinner from his favourite butcher on Denman Street.

 

Then a decanter of home made elderberry wine made its appearance. Poured into Victorian, acid etched wine glasses, all toasted the memory of past Christmases when my grandmother, great grandparents and those whom I knew only from the pages of a musty photograph album would also have been present, drinking a toast from the same glasses.

 

Auntie Emily in her pinafore, bustling about with teacups. Uncle George, perched in his favourite chair by the fire. Presents, wrapped in festive crepe paper, exchanged. Callard & Bowser butterscotch toffee for uncle George, lavender soap for Auntie Emily.

 

Christmas Eve 1964 was especially poignant because we all knew it was the last time at Garden Street. The house would be torn down the following year. Of course, we would still visit Emily and George in their new home but it wouldn't be the same, for any of us.

 

At 4 o'clock, after a final warm by the blazing fire, coats, hats and gloves on, mum, dad, my sister and I set off to walk home across the shiny cobbles to wait for Santa and, that night, one of Emily's mince pies and a glass of her elderberry wine was placed on the hearth to welcome him!

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Not quite Garden Street, but pretty close; and the same branch of the family...........

 

One strong Christmas memory from as far back as I can remember, was that my grandparents who lived at Grimston Road, Radford, would always come to our house at Clifton on Christmas day.

 

That wasn’t easy because they didn’t have a car and there weren’t any buses. So around midday on Christmas morning they would turn up at our house in a taxi. To us - and them - that was unusual and almost exotic. Our family didn’t normally travel using such glamorous things as taxis; it was almost as exciting as Christmas itself.

 

And I suspect that the way my grandparents got to the taxi was not what would happen today. I reckon they walked from their house into the city centre to the taxi rank. That meant walking up Alfreton Road to Canning Circus, then down Derby Road to the Market Square…a couple of miles at 11am on Christmas day morning….by a couple who were doing that well into their 60s.

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2 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

And I suspect that the way my grandparents got to the taxi was not what would happen today. I reckon they walked from their house into the city centre to the taxi rank. That meant walking up Alfreton Road to Canning Circus, then down Derby Road to the Market Square…a couple of miles at 11am on Christmas day morning….by a couple who were doing that well into their 60s.

or... perhaps...if they didn't have a telephone, they invested tuppence and used the call box at the end of Grimston Rd and called for a taxi?

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  • Cliff Ton changed the title to Garden Street area - Radford

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