philmayfield 6,089 Posted July 13, 2023 Report Share Posted July 13, 2023 I remember going into a Lancaster on the Forest. It must have been late 40’s. I recollect climbing over the main spar. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brew 5,377 Posted July 13, 2023 Report Share Posted July 13, 2023 I can remember my father taking me to the Forest to see a whale on the back of a lorry. Sadly, probably thinking I'd get a better view, we stood very close so all I saw was this wet black thing. I can remember more of the trailer than the whale. He was quite cross on the way home when I asked him where it was. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,435 Posted July 13, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2023 Amazingly - but as is often the case with Nottstalgia - there's an old thread about the whale on the Forest. https://nottstalgia.com/forums/topic/9574-nottingham-whale/?tab=comments#comment-116924 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,267 Posted July 13, 2023 Report Share Posted July 13, 2023 I recall my sister talking about that. It must have been before I was born, so pre 1957. She said the smell was horrendous. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oztalgian 3,217 Posted July 13, 2023 Report Share Posted July 13, 2023 8 hours ago, Cliff Ton said: And the lower photo is still the same, but without green buses. What the heck has happened to the "Slab Square" that I left back in the seventies? Even when I came back in 2007 it did not look that bad. It looks like a soviet era industrial wasteland. What were the council thinking? Surely this is not the centre piece of the Midland Queen that its inhabitants want. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,435 Posted July 14, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 9 hours ago, Oztalgian said: It looks like a soviet era industrial wasteland. What were the council thinking? It lives up to its name of Slab Square to an extreme degree. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,267 Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 It looks awful. Totally without character. Just a flat canvas on which to put fun fairs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MargieH 7,594 Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 Paul and I went to see one of the whales (there were 3 according to the ‘whale thread’ that CT posted - Hercules, Goliath and Jonah). It was in Leicester and I think we had at least one of our children with us so it must have been in the late 60s/early 70s. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 A city council without vision - but the people of Nottingham keep voting for them. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
letsavagoo 956 Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 I rarely go into Nottingham now especially in the evening but yesterday early evening I went to my grandsons college to see some of his work. The square and Market Street were filthy. Fast food wrappers, hundreds of cigarette ends and all manner of detritus and vomit. A disgrace. I am certainly out of touch with older teenagers. It was like a freak show. There was a Rastafarian sat on the left lion wearing a plastic crown shouting abuse and obscenities at everyone and a youth on a bmx doing jumps up and down the council house steps. It was quite shocking. What has happened to our lovely city. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,267 Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 I totally agree. No one seems to take a pride in their surroundings anymore. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,089 Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 I wouldn’t go into Nottingham now even if you gave me the bus fare. I used to like going there but no more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,435 Posted July 14, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 There's not much reason to go into the city centre now anyway. A large percentage of shop units are empty, and the area south of the Market Square down to Broad Marsh is virtually a ghost town. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brew 5,377 Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 A problem the 'new and improved' Square' has, is that it isn't. It's simply not people friendly and totally out of architectural sympathy with it's surroundings. Most use it as place for rapid transit from one place to another. It's not a somewhere to linger awhile and watch the world go by. It's a place where you ponder what sort of idiot put an electrical control room under a water feature that leaks. And now the council are estimating repairs are four years away. Maybe if the tram wasn't losing so much... Perhaps one day Nottingham will get a council able to concentrate on services and not prestige projects that always seem to go pear shaped. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LizzieM 9,497 Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 This mob have had control for 30-40 years, the city electorate are to blame for giving them free reign with the council tax income, a council tax that is second highest in the country. I despair every time I step out of our house but no amount of complaining about non-existent services does a bit of good. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beekay 5,094 Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 I knew there were a reason I don't come back much nowadays. You guys have convinced me. I'm not missing a deal by the sounds of it. B. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,435 Posted July 15, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2023 A row of shop units on Wheeler Gate have recently been renovated in an early 20th century style. It looks impressive, but I wonder if they will ever be occupied and/or profitable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,267 Posted July 15, 2023 Report Share Posted July 15, 2023 Sisson & Parker just out of shot. I loved that shop. Dixon & Parker just around the corner on Friar Lane. I didn't love that one! When I was a child, I was apt to get them mixed up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MelissaJKelly 2,120 Posted July 15, 2023 Report Share Posted July 15, 2023 The company I currently work for used to have a shop on Wheeler Gate (opposite Cafe Nero) and next to Sainsburys but had to give it up n 2018 as the footfall was non existent. There would usually be a homeless person sleeping in the doorway so not the best place to have a shop! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Pianoman 1,531 Posted July 15, 2023 Report Share Posted July 15, 2023 John Herbert the jeweller had to move out for the renovations and decided to wind up the business as a result. They were in business on Trinity Square for donkeys years and moved to Wheeler Gate in recent years. Another one gone. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IAN FINN 792 Posted July 15, 2023 Report Share Posted July 15, 2023 Yes Jill loved S&P my mum would get my school supplies from there ink,nibs,pens and pencils etc. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MRS B 490 Posted July 15, 2023 Report Share Posted July 15, 2023 Sisson&Parker was such a great shop. Such a shame that all these places are “no more” Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,435 Posted July 16, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2023 20 hours ago, MelissaJKelly said: The company I currently work for used to have a shop on Wheeler Gate (opposite Cafe Nero) and next to Sainsburys but had to give it up n 2018 as the footfall was non existent. There would usually be a homeless person sleeping in the doorway so not the best place to have a shop! I took that photo on a Sunday morning around 10am. I had to manoeuvre my position to avoid the homeless in the doorways. You can see a cardboard box sticking out; that was one of their 'homes', but there were others. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brew 5,377 Posted July 16, 2023 Report Share Posted July 16, 2023 Nottingham City Council have a 'no second night' policy and will find accommodation for rough sleepers as soon as they are aware of them. There is a free number whereby you may report a rough sleeper and get some support for them. 0800 066 5356 - 24/7, free from landlines and mobiles 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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