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Walking through Slab Square this lunchtime I got a chance to see how the remodelling of the area was coming along.

Call me picky, but the bit of paving that is already open to pedestrians looks decidedly second rate. Rather like the dodgy brickwork you see on far too many new buildings.

I've just got this horrible feeling that the new Old Market Square is going to open to fanfares followed by big questions about the standard of the workmanship.

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I Will look forward to viewing Slab Square on my visit Bamber. It never fails to amaze me how things like this can get out of hand & are sometimes downright shoddy after they have been " Renovated" Let's hope it will still be a meeting place for visitors,after all Slab Square holds a lot of memories for most Nottinghamians. How many of Notts site members have had a meet up there?? heaps I bet?

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  • 4 weeks later...
How many of Notts site members have had a meet up there?? heaps I bet?

I arranged to meet the present Mrs Frank at the left lion following our introduction in the Pallie (sp??) back in '68. Anyroads, I saw here standing there and like an idiot, i started waving as she appeared to be looking right at me as I approached from St James St (the 16 dropped me off on Maid Marion Way outside the Wimpey Bar).

Well, I got right up close and started talking before she responded - didn't know if she was blind or deaf at this stage - but it turned out that she wore glasses and was afraid to let me know in case I took a dislike to her. It cost me a lot of money while courting (do people still use that term?) taking her to the pictures where she promptly snuggled up and fell asleep 'cause she couldn't see the film!

Paid to have her eyes fixed last year - just the deafness to go now smile2

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Oh yes - when i did actually arrive at the left lion that night I distinctivly remember hearing the lion roar hearteyes

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I don't know about the Lions Roaring, Frank, but if it took you 38 years to get her eyes fixed, she missed some pretty good movies in that time!

Original Italian Job

007_ITALIANJOB~The-Italian-Job-Posters.jpg

Midnight Cowboy

midnight-cowboy-001.jpg

Papillon

9804.jpg

Alien

alien-poster-0.jpg

To name but a few... ;)

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  • 4 weeks later...

There was a letter in The Post asking what had happened to the high quality Portland stone slabs and the cast bronze bronze lanterns that were removed to make way for redevelopment. Probably on the back of a lorry and sold off for cash.

The more I see of the new paving the more it reminds me of cheap stone cladding. The finished Market Square is going to be a grade one eyesore.

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  • 4 months later...

Why has it taken well over 18 months to get this far, it's a total waste of Council tax payers dosh. If you had a drive done and it took that long to get this far then you would have every right to complain. It looks like a 'gypo' job, I think it's a travesty of local justice, what an eyesore, oh, and by the way, they have made it ideal for the 'skate board' community.

Yes, what has happened to the Portland Stone and the bronze lamps? I detect a few back handers here! Local Councillors should remember who voted them into office, us the voters, and we can just as easily vote them out again, they seem to forget that. The 'Square' was OK as it was. I remember as a kid going into town on a sunday and you would always see someone preaching from the walls with great crowds around him. Oh for the good old days, but maybe thats just me getting old!

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The old bronze lanterns have been reinstated but they only serve to highlight the cheapness of the new lights - in all their galvanized pressed metal crappy glory.

It would also have been nice if a little extra money could have been spent on the tram stops in Slab Square. The concrete on the platform edge is crumbling and the signs look as though they were lashed up by someone with a bit of spare sheet metal and a pop riveter.

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And are we going to get any new public toilets in the 'new' square.

It's really difficult, as Mick knows, having a tipple or coffee and then struggling to find anywhere to pee.

The only public toilets I knew of were in Trinity Square and Slab Square. Anyone know of anywhere else????

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It's really difficult, as Mick knows, having a tipple or coffee and then struggling to find anywhere to pee.

Right Frank!

After the Caz meetup at the poacher, I headed straight for MSB, to find them no longer there!. Had to endure a long bus ride to Long Eaton, and a quick jog as far as I could get to. Which was just past the (closed) Tamworth Road bogs (renowned to be the central point of the UK?

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  • 2 months later...

I wander how long it will be before someone puts washing up liquid in to make the water foam up like someone did with the old fountains or even a coloured dye in....I'll give the council six months before they shut the water off.

Bip.

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Is it finished then Red?

Yeah its sorted think they pulled out all the stops for the st.pactricks day parade on saturday , I even took my youngest down yesterday for a run round and a paddle .

Its a vast improvement on the old market square and can and will be used for a lot more events , having seen 1st hand new years eve and the millenium celebrations where people having fallen off the raised bits that used to be in the old square .

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I thought this reader`s comment in the Post was pretty relevant

LETTER: 'PRIDE' OR SHAME?

11:00 - 07 April 2007

I thought I'd take advantage of a rare trip into Nottingham to see for myself the 'City's Pride', as you call it in your supplement 'Celebration of the new Market Square'.

In front of the Council House, with the stage under construction for the night's events, we see groups of important people getting out of their vehicles and surveying the impressive vista, with plenty of back-slapping going on.

I wonder if they cared to look down to the ground and saw the already-cracked new slabs. I guess not.

Take a closer look around the area and you will see numerous wooden surfaces on handrails and benches.

The city's graffiti artists and penknife carvers must think it's Christmas!

I saw one very large 'tag' already there with a large discolouration around it, where someone had tried unsuccessfully to clean it off. I give it a year and all the wood will be replaced with something more hard-wearing, or still be there and covered with graffiti.

Go to the far end of the square and we have a large apron around the new fountain where workers are taking down bricks and trying already to 'repair' it. Is this going to go the way of the Diana memorial and never be on? Let's hope not.

Having spoken to a few people around the square that day the consensus I got was not how wonderful the whole thing was but definitely the opposite. Comic Relief told us that it only takes £2.50 to buy a mosquito net to save a kiddy's life - the sum of £7m that is being used for this should make us feel ashamed.

STEPHEN PAYNE Holme Close Woodborough

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One for anyone who misses the square & would like to remember this way .

Not sure why my Mum dressed me like that ?

No it's not it's me sister .

I must admit late night ( sat 1am ) i did take a detour thorough the square and yes there was shite everywhere also the stainless steel wire rope under the hand rails had been snapped .

464977510_8c678ae8a2_b.jpg

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Actually, though this is a family picture, it contains valuble information about past Nottingham in the background Vehicles,Traffic System Businesses of the time. Thanks Red.

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  • 1 month later...

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