The Last Nottingham Trolley Bus


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2 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

It was Sainsburys at one time. Can't remember whether that was before or after Sainsburys was in the Victoria Centre.  Prior to being Sainsburys, it housed another supermarket. Can't remember whether it was Tesco or Safeway. It had an automatic door which was unusual in those days.  In more recent years it was Wilkinsons. Don't know what it is now.

I had no idea there was once a Safeway there, I've learnt something. It must have been short-lived because Sainsburys were there in 1970, I had a mate who worked there. The site was actually a garage from before the First World war and closed about 1960. Safeways weren't established in the UK until the mid-60s though.  Obviously not a good retail site, after Sainsburys it became a Co-op and then Wilkinson in the '80s.

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Another view of the last trolley bus in its last days.  On Parliament Street next to the Old Dog & Partridge, which is still there largely unchanged - as well as the Baptist Church further along.

Everybody was right.   Looking in old telephone directories, D & A Stationers were at 22 Lower Parliament St.   And that was between the garage and the church, before Sai

As 30th June marks the 50th anniversary of the last trolleybus service in Nottingham, perhaps NCT could repaint one of the Yellow Line double deckers into the green and cream livery used by the trolle

22 minutes ago, TBI said:

  Obviously not a good retail site, after Sainsburys it became a Co-op and then Wilkinson in the '80s.

 

Did Sainsbury's and Wilko have some kind of special arrangement ?   The one on Parliament St went from Sainsbury's to Wilko, and a similar thing happened in Broad Marsh Centre - one of the few remaining units there is a Wilko and that was originally a Sainsbury's.

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There was a supermarket next door to the church in the mid 60s. Every Saturday, I attended my ballet lesson in the lower clubroom at the Co-op Arts Theatre and then went round the corner of George Street with my mum to do the shopping in that supermarket. I feel sure it was Safeway because, at the time, there was a Tesco in Hockley.

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Safeway was taken over by Morrisons. They had to sell some stores to allow the merger to go ahead as the OFT had competition concerns about the deal. Some stores were sold to Sainsbury's - including the one on Nottingham Road Mansfield. Might that be an explanation?

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If there was a D & A Stationers this might be the explanation.  The Wilko/Sainsbury's building is clearly a product of the 1960s and doesn't blend in with its surroundings.  I reckon your stationers was in that location and demolished to make way for what is there now.

 

oKsDnnD.jpg

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The new build repIaced the Adelphi garage, which I think closed late '50s CT. I think the stationers would have been in the unit between the garage and the chapel, which is now the new bit of building with the three circular windows.

 

I still can't quite work out the Safeway bit, I can't think why a new Safeway would only be in place for less than five years. Ian's memory of it is where Poundland now is, but that would not have been until after 1973.

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The only stationers I can recall around that area are the one on the corner of George Street, opposite the George Hotel and one on Lincoln Street, near to its junction with Clumber Street,  which was redeveloped in the mid 60s. One was Bell's and I'm not sure about the other one.

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Quite possibly, Phil. I was only a little girl but I remember it faced a shop named Cavalcade on the opposite corner...later, a shoe shop.  Cavalcade was a Habitat type shop but I don't think it was there for very long.

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I think CT is pretty close on this one.  The location looks about right on the photo.  I don't recall the building with the three round windows.  By the time I returned to Nottingham for a  visit in 1974 the Vic centre was in place and I didn't even think of that part of Parliament street.  I guess D&A will remain a fond memory.

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The building with the three round windows has been built into the front of the chapel quite recently. I remember being asked to go into the chapel to do some work on the (or a) piano, or possibly I was asked if I wanted to buy it or something. I had to work my way in around the builders. It wouldn't have been more than 10 years ago.

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On 11/2/2018 at 11:13 PM, loppylugs said:

But does anybody remember D&A stationers or was it in a parallel universe.  :Shock:

 

On 11/3/2018 at 10:34 AM, TBI said:

The new build repIaced the Adelphi garage, which I think closed late '50s CT. I think the stationers would have been in the unit between the garage and the chapel, which is now the new bit of building with the three circular windows.

 

Everybody was right.

 

Looking in old telephone directories, D & A Stationers were at 22 Lower Parliament St.

p6B1z09.jpg

 

And that was between the garage and the church, before Sainsbury's was built.

 

1l2lcIX.jpg

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I don't know if I'm imagining, as I think back but I seem to have a recollection of that shop, the window angled inwards from the left, the door set back on the right and sold artists equipment too, canvasses, easels etc which were displayed in the window?

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On 11/3/2018 at 10:44 AM, Jill Sparrow said:

The only stationers I can recall around that area are the one on the corner of George Street, opposite the George Hotel and one on Lincoln Street, near to its junction with Clumber Street,  which was redeveloped in the mid 60s. One was Bell's and I'm not sure about the other one.

 

On 11/3/2018 at 10:55 AM, philmayfield said:

I believe that was Hawthorne’s Jill.

 

This is Hawthorne's which was on Clumber Street and might be the one Jill was thinking of.

3hVTM6P.jpg

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The one I was thinking of was on Lincoln Street.. I do recall the one in the photo as I remember the unusual window arrangement.  I've always liked the out of the ordinary.

 

There was a shop...a fashion shop I think...on Pelham Street, which had a similar arrangement and a horizontal plate glass display case outside the entrance. Dresses, etc would be arranged artistically under the glass and much to the annoyance of my mother, I always insisted on walking all the way round it to have a good look.

 

It wouldn't last long these days before it got smashed.  Can't remember the name of the shop but I'm sure someone does.

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Jill, I think the shop you may be referring to on Pelham St was James Bell, a few doors up from Boots. A very old established gents and ladies outfitter, it had distinctive windows similar to Hawthornes in the early sixties until it was modernised a bit. However, I believe the separate glass display case was situated in front of the shop next door. I'm not sure what it was at the time but it was later Moss Bros.

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The photo is Bell's the stationers, opposite the George Hotel. They were official stockists of Ordnance Survey maps. I remember going there to order one once.

 

TBI, yes, the shop with the display case was just up from Boots. I think there was a toyshop nearby. Beecrofts?

 

Richard Shops also had an island glass display case at their shop which, I think, was below Trattoria Conti.

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I wasn't really interested in the outfitter's, as such. Just wanted to see if what was in the display case had been changed since the last time I'd looked. 

 

Every time we walked to  Garden Street, used to drag my mother to look in the windows of a shop on the corner of Hartley Road and Norton Street which sold baby and children's clothes. The windows were covered with orange cellophane on the inside to prevent the sun fading the clothes which were displayed on large baby sized dolls and were changed almost every day!  I was around 3 or 4 then but I've always been nosey!

 

There was a shop on Friar Lane which had a marble fascia and my sister always embarrassed us, around the early 60s, by impersonating Harry Worth's antics with his arm and leg!  We just used to walk away and pretend we didn't know her!  ;)

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