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Nearly, you walked past Dunn & Co and turned left into Board Marsh. where we met in the cafe every morning for the worst cup of stewed tea in the world before walking up Drury hill steps to Weekda

The Towers pub was on the way into Broad Marsh. Now that was rough! A place for picking up ladies of ill repute I believe.

Ayup Poohbear,

Thanks for that memory, I think the last shop you can see on the left was an antique shop, I always remember seeing this old clear glass bottle with some sort of liquid in it and a red wood Indian totem pole or wooden carving in the liquid that turned it red in the window, this would be in the early 60s, The last time I was in Nottingham earlier this year I saw this "thing" again in another antique shop but can't remember where, funny how visual stimulants bring back some strange memories

Rog

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Looks a fairly modern car to me, possibly too modern to fit with the Drury Hill theory, I thought Drury Hill was knocked down 20+ years ago!

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I don't think poohbear was insinuating that it was Drury Hill ,it just reminded him of it!!

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I can't beleive anyone would think or try to get a motor down there....

Bip.

My last delivery each week was a shop near the Towers pub...I used to nip down Drury Hill in a Moggie Thousand regularly.That day I was in a J2 van and forgot how tight the road was until I got to the bend. :blush:

That other picture's just one off the Web...no idea where.

Paul.

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Thanks for that - it's me having a senior moment!!!!!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ok this is going to sound really weird lol, now I've seen piccies of Drury Hill after I tracked down which street it was I was after, but all the piccies seem to be either half way up or facing up the hill.

Did anyone walk down this hill when it was there? More importantly, can anyone tell me if there would have been an old fashioned type of sweet shop on it. I think on the left going down, and I think it was where the hill bent round slightly.

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I can only remember walking down there once (As a toddler) but I have been down the caves and there is / was a piece of Drury hill preserved and you walked underneath it

Hows this, it's pointing down !!

oldcarltonstuff027.jpg

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Drury Hill was one of those great delights of Nottingham, it was a gross act of sheer vandalism to destroy it in the 70's in order to build that vile concrete monstrosity called Broad Marsh.

How the local authority scum bags called planners got away with it, is beyond me. Imagine destroying such a place in London, York, or, closer to home, Lincoln, is unbelievable, whoever was responsible should be contemplating their plans in Sherwood Prison.

Nottingham is a very ancient and historic city with little to show for it, unless you know where to look.

I can remember that lovely road called Maid Marion Way being built and seeing all those beautiful old buildings being destroyed as a consequence, I was only a kid at the time, but couldn't work it out even then what it was all about.

Drury Hill was a magic place, walk down it and the most noticeable thing was the chocolately smell of the leather tannery, remember at the end where it came across Weekday Cross Tunnel, there used to be an old boy sitting outside his Victorian terrace, watching the trains go by.

If the council planning morons had any brains, retaining and restoring Drury Hill could have formed a perfect entance into Broad Marsh, but did these pillocks contemplate this, no, it was far beyond their basic, simple imaginations, it was all about backhanders, money and greed.

I've heard that the piece of rubbish called Broad Marsh is to be re-designed, nice one, study the old pictures and rebuild Drury Hill as a main entrance, I'm sure you won't, it will be admitting gross, unforgiveable errors, well not on your part, you're probably living happily in retirement on your pay offs.

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Betcha life 'Son of 60s planner' is still working there now.They knocked down an ancient set of buildings in Bulwell where I worked in the 70s... to be replaced with....a car park.

Those in power in the sixties should have been shot. An upgraded Drury Hill could have made a great tourist attraction if the shops had been used for Olde Worldly trades, like a sweet shop, old fashioned grocers etc.

Why did Arkwright street have to vanish?...a one way system from Trent Bridge...Arkwright street in...London Road out would have been much more interesting.

And can you believe that the architect who designed the prison block flats in Hyson Green and Basford actually won a design award for those monstrosities.Bet ya life none of the dignitaries responsible lived in one.

And as for the Black Boy disappearing to be replaced by Littlewoods concrete bunker....well...nuff said.

Paul.

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I’m hoping to bring my 24year old Son up to Nottingham for a couple of days¸ to show him a bit of the old City ?!

I’ve put a post in the NEW Help Needed category for help in finding any bits of ‘old’ town that we can see.

If you guys could take a look, you may be able to help me.

cheers

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Ayup all,

Yes I've walked up and down Drury hill many times and I remember those smells you speak of Firbeck, can't remember a sweet shop though, toy shop, antique/junk shop but no sweet shop.

One of the biggest mistakes the idiots in the planning department made was knocking down the old Wilford rail bridge, it would have made the perfect road bridge over the Trent to access the city and relieve traffic congestion, the planners can't say they didn't expect the volume of traffic back then because there was still chaos on the roads in the rush hour, all our heritage has either been given away by the chicken livered politically correct or it's been destroyed by some stupid planner with the forsight of a fish

Rog

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...One of the biggest mistakes the idiots in the planning department made was knocking down the old Wilford rail bridge, it would have made the perfect road bridge over the Trent to access the city and relieve traffic congestion...

Yes indeed...the former Lady Bay rail bridge being the 'proof of the pudding'

Cheers

Robt P.

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Planners in the 50s and 60s were rubbish...look at the rail line from the north of the city through tunnels in Woodthorpe park and direct to Victoria center.A fantastic future tram line...ready made...so they built on it, and there are others.

And yet the guys in charge in 1931 planned a ring road that even today is a super width from Whitemoor on. And probably in their day only saw 4/500 vehicles a day.Pity the later planners didn't have the same foresight.

Paul.

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I am assuming you refer to the Nottingham Suburban Railway (tunnels in Woodthorpe Park) this did not go into Victoria directly being a "short cut" off The Great Northern at Woodthorpe to other GNR lines that ran originally to London Road Station, but know what you mean. There was a plan put forward when the GCR was shut to use that and the GNR as a local railway but rejected on cost, as was one I actually saw a council feasibilty study on, this was in 1970's and was using all the great central line to victoria via the tunnels, in the "big hole" that was north of VC, the planned route went through a new tunnel in the east "side wall" of cutting to come out in the market square, the whole lot cost around £1,000.000, but rejected as too expensive!

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Ayup all,

Yes I've walked up and down Drury hill many times and I remember those smells you speak of Firbeck, can't remember a sweet shop though, toy shop, antique/junk shop but no sweet shop.

One of the biggest mistakes the idiots in the planning department made was knocking down the old Wilford rail bridge, it would have made the perfect road bridge over the Trent to access the city and relieve traffic congestion, the planners can't say they didn't expect the volume of traffic back then because there was still chaos on the roads in the rush hour, all our heritage has either been given away by the chicken livered politically correct or it's been destroyed by some stupid planner with the forsight of a fish

Rog

ooh now then, a toy shop, never thought of that. A toy shop would be a shop a kid about 4-5yrs old would stand staring at for ages, longing for what was inside.

Wish someone did a shop by shop guide to Drury Hill lol, might solve a longstandin mystery as to which shop it was :D

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"One of the biggest mistakes the idiots in the planning department made was knocking down the old Wilford rail bridge, it would have made the perfect road bridge over the Trent to access the city and relieve traffic congestion, the planners can't say they didn't expect the volume of traffic back then because there was still chaos on the roads in the rush hour, all our heritage has either been given away by the chicken livered politically correct or it's been destroyed by some stupid planner with the forsight of a fish"

What about the Beeching era?

1963: The end of the line

Richard Beeching's brief as chairman of the British Transport Commission was simple: "Make the railways pay".

British Rail was losing £140m a year when Dr Beeching took over the commission. His solution, announced on 27 March 1963, was equally straightforward - massive cuts.

The Conservative government welcomed the report, but thousands of people - many in remote rural areas - were horrified they would lose their local branch lines.

Opposition from the pressure groups failed and during the 1960s "Beeching's Axe" fell on 2,128 stations and more than 67,000 British Rail jobs.

Opposition from the pressure groups failed and during the 1960s "Beeching's Axe" fell on 2,128 stations and more than 67,000 British Rail jobs.

Your memories

It was in 1955 that Brigadier Lloyd read his seminal paper, entitled "The Potentialities of the British Railway System as a Reserve Road System", to the Institution of Civil Engineers.

The tragedy of the Beeching Cuts is not the cuts themselves but the loss of 9,000 miles of superbly engineered right of way.

As to Trent bridge, I remember even in the early 1950`s the congestion was apalling.

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I am assuming you refer to the Nottingham Suburban Railway (tunnels in Woodthorpe Park) this did not go into Victoria directly being a "short cut" off The Great Northern at Woodthorpe to other GNR lines that ran originally to London Road Station, but know what you mean. There was a plan put forward when the GCR was shut to use that and the GNR as a local railway but rejected on cost, as was one I actually saw a council feasibilty study on, this was in 1970's and was using all the great central line to victoria via the tunnels, in the "big hole" that was north of VC, the planned route went through a new tunnel in the east "side wall" of cutting to come out in the market square, the whole lot cost around £1,000.000, but rejected as too expensive!

When the Vic Centre was being originally designed, it was proposed to put in a linking tunnel within it so that future use could be made of the old GCR. No chance, it took up too much car parking space. The Weekday Cross Viaduct was retained for a while as a nature reserve, but that got in the way of the trams, so that went.

The tram route is a bit strange anyway. A lot of money was put into re-opening the Robin Hood line, so when that's up and running, they run the trams in parallel from Bulwell, what was the point of that.

Funny how even during the massive redevelopment of Birmingham, Snow Hill was closed, but enough space was retained for it eventually be re-opened and form the hub of a revatilised railway system, they had a bit of foresight, most local authorities have non, it still goes on, I assure you.

Where I live, like it or not, the obsession is with Stansted Airport. They built a new rail link into it a few years ago.

For a while now, the plan has been to reinstate the closed but relatively intact rail connection from Braintree where I live. So what do they do, build a bypass along it's route and destroy it, while still harping on about rebuilding the old link, it defeats me. It's a bit like the cunning plan to rebuild the old GCR, or construct a new parallel high speed route along the side of the WCML, these planning experts are highly paid morons, I know, I deal with the idiots every day, they live on another planet.

My attitude with Nottingham has always been the same, a famous old city whose ancient past was destroyed in the Industrial Revolution, but the surving bits were always open to destruction by 'Modernists'.

In the 70's I worked opposite the castle gates, in an historical building that is thankfully still there.

Tourists used to turn up at Castle Gate Post Office to buy Robin Hood post cards, it was the only place that sold such ephemora, the powers that be running the castle didn't want to know, it was a complete disgrace. I used to talk to tourists from Japan, the States, all over the world and they couldn't believe the lack of interest within the city of it's great Robin Hood tourist potential and how the city was full of such uninspiringly crap modern buildings.

So what do they do, open up the totally naff plastic 'World of Robin Hood' under some crap modern tower block, nice one, I bet that got everyone going, I've never wanted to insult my kids by taking them there.

Sorry, thats scuppered the Drury Hill thread, however, I haven't been to that spot for a while, it upsets me, lets get back to reality, remember the post office on the corner, probably a wine bar now or was it demolished too, it wouldn't surprise me, I doubt whether even now that anything of historic interest in Notty is safe, it depends on whose greasing your palms.

As for the Wilford bridge that was demolished, sums it up really, we have a lovely Victorian bridge, built over the Trent at great expense, could be used for anything, could form a great tram route, cycle way, footpath, anything, it's there, lets take advantage of it.

Naaah, waste of space, lets get rid of it, if needs be we'll find the multi million pounds to build a new one if neccesary at a later date. W#####s, haven't got a clue, if the tramway is extended to Clifton and the new Brian Clough Stadium, we'll spend mega bucks on a new one, it could look nicer, we don't want to adapt old rubbish for a gleaming new project that we may get a design award for after all.

Sad.

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...The tram route is a bit strange anyway. A lot of money was put into re-opening the Robin Hood line, so when that's up and running, they run the trams in parallel from Bulwell, what was the point of that....

Actually, the tracks are parallel from Wilkinson Street to Hucknall - which is even more of a condemnation.

Cheers

Robt P.

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Actually, the tracks are parallel from Wilkinson Street to Hucknall - which is even more of a condemnation.

Cheers

Robt P.

Sorry, that shows my lack of recent Notty knowledge.

I have to admit that despite my admiration for it, I've never travelled on the tram system, well, my mum lives in Wollaton, my son, in Lenton while at Uni, and it doesn't have anything to do with those places, on the other hand, I've been on the Robin Hood Line for the hell of it, I dragged my son up to Annesley to try and find evidence of the former sheds and walked down to Newstead Abbey.

My personal opinion is that the routes should have been from the north down Mansfield Road, to the East from Sneinton and beyond, Clifton, Wollaton and Beeston, it would have made more sense, but what do I know, I'm merely a private sector planning consultant. On the other hand, I don't feel too guilty as I travelled on the last but one ever trolleybus, they should have been kept on and modernised.

Ever been to Budapest, I have relatives there. What a place, they know what it's all about, trams, trolleybuses, underground, day tickets to everywhere for naff all, thats called planning, the dickheads here should take note and consider how profitable things could be, but on the other hand, the morons here destroyed everything in the first place, they have shot themselves in the foot and haven't the infrastucture to rebuild anyway. Progressive British Planning, you can't believe what it's like, I've been struggling against the system for 40 years and they still haven't a clue, I actually have now given up and want to work in a different sector, these people make me puke with their lack of knowledge about anything but totall subjucation to those great fonts of wisdom called the manipulated planning regulations, which they consider to suit themselves when they need to go for a lunchtime drink at the pub.

Wouldn't a nice tower block look nice on the site of the castle, could move all the County Architects there as well, Oh, no, sorry, don't they already have a great time watching the cricket at Trent Bridge, don't want to upset their creative chain of thoughts, must be difficult to work under such circumstances, I bet they need counselling.

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...I have to admit that despite my admiration for it, I've never travelled on the tram system...

I've ridden it a couple of times with no other purpose than to 'try it'. Must confess that I rather enjoyed the trip - once the chavs, 15 year old female pushchair pushers and general pond life had decamped around Hyson Green. The duplication factor became so evident as we travelled - surprisingly rapidly - alongside the former Midland line beyond Wilkinson Street.

Have to agree with your route observations. Recently travelled by NCT from Parliament Street to the City Hospital, and was amazed how many use the bus services on Mansfield Road up to Sherwood, and beyond.

Cheers

Robt P.

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I agree with most of that firbeck...Took my young son to the castle many years ago.There was a group of about 20 japanese tourists had just come out...And I felt like going over to them and apologising for their crap sightseeing trip.

Some years ago I worked at the Tower of London it was being debated to move a great portion of the Royal Armouries collection to a new site.Somewhere historic to attract tourist dollars.

The ideal site in a world known location was Nottingham...and what would be an ideal site in Nottingham? If not the castle...Wollaton Hall.Strengthening and repair of the upper floors was around 6 million which was turned down by the council.

So the collection went to another world famous city...York?...Stratford? no.............Leeds.Who stumped up the cash.

Paul.

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