Stuart.C 491 Posted November 10, 2022 Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 Watched the Central Tv piece on Vic Centre's "50th Birthday" (including clock) yesterday. Apparently no-one at Vic Centre knew exactly what day the Centre opened to the public for the first time, so 9th November has been set as the Official Vic Centre birthday. I'm sure if they'd put out a call to the general public a few people would have come forward naming the exact day that they were the first through the doors. Even if it was a "Soft" opening , no ceremony and ribbon cutting, just open the doors and let people work out it's opened then I'm sure someone would have remembered and might even have photos. And I'm sure Boots and John Lewis would have records of the date in their archives. The Official opening by Geoffrey Rippon was 16th March 1973, but they're always later. However Central said it was the Duchess of Kent who opened it, but her visit was to officially commemrate the start of work on 14 October 1969. Nice piece about the clock and it's revival. 5 minutes, total, piece on the Centre of which 35seconds featured our local celebrity. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DAVIDW 1,681 Posted November 10, 2022 Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 Looks like some shops in The Victoria Centre first started trading in the first week of June 1972 . Having said that Boots with the Parliament Street entrance may have opened earlier perhaps even April/May 1972 . "The Victoria Centre part of which opens this week-end—is in a different class to Birmingham's pride and joy, the Bull Ring. "It is bigger and a lot better. Lower Shopping Level . Superscan Store ,TN Parr ,Jas Smith, Lennards ,Peters Stores , Wigfalls , Etam etc.........." Friday 02 June 1972 - Stapleford & Sandiacre News The previous Central Market opened as the Victoria Market 23rd June 1972 according to another report . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,304 Posted November 10, 2022 Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 The market was quite good when the place first opened and some of it was in the open air! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,458 Posted November 10, 2022 Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 I never particularly liked Victoria Centre when it first opened; the main reason being the lighting which was used on all the walkways and malls. It was a yellowish/cream colour and gave the whole place a shabby, faded look. It was eventually changed in one of the 1980s refurbs which made the place brighter and cleaner, and was a big improvement. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,721 Posted November 10, 2022 Report Share Posted November 10, 2022 13 hours ago, Stuart.C said: Watched the Central Tv piece on Vic Centre's "50th Birthday" (including clock) yesterday. Apparently no-one at Vic Centre knew exactly what day the Centre opened to the public for the first time, so 9th November has been set as the Official Vic Centre birthday. I'm sure if they'd put out a call to the general public a few people would have come forward naming the exact day that they were the first through the doors. Even if it was a "Soft" opening , no ceremony and ribbon cutting, just open the doors and let people work out it's opened then I'm sure someone would have remembered and might even have photos. And I'm sure Boots and John Lewis would have records of the date in their archives. The Official opening by Geoffrey Rippon was 16th March 1973, but they're always later. However Central said it was the Duchess of Kent who opened it, but her visit was to officially commemrate the start of work on 14 October 1969. Nice piece about the clock and it's revival. 5 minutes, total, piece on the Centre of which 35seconds featured our local celebrity. I'm always amazed that people can't pin down relatively recent dates. I put it down to laziness. On the former railway line foot crossing on Hucknall Rd..at the end of Southglade Rd, there are signs supposedly explaining the history of the line. This first of all assumes that a casual visitor would even know it was formerly a line. Next they incorrectly state the length of the line and finally they speculate on the history of the line with words to the effect that is closed 'sometime between 1947 and 1960' or somesuch vagueness. Thing is that any one of thousands of local rail enthusiasts could quote those dates to the day...verbatim.. We also have something called the Internet.. and in the case of rail stuff, a major publisher of rail literature (Book Law) based within the city. How hard can it be? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RadFordee 68 Posted November 11, 2022 Report Share Posted November 11, 2022 14 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said: The market was quite good when the place first opened and some of it was in the open air! I remember when the Victoria centre first opened and my Grandma used to constantly complain that the Vic market was in her words "not a patch on Central market". Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,304 Posted November 11, 2022 Report Share Posted November 11, 2022 Grandma was right. It wasn't as good as the old Central Market. It wasn't too bad in the 70s but seemed to decline after that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RadFordee 68 Posted November 11, 2022 Report Share Posted November 11, 2022 @Jill SparrowGrandma was always right (in her opinion anyway) I can remember her taking me to Central market a few times on a saturday morning, the place was always packed and as a small child I would be knocked around by ladies with big shopping bags. I also hated the overwhelming smell of fish in there. But the dish of mushy peas and the bag of broken biscuits she would always buy me more than made up for it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,458 Posted November 11, 2022 Report Share Posted November 11, 2022 Big old thread about Central Market, with lots of photos. https://nottstalgia.com/forums/topic/12165-central-market/?tab=comments#comment-220952 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RadFordee 68 Posted November 11, 2022 Report Share Posted November 11, 2022 Thanks Cliff Ton I will have a look at that later. My Grandma lived on Manchester st back then, so Central and Sneinton markets were where she did most of her shopping. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
katyjay 5,090 Posted November 11, 2022 Report Share Posted November 11, 2022 If my memory is correct, the Victoria Centre opend in June 1972, certainly not November. I had my first baby May 72 and took him as a newborn to the newly opened centre. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stuart.C 491 Posted November 11, 2022 Report Share Posted November 11, 2022 Boot opened 12th May 1972, but possibly without use of the internal entrance. Jessops 8th November 1972, but maybe after the Centre had opened. Victoria Market 21st July 1972 but maybe after the main doors of the Centre opened. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,458 Posted November 11, 2022 Report Share Posted November 11, 2022 What I think that demonstrates is that there wasn't a specific opening day for Victoria Centre. Various stores opened at different times; and official openings by celebrities/dignitaries are usually not connected to the real world. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Engineer 614 Posted November 12, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2022 https://www.itv.com/news/central/2022-11-09/in-pictures-50-years-of-nottinghams-victoria-centre 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cliff Ton 10,458 Posted November 13, 2022 Report Share Posted November 13, 2022 That may be the first time a Nottstalgian has appeared in a television interview. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Engineer 614 Posted November 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2022 3rd time... I appeared on Notts TV (live from studio with my granddaughter) and BBC East Midlands in June 2015 (same topic). Still some way to go to amount to 15 minutes of fame though! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
radfordred 6,284 Posted December 18, 2022 Report Share Posted December 18, 2022 In the news https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/men-filmed-fishing-penny-wishes-7943382#ICID=Android_NottinghamPostNewApp_AppShare Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stuart.C 491 Posted December 18, 2022 Report Share Posted December 18, 2022 I bet they were only picking up the shiny coins. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted December 22, 2022 Report Share Posted December 22, 2022 Diversity is our strength. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DavidA 153 Posted December 22, 2022 Report Share Posted December 22, 2022 That's the sort of strength we could do without. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Engineer 614 Posted December 22, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2022 I asked the General Manager of Vic Centre if they were aware (someone shared the Facebook post with me before it went viral). He said they (management) had spent most of Monday dealing with it, supplying police with CCTV, etc. I guess it would be classed as theft, though had they worn wellies it might have been 'going equipped'. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DanielHST 1 Posted January 16, 2023 Report Share Posted January 16, 2023 I have just found another video which features the clock in original condition and having the original cassette Rameu tune. It is featured at 12:24 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MelissaJKelly 2,120 Posted January 16, 2023 Report Share Posted January 16, 2023 Just watched 30 mins of that and will watch the rest later. Really interesting. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Engineer 614 Posted January 17, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2023 I recalled seeing this video before. Okay if you don't mind the late Dennis McCarthy of Radio Nottingham fame back in the day. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beekay 5,134 Posted January 17, 2023 Report Share Posted January 17, 2023 I've just finished watching the said video . It were a nice surprise to see my old stomping ground of Holme Pierrepont at 44mn. I worked there from '77 to '79. Only left because the wages were crap. Rufford rangers were being paid twice what we were getting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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