Before Q.M.C. & midway city .


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i can recall the site upon were the now Q.M.C stands,

The site was owned by Simms Sons and Cooke, civil Engineers,

When the site was required to build the new Hospital ,they relocated to Hayden rd Sherwood.

they were quite established in Nottingham.

At the same time ,the Ring rd only went as far as Dunkirk,

A continuation of the ring rd was constructed,from there to Clifton Bridge.

The land between the two points was named as Midway City,

When the road was finished ,a Bailey Bridge was erected temporary carry the traffic,

untill the permanent bridge was built.

any one remember any more, please add to this.

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The area which is now occupied by QMC was known as Spring Close.

Lenton Times have quite a few photos of it back in the old days, including some of the companies you mention http://www.lentontim..._close_area.htm

They also have photos of the Mk1 and the Mk2 versions of the Dunkirk Flyover

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What year are we talking about? recall one of first things built on QMC site (that were visable) were the 2 still there water tanks? on Abbey St. Just seen the photo of the petrol station on Clifton Blvd, had forgot all about it! but now recall it and in fact used it

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Hi, Cliff ton, & Ashley,

Thanks for the follow up on Q.m.c topic, you seem as if you have quite some info,

I didn't spend a lot of time around there , but saw it develop as we drove near by

Am i right in thinking the access road was at the side of the River Leen to Spring Close off Derby road?

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The Fire Station (now closed), Parkers Cafe and PDSA are fairly new buildings, poss early 60s?

What was there before then?

Further towards town on the other side of Abbey street was the Nottingham Coop no1 Store. Next to it was the

Nottingham Coop Building & Engineering Department also fairly new at the time of me leaving school and going

to work there (1968). Both Coop premises now gone.

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My Grandad worked in the woodyard at Simms Sons and Cooke. During the war they made parts for aircraft. But they were real tight b45t4rd5, the belt on his band saw snapped one day wrapping itself around him causing the loss of two fingers and multiple lacerations gto the rest of his body, and you know what? they stopped paying him from the moment it happened.!!! None of this "Where there's blame there's a claim" malarky in those days , no social payments, no work meant no pay !!

And I remember the old Dunkirk Bridge on the ring road , pretty sure it was still there around 1986/7

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On the map that Cliff ton has shown, Abbey bridge is marked as being roughly opposite where the Johnson arms is now, is this a mistake or was there an earlier bridge of the same name.

This would be a bridge over the leen, and the other Abbey bridge is over the railway line.

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On the map that Cliff ton has shown, Abbey bridge is marked as being roughly opposite where the Johnson arms is now, is this a mistake or was there an earlier bridge of the same name.

This would be a bridge over the leen, and the other Abbey bridge is over the railway line.

Looking at the Old Maps site, the bridge at The Johnson Arms is always referred to as Abbey Bridge. The name for a bridge at that location must go back several hundred years when it would've been a bridge over the old River Leen alongside the original Lenton Abbey.

The Leen ran along one side of the Johnson Arms and the Nottingham Canal ran on the other side; I reckon the two waterways have been merged into the one which exists now

The other Abbey Bridge - the railway version - is a later addition, built in the 1920s.

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The Fire Station (now closed), Parkers Cafe and PDSA are fairly new buildings, poss early 60s?

What was there before then?

Nowt really. On this..... http://www.pictureth...018798&prevUrl=

....the space behind the white posts is where the fire station would later be. The ring road towards Clifton would go up behind where the cyclist is

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According to Cliffs Posted image The land was allotments.

Are you sure the PtP image is not the corner of Warwick Street with the allotments behind the fence extreme right?

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According to Cliffs Posted image The land was allotments.

Are you sure the PtP image is not the corner of Warwick Street with the allotments behind the fence extreme right?

Mick, I think the houses you see on that photo are Warwick Street.

Looking at this photo http://www.pictureth...018795&prevUrl=

....the small odd-shaped building on the right is still there today, and immediately behind it is/was Parkers cafe. And the wire fence on the right is the same fence on the photo with the cyclist

And here's today's equivalent view

http://maps.google.c...5,,0,-4.45&z=18

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Parkers Cafe doesn't seem that new? The River Leen was diverted into the route of the defunct Nottingham Canal, no idea when or where from, but after the Abbey Street bridge it goes under the Beeston Cut and continues to the trent, whereas I assume at one time the 2 canals merged somewhere there?

EDIT, just seen Cliff Tons pics, I guessed right re the cafe, and in modern view the 2 QMC "water tanks" I referred to are clearly seen

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Funny how everybody here is referring to it as "Parker's Cafe", which it still was when the Streetview cameras went past. Everybody seems to know it and where it is, but has anybody actually been in it?

Apparently it is now called "Kelly's Cafe" and has been for a couple of years.

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Am i right in thinking there is a covent on Abbey St, opposite Hooleys Commercial Garage,if it is still there.

it would be on the right hand side ,going from Dunkirk flyover towards the junction with Lenton Lane.

its been umteen years since i was down there.

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You are probably thinking of Nazareth House near Abbey Bridge. It closed down a few years ago and the site is now occupied by housing, although I think some part of the old building has been retained and worked into the new parts.

Again, Lenton Times have quite a lot of information on the subject http://www.lentontim...areth_house.htm

And Hooley's commercial garage disappeared at least 10 years ago, or maybe even longer.

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The same folks who owned Parkers Cafe owned the one of the same name under Clifton Bridge, (just before the roundabout with the 'Ponderosa' on it )

Been in both of them over the years.

I broke down on the way to Coventry one afternoon right out side the Clifton Lane one, and spent a couple of hours getting good at 'pinball' whilst the waggon was fixed , it was snowing at the time too, never been gladder (Would that there was such a word) to see a greasy spoon in my life !

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  • 1 month later...

just found this thread lived on priory st from 1972 to 1989 piggy having lived there since 1948 and this was his play area. when i moved in to live in the area the hospital was in the process of being built but dave tels me that the local playground was on this site as was the original pdsa, tripe works sand quarryand,rope makersand many other small busnesses i think the hospitalopened its first wards late 70s then gradually opened other partsi know that the maternity wards did not start untill early 1981 just after my third son was born at the old peel st h from were transfered from peel st to qmc by the end of 1981.

the coop on abbey st was the 1st shop in nottinghamfollowed quickly by the new lenton store.

parkers cafe was originally owned by john paddy parker and later taken over by is son john and his wife janine i used to go in there regularly when i lived down there,it was sold to kelly about six years ago when john decided to concentrate on his care home before he retires himself.

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Yes that was 'Nottingham Co-op' Number 1 branch.

Next to it was The 'Nottingham Cooperative Society Building and Engineering Department'

where I worked between 1968-1975 as an apprentice/electrician.

After some takeovers it later became 'Greater' or G.N.C.S. instead of N.C.S.

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