Arkwright Street


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May i also tell a little story about Arkwright St shopping which remains with me to this day circa 1963 I went into" KEEVERS" (spelling may be wrong) to buy a scalextric for my young brother which was

Around 1969/1970 I ran a second hand book & record shop on Arkwright Street called "Moonshine". It was so phenomenonally successful that no-one on the planet apart from myself now remembers it. Wh

My aunty Grace went to live on Arkwright Street in February 1958 - she lived in a flat over the top of Jessie Robinson's fish shop, next door to a butchers which was on the corner of St Saviour's Stre

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Where the 'orses 'ed is was our street. And on the corner was one of the best chippies for miles. The opposite corner was Hobart's industrial catering equipment shop we have spoken about previously.

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Yeh!!!! The first one was our chippie.

Also mentions "At the end of the row is the Queens Hotel. Just before the hotel is W Hames & Sons Ltd., television and radio suppliers. William Hames had occupied these premises since at least 1941". That's who we bought our first telly off.

We had cable TV then. There was a brown bakelite box with a rotary switch mounted just inside the front room window and a cable that went to the telly. The rotary switch selected the channel. You can see the cable and it's junction boxes just below the first floor windows on this picture. It was run by Redifusion.

SummersSt.jpg

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Our telly was much better than my Gran's first telly. Hers had a little screen with a big magnifying glass mounted on a stand in front. Used to dash home from school at lunch to watch Emergency Ward 10 on ours. And in the evening Dixon of Dock Green "Evening all", and Sunday night at the Palladium.

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My Granddad had an old fashioned barbers shop in Arkwright Street, close to the Portland Swimming baths, i remember visiting with my dad after we had been swimming on sunday mornings and he would be cutting the hair of his friends.

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Yes Sheridan, I remember the shop and can still see it in my minds eye.

It was on the right going towards Trent Bridge. It had a large 'Durex' sign in the front window which might even have been neon?

As kids walking past to School we knew the name but did not know what the product was?

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I remember a little old Fashioned bakery, was it "Jewels" or "Duvals" something like that it was near my Gand parents place in Arkwight street, for Birthday Parties my Gran would bring 1d Rolls, tiny little bread rolls and Mam would put "Potted Meat" on them

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Yes Sheridan, I remember the shop and can still see it in my minds eye.

It was on the right going towards Trent Bridge. It had a large 'Durex' sign in the front window which might even have been neon?

As kids walking past to School we knew the name but did not know what the product was?

Haha here in Australia Durex means "Selotape"

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  • 2 months later...

My grandad lived at 5, Bell St. The Meadows and when that was demolished he moved to Whitier Rd. off Colwick Rd.

A mate of my dad's ran a book shop, possibly called Ben's Books, that had a superb collection of early sci-fi. It was probably him that sold football programs and he moved just over Trent Bridge on Radcliffe Road and also sold early comics to collectors.

The 2nd hand music shop with the scary man in it (a very nice, quiet-spoken musician) was a regular Saturday haunt of mine and I bought an old pedal-organ from him, a harmonium. I remember him having lots of silver watch chains around his wrists as bracelets. I also bought a wind-up gramaphone to play 78s on and he owned the house round the corner, the front room floor of which was full of piles of 78s, all knee high. They were not sorted though and having found the first record of the set you had to look through dozens to find the 2nd record of Beethoven's 5th symphony. And even further to find the third part.

78s when placed over a tall plant-pot and having boiling water poured over them melted downwards and made lovely novelty plant-pots!

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The 2nd hand music shop with the scary man in it (a very nice, quiet-spoken musician) was a regular Saturday haunt of mine and I bought an old pedal-organ from him, a harmonium. I remember him having lots of silver watch chains around his wrists as bracelets.

He was a brilliant bloke....spent many hours in there talking to him.

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Re the bridge, and the GCR in general, bet the local residents at the time were amazed a new railway was being built nearly 60 years after the first one came to Nottingham? probably felt the same way as some do now re the new trams 100 plus years later?

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Very true, read somewhere 3,000 navvies working on it, the victoria station excavations, the 3 tunnels leading to it, the viaducts and bridges to the south of it plus the embankments/cuttings north, bagthorpe junction, the rathole, bulwell common,40 bridges etc were truely amazing

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I was a very junior bank clark at the bank on the corner of Arkwright Street and Queens Road in 1972 - just before the shop closures and demolitions started.

In that pre-computer world you walked down to the post office just beyond the GCR railway bridge to buy the credit to top up the franking machine and get a stock of stamps.

Although the railway line to Victoria Station had gone by then - British Rail kept a spur that ran from Nottingham Road Low Level to station to Weekday Cross where trains reversed and then went past Broad Marsh, on the bridge over Midland Station and then on the viaduct behind the bank and on to Arkwright Street station. This was used by trains taking Army surplus equipment to the Ruddingtom COD depot for disposal. From the windows on the first floor of the bank you often saw elderly Army Land Rovers loaded onto railway trucks going past.

Next door to the Queens Hotel, on Arkwright Street, was a small cafe and chip shop - their steak pie, chips and gravy was my regular gourmet lunch!

The story was told in the bank that a few years previously, the landlord of the Queens Hotel was busy washing his front steps just before 9.00am one morning. He observed some people assembling under the exit arch of Midland Station, looking at their watches and closely scrutinising the door of the bank. When the bank messenger opened the door on the stroke of 9.00am those people rushed across Queen Road and pushed their way in. The landlord fearing that he was witnessing a bank raid dialled 999 - only discover that the bandits were in fact Head Office bank inspectors coming on an unannounced audit!

Tim

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We mentioned it many times before here on Nottstalgia - despite the fact that it was run-down, Arkwright Street was still a bustling place with a good community spirit right up until it was finally swept away.

What they replaced it with amounted to social vandalism.

Local planners should be forced to live in the 21st century slums they created.

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  • 2 months later...

Is'nt the building above, the one planned for construction?

Also there were at least two other restaurants on Arkwright Street.

The "Hong Kong"? I think was the name Near to the Navy association club.

(which is still there). The hong Kong was one of the first chinese in Nottingham

There was also an Indian, I cant remember the name of it, but it was owned by

David Meah's dad. (he also had one on Alfreton Road). It was almos opposite the Bridgeway Hall.

Near to Orange Street was petes Chippy.

I got kicked out of the other chippy nearby for using their salt & vinager

on Chips bought from petes :D

My Mam worked in the kitchens of the Hong Kong restaurant.

One day she was as usual, opening some tins without labels and as intstructed putting them into a gigantic pan ready for the evening rush.

She came across a bit of label left on a can on this occasion - and identified it as 'Top Cat' cat food! It's true!

Each time they were prosecuted and barred from running a food establishment, they told it on paper for a shilling to another member of the family and carried on as usual!

As far as she rememberd, no one ever complained about the food.

Chippy

The one there I recall, was called 'The Friary', (Just down from the pub on the corner of Arkright St/Queens Walk) with plenty of seating, and the take out counter was very high. Gorgeous food there.

I think I can still taste their magnificent chips now?

TTFN

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I don't remember a Fine Fare?

Nor do I recall one, although they had not started trading when I lived there.

The food shops I can recall are Maypole, Marsdens, the wet fish shop, Sanderson's tripe/cooked meat shop and a bread/cob shop.

Happy days! Cheers.

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Chippy

The one there I recall, was called 'The Friary', (Just down from the pub on the corner of Arkright St/Queens Walk) with plenty of seating, and the take out counter was very high. Gorgeous food there.

I think I can still taste their magnificent chips now?

There was a Queens Bridge road, bit like a service road for streets like Traffic St and Queens Grove, and a Queens Road down the side of the Midland Station, plus Queens Drive, which went from the front of the Station down to the Cremorne and the toll Bridge. But don't recollect any Queens Walk as such other than the school between Brierley and Kinglake streets, which was known as Queens Walk Primary School.

The chippy you spoke of was on the corner of our Street - Summers St. We always reckoned the chippy on Waterway St was better though. Out of interest which Queen were all of them named after - Victoria?

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There was a Queens Bridge road, bit like a service road for streets like Traffic St and Queens Grove, and a Queens Road down the side of the Midland Station, plus Queens Drive, which went from the front of the Station down to the Cremorne and the toll Bridge. But don't recollect any Queens Walk as such other than the school between Brierley and Kinglake streets, which was known as Queens Walk Primary School.

The chippy you spoke of was on the corner of our Street - Summers St. We always reckoned the chippy on Waterway St was better though. Out of interest which Queen were all of them named after - Victoria?

I'm probably a bit confused nowadays.

My favourite chippy was the one on Ryland Crescent. Slow service, but worth waiting for I thought.

Didn't like his 'pop' though - Corona, the one you could not put the cap back on to keep aerated.

TTFN

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