Owt' left

[mudgie49 401]

Reading members posts in the last few weeks,I beg to ask the question.

It would seem that most of the things we knew are gone or going.

Buildings torn down,and replaced by 'Lego' type of ugliness.

Institutions,such as Basford and Shakespeare st' registry offices.

To top it off 'pubs'.I am sure old Nottingham lads are turning in their graves.(with respect).

[.... 23]

It does beg the question, what do we have left that has never really changed much? What things are still there - much the same as in our youth?

I'm sure there are things.

I'm going to have to go and think about it though...

Institutions such as the Bell Inn and the Trip, whilst going though some change - not always for the better, are not significantly different from a long time ago I would say.

[Cliff Ton 10,494]

It does beg the question, what do we have left that has never really changed much? What things are still there - much the same as in our youth?

Depends when your youth was

I know many people on this forum are older-rather-than-younger, but I'll bet the definiton of "youth" covers a large number of years.

The point about things going or gone is something which could've been said many times over the past couple of centuries. When Nottingham was being ruined in the 1960s, people of my parents' age could look around then and say that everything they knew as kids had gone.

When the original back-to-back slums were being cleared in the early part of the 20th century, I'll bet there were people who were commenting about "I've lived in that house all my life and my parents before me. Now it's all gone".

Thought for the day - everything is eventually not there any longer.

[.... 23]

Of course it depends on when your youth was. Each person will have a (sometimes slightly) different era to relate and the question will therefore attract personalised answers.

The two modest answers I offer are both 'old enough to be out on their own' however, and certainly won't have changed significantly for anyone on here.

All this begs yet another question - what things have actually improved in Nottingham since your (own) youth?

I feel a thread coming on...

[poohbear 1,360]

All this begs yet another question - what things have actually improved in Nottingham since your (own) youth?

There are now red bins to put dog crap in...apart from that I can't think of anything.

[mick2me 3,033]

I know many people on this forum are older-rather-than-younger, but I'll bet the definiton of "youth" covers a large number of years.

Nottstalgia was never devised as an 'age' specific forum, I am sure younger members of the site will miss things or not like

changes of a recent nature.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

WHEN the call of progress was heard in The Meadows, St Ann's and Sneinton, streets, terraces, pubs, cinemas and shops had to be sacrificed.

Flicking through the pages of Douglas Whitworth's new book Lost Buildings of Nottingham it is difficult to comprehend the near-total social upheaval that changed these old suburbs for ever.

Little was left untouched. And as the buildings came down, so the community fragmented. The names remained, but nothing was ever the same again in The Meadows, St Ann's and Sneinton.

The office block where we put together the Bygones pages was once the site of pubs and shops. Douglas has illustrated that memory with a photograph of The Canal Tavern which closed in 1996, together with the nearby Narrow Boat, to make way for the Castle Wharf development.

They were just two of dozens of pubs that vanished. Poet's Corner, The General Gordon, The Britannia Hotel, Alfred The Great, Craven Arms, St Ann's Well Inn and the Robin Hood Arms are a few of the taverns, which could be found on nearly every street corner, that fell to the demolition crews. Today, the sites are occupied by apartment blocks, offices and supermarkets.

If one name conjures up a melancholy feel for those so-called good old days, it is Arkwright Street, that thoroughfare of shops and businesses which stretched from Trent Bridge into the city and which drew people from across the city to browse and buy.

Douglas has included a photograph taken in 1973, focusing on the mock Tudor frontage of Baldwin House.

He writes: "The houses beyond were among the most prepossessing buildings on Arkwright Street but they were all marked for demolition in the general clearance of The Meadows."

Cinemas figure prominently as another feature of suburban life that has all but disappeared. The Globe, near Trent Bridge, became a bingo hall, a fate also to befall the New Empress in King Edward Street; the Adelphi in Bulwell, an art deco attraction that was demolished in 1997, and the Roxy, Ribblesdale Road – a site now occupied by housing.

And it was not just the homes of the working class that did not survive the 20th Century.

Broxtowe Hall, once home to the banking family of Sir Thomas Smith, was flattened.

And Aspley Hall, with a history dating back 400 years, also disappeared as the city developed the Aspley Estate.

There is much to regret about the way Nottingham has handled the march into the 21st Century, those regrets highlighted by Douglas Whitworth's evocative photographs which rekindle so many memories.

If you want to share recollections about the images here, contact Andy Smart at Bygones, Castle Wharf House, Nottingham NG1 7EU or e-mail andy.smart@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk

Lost Buildings of Nottingham by Douglas Whitworth is on sale at most bookshops, priced £12.99.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

A more recently published book also by Douglas Whitworth.

Nottingham Then & Now(in colour) ISBN 978 0 7524 6318 6

£12 99 Hard back

Available from Waterstones

Some nice photos of how things were & some of the "improovements?" that were put in their place.

[.... 23]

If one name conjures up a melancholy feel for those so-called good old days, it is Arkwright Street, that thoroughfare of shops and businesses which stretched from Trent Bridge into the city and which drew people from across the city to browse and buy.

To me, Arkwright street is one of the symbols of how town planners got it wrong. A constant annoyance to me is how many roads have been blocked, had one-way systems created, chicaned etc. to prevent a smooth flow (or any) of traffic. I'm not referring to Nottingham city centre particularly, as I can see the benefits of a largely traffic-free area there, but so many places around other areas of inner city and suburbs. Doubtless some have had a positive affect but there seems to be a mania for this nowadays. and not always for the best. The powers that be deter us from using our cars but insist when we do that we have to drive many times further to get to the same place - surely creating more pollution and greater weight of traffic on the roads. Here was seen in Arkwright Street a practically straight road into the city - rather than the convoluted nonsense that we have between the city centre and Trent Bridge now.

While I'm mumping, there's a similar very good example of meddling to no avail with our roads close to where I live. On the main Mansfield Road heading north after Redhill Road a series of central pedestrian reservations were built into the road a few years ago - presumably to aid workers to cross the road from the now non-existent Metallifacture factory there. The workers would just walk down the road anyway to where the crossing is anyway. We are now left with a race track all day long as cars compete angrily and aggressively to be first to the bollards before going up Arch Hill to the bridge. An act of complete stupidity by those that thought of this idea.

[OLDACE 196]

I too have several books by Douglas Whitworth, which is not surprising since he is my late mother's twin brother.

[piggy and babs 544]

have not got any of his books but have read a few when i go to centeral libary some interesting stuff in then whant to borrow his new one next time i get down to the libary see whats new in this one.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

OLDACE, you must be very proud to have such a famous relative.

[OLDACE 196]

Michael, I wouldn't say Douglas is famous, he's just seriously interested in Notts history. I remember in the 50's, he would go out early Sunday mornings with his camera, come back, go to his dark room, check the negatives and print the ones he liked.

He stored all of the negatives methodically, thousands upon thousands of them.

Some time ago my Auntie Margaret, his wife, suggested that it would be a good idea to do something with this huge collection of negatives, and so they put them in the books that some on this forum enjoy.

One of my favourites is Nottingham Pubs, Tempus Publishing Ltd. Although both Douglas and Margaret are very light drinkers, they visited every pub that was still in business to talk to the landlord and the customers.

Douglas is a very private person and does not seek any publicity, and he is certainly not in it for the money. He just wants to share his photographs of old Nottingham.

[katyjay 5,091]

Sounds like Douglas did what we all wished we'd done, gone out and taken pictures of all the buildings in Nottingham. But we didn't have the foresight to know that a lot of them and the areas around them would be demolished. Who knew things would change so much? Of course having his own dark room would be a great help, not many folks could afford all that processing.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

That's so true, katyjay. It's people like Douglas Whitworth who feeds our interest in nostalgia and puts answers to our questions. OLDACE's post shows the passion Douglas Whitworth had for photography and Nottingham's history and we're all grateful for that.

[OLDACE 196]

Douglas was not the only one who recorded the changing face of Notingham. Frank Stevenson's photographs also feature in his books. But you are right Katyjay, if they and others hadn't recorded the history it would be a great shame.

Like many on this forum, Douglas was very upset about the vandalism that occurred in the past. I refer particularly to the destruction of The Black Boy and Drury Hill.

All being well I will be seeing him in July when I come to Notts. I will mention that people in Nottstalgia appreciate him, but he is in his mid 80's and computers are not his thing.

[mick2me 3,033]

Dont forget one of our members work.

Chris Richards' Radford Gallery

[Cliff Ton 10,494]

I have quite a few of Douglas Whitworth's books, along with a lot of examples of Frank Stephenson's work. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't post half as much as I do.

Can I add a word for the other member of the triad who have been responsible for most of the old Nottm photos you can see these days, Geoffrey Oldfield. I get him and Doug Whitworth mixed up because they have both produced a a great many books on the subject, and I've got most of them.

[Compo 10,328]

Is the Moulin Rouge cinema still there or has that been demolished too? What about the Windmill restaurant in Trinity Square - gone? what's happening in the Central Market these days?

[mick2me 3,033]

Victoria centre Market was being refurbed a few weeks ago?

Certainly the Moulin Rouge has gon

Dunno about the cafe?

[Cliff Ton 10,494]

Moulin Rouge went and was replaced by an office block which has gone, and been repaced by another building.

Trinity Square does not exist now. That area has been ruined even more than the Market Square.

All that corner between Milton Street, Shakespeare Street, Forman Street, North Church Street is, I think, now a visual disaster.

The refurb'd Vic Centre market seems better than what it replaced, so they can get some things right.

[Braddy 160]

Apart from victoria centre it self, which should never have been bulit.

[.... 23]

Echo the sentiment re Trinity Square, it's a disaster.

http://timgarrattnottingham.co.uk/2009/12/30/a-right-mess-at-trinity-square/

Moulin Rouge - how it was:

[jackson 301]

The 'Moulin Rouge' Naughty, naughty . . .

Remember going in here along with a friend back in the 60's to see a Bridget Bardot film; it may have been 'And God Created Woman'. We wanted to see what all the fuss was about regarding risque films. Sad to say we were disappointed. More impressive was the interior of the cinema upstairs (the balcony), which was U shaped and had front seats for two only; ideal for courting couples - a bit of a change from sitting on the usual back row. :smile:

[mick2me 3,033]

Why there was not a preservation on that and other classic Nottingham cinemas I will never know.

Can you imagine if that had still existed today?