Passageways, forges and a brewery
A FEW WEEKS ago Looking Back featured a collection of vintage Loughborough photos and asked readers if anyone recognised where they had been taken or if they could shed any light on where they are in the town.
Quite few people have been in touch and here are their thoughts.
Three of the readers in particular, Philip Thorpe of Barrowupon-Soar, Loughborough’s Mike Jones, and Ken Read gave comprehensive explanations.
Picture No.1, with signs advertising “Smoke Room, Covered Yard, Through Gateway” was identified as Moira Street in Loughborough.
Those who got in touch told of the pub the Coopers Arms on the left of the photo and of plumbing firm TH and M Simpson.
Ken Read said that the photo was taken looking down Moira Street from Barrow Street and remembers the pub being the Coopers Arms.
Mike Jones said that the photo must have been taken before the area was demolished to make way for the elderly persons council flats.
He agreed with Ken that the pub on the left is the Coopers Arms which he said closed in June 1968, and he said he has particularly fond memories of the place, as he was in the pub the day it closed.
Philip Thorpe said that he had spent some time studying the photographs and agreed that the pub was the Coopers Arms.
He said: “the pebble dash and style of windows are the same as the photo in Bill Wells’ (pub) book. The view is thus looking south down Moira Street, many of the workshops on the right are still there, but the street is now much wider.”
Picture No. 2 has raised eyebrows and although it is unclear exactly where it was taken, readers have said that they believe the building in the background is Cobden Street Junior School.
Ken Read asked: “Is this the demolition of a building on the corner Pinfold Gate and Sparrow Hill with Cobden Street in back ground?”
Mike Jones said: “It looks like the former Cobden Infants School as seen from Pinfold Jetty (now Jitty.)
“This would suggest that the photo is of the demolition and rebuilding of premises on Pinfold Gate where it meets with Sparrow Hill.
“If I am right, the building to the left, on the corner of the jetty was, effectively, the school tuck shop.”
Joan Tassell from Shepshed also recognised Cobden Street School and said that if it was indeed the school, then she remembers a garage being built on that demolition site after, before it became the Druids Arms pub.
Philip Thorpe said: “The rear of Cobden Street school is visible on the left, the building in the foreground could be the old Druid’s Arms, with the new pub under construction the back ground.”
Dave Dunkerly of Leconfield Road, Loughborough also got in touch and said: “Behind and to the left of the demolished structure is a gable end.
“This looks to me like Cobden Street School.
“Behind the structure an alley runs to an abattoir which was at the back of Tom Holloway’s butcher’s shop which fronted on to Cobden Street.”
Dave added that the demolished structure was replaced by the ‘Jet’ petrol station which has since been abandoned and given over to hand car-wash facility.
Mr Roy Hickling of Maple Road South, Loughborough said that his older brother Anthony used to go to Cobden Street School, which he recognised as the building at the back.
Looking Back asked readers if Picture No.3 was of Freehold Street at its junction with Cradock Street, and if they even recognised the boys in the photo - and Mike Jones confirmed this and said it was looking down Freehold
Street from the corner of Cradock Street.
“The building to the right, on the corner, was a small engineering factory which went through several ownerships, at one stage making metal buckles. We used to call it the ‘Forge’ as sometimes we saw sparks flying, when the doors were open.”
Philip Thorpe said: “The Bell Foundry is round the bend in the distance.”
Roy Hickling also said that he remembers Wilcox Cake Shop, which he says is on the left of the photo half way down the street and said that the lady who ran the shop was friends with his mother, but that he couldn’t remember her name.
Picture No. 4 was slightly more confusing, and although it is a great photo of the unassuming young girl Looking Backers have had a bit more of a struggle to pinpoint exactly where it was.
Mike Jones said: “I first thought that it might be Pinfold Jetty viewed from School Street, but the house styles don’t match.
“My best guess, is that it is possibly the passage between the former Wellington Street and Moira Street, with the tiled roof of 25 Moira Street in the background.”
Philip Thorpe added: “The photo of the child in the alleyway could be in the Wellington Street area, the style of the housing is similar, but it is difficult to be sure.”
Ken Read agreed with Mike and said that he thinks it is the jitty between Wellington Street and Moira Street.
This was also confirmed by Roy Hickling who said that he knows the view very well, and it is indeed the jitty between Wellington Street and Moira Street.
Roy Hickling said he and his brother often used the jitty as shortcut to play with friends when they were really young, and then, when he was 16, Roy went to work for Tommy Needham at Needhams builders - which was directly opposite the jitty entrance, and that view was the one he had from work.
Roy said Tommy used to employ himself and Alan Wade to do all the plumbing for the houses and bungalows that Needhams used to build.
He said when Alan Wade left Needhams, he was the only plumber left, and was transferred to Alec Brooks plumbing company who had a yard in Fearon Street.
Picture No.5 showed old fireplaces exposed amidst demolition.
Mrs Maureen Charles-Ashton who used to run the Loughborough Office Equipment business for 25 years, down the street, said that it was Orchard Street viewed from the Green Close Lane end.
Mike Jones said: “The fifth photo’ is of demolition in Orchard Street, looking from Green Close Lane to Ashby Square.
“I occasionally went in the cafe seen in the distance, on Ashby Square, with my Polish friend, Wiktor Maslowski. Sadly no longer with us.”
Philip Thorpe likewise said the view was Orchard Street looking from Green Close Lane towards Ashby Road, and said that the Masonic Hall is just visible on the left, whilst on the right, part of the college instructional factory is visible.
Joan Tassell also said she remembers that Youngs brewery was the building with the tall chimneys at the end of the street on the right.
She said that the brewery was next door to the Crown and Cushion pub.
Joan said that when she was little she lived in the Albion Pub, that was on the Canal Bank, and told Looking Back her grandmother was the landlady at the pub.
Joan also agreed with Philip and said it was the Loughborough technical college building on Green Close Lane at the right of the photo.
CONTINUED from page 29.
Picture No.6 showed a chemist on the right hand side, with a pub further down on the same side of the road, and two Looking Backers believe that this is the Coopers Arms again.
Ken Read said that the photo is looking down Barrow Street across Leicester Road from Southfields Road.
Mike Jones added:“Photo’ number six shows demolition on Southfields Road, looking across the A6 down Barrow Street.
“The Coopers Arms can also be seen on this photo’ in the distance to the right; partly hidden behind Lords Chemists on the corner of Leicester and Barrow Street.”
He said that just round the corner, on the A6 to the left, was where Peter Sharpe, former president of Loughborough Chamber of Trade and Commerce had his first upholstery shop, before expanding into larger premises on Leicester Road, opposite Southfields Park.
Philip Thorpe also said: “The photo shows Woodgate looking towards the junction with High Street/Leicester Road. Barrow Street is the other side of the junction, the pub sign is that of the Cooper’s Arms. All buildings visible have been swept away.”
Reader Dave Dunkersley also offered an insight and said: “Could the major road be Leicester Road? The picture itself being taken on Southfields Road?
“The tractor appears to be at the end of Packhorse Lane where it meets Southfields Road. Look- ing directly ahead, that would put the chemist’s shop at the corner of Barrow Street and Leicester Road.”
Picture No.7 depicts a pub sign on the right hand side, and Philip Thorpe said it is Wellington Street. He said: “The pub sign is that of The White Swan.
“If you look carefully, further down the street on the opposite side is another pub, The Fox and Hounds.”
Ken Read said that he too thinks the pub could be The White Swan, better known as “the Mucky Duck” but he agreed with Philip that it is Wellington Street from Barrow Street.
Roy Hickling also said that he thought the photo was of Wellington Street.
Mike Jones confirmed that the pub was in fact the White Swan and said: “The pub closed in 1959 and was known as the “Dirty Duck” probably on account of its much earlier name, the Black Swan.
“To the left, on the corner with Barrow Street, was a small shop where a girl called Carol, that I knew, once worked.
“The building to the near right, is the side of “Jimmy Pepper’s rag and bone shop” where everyone took old clothes and woollens and scrap metal to earn a few pennies.”
If you have any memories, or even better, photos of old Loughborough please contact Liam Coleman on 01509 635 806 You can also e-mail liam. coleman@ trinitymirror. com