| Derelict Shops |
| Martin | A BUILDERS' merchants, which owns an eyesore block of derelict shops in Leyland, has pledged to bulldoze the lot to help improve the look of the town.
C&W Berry's has applied to South Ribble Borough Council planners to demolish the run-down row of former shops at the traffic lights in Towngate, near Booths.
[url]http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/lancashire/leyland/news/LEYNEWS0.html[/url]
These shops have been empty for years, I always wondered what would happen to them.
In The Pink |
| Martin | Typcally, they've changed the link now... 
In The Pink |
| noel | quote:
Typcally, they've changed the link now...
In The Pink
to
http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/lancashire/archive/2002/08/12/LEYNEWS0ZM.html
The significant owl hoots in the night. |
| Caroline | Call me a cynic, but isn't this just typical? A row of shops which is part of our heritage are allowed to become an eyesore, so that locals will welcome their destruction...... creating valuable building land to be developed and sold!
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| noel | quote:
Call me a cynic, but isn't this just typical? A row of shops which is part of our heritage are allowed to become an eyesore, so that locals will welcome their destruction...... creating valuable building land to be developed and sold!
Well if you're one, Noel and his eldest son Darren are 2 others, exactly what we thought.
The significant owl hoots in the night. |
| Caroline | Glad to hear you feel the same, N &D, I'm still surprised 'this sort of thing' still goes on in an age where one hoped there was a bit more sensitivity to heritage, history etc. I expect they'll construct a mock Victorian or Georgian area with the usual cast-iron street furniture found everywhere else where they knocked down the genuine article- gripe, gripe, gripe........
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| dampslad | Heritage baloney. The row of shops was opposite our family business (George Damp & Sons) and were ALWAYS an eyesore, occupied or not!
Colin Damp, Plymouth |
| anacortesdamp | Well put, Bro. I assume the block under discussion was the one where Tommy Nelson's fish shop was. if you slammed the door hard, the whole thing could fall down!
Frank Damp
Anacortes |
| noel | quote:
Originally posted by dampslad
Heritage baloney. The row of shops was opposite our family business (George Damp & Sons) and were ALWAYS an eyesore, occupied or not!
Colin Damp, Plymouth
Well they've gone now Colin you'll be pleased to know. I remember the same comment being made by a councillor just before my old factory Leyland and Birmingham was knocked down. That comment hurt me to feel that the factory that had supported many of my relatives and friends parents was now being regarded as "an eyesore". No comment about the firm's contribution to Leyland, just "an eyesore". The beautiful Accrington Brick offices are now just a pile of rubble. Very good looking rubble, I'm sure somebody could take a photo and call it art. |
| Caroline | Well said Noel, In the same spirit, when I bought a beautiful old ladder-back chair in the 60's, my Mum said ' what did you want to go and buy that for, I was brought up with that sort of furniture!' L&B was part of our industrial past, and tho' it sometimes wasn't a happy one for the workers, these architecturally interesting, functional buildings can remain as a mark of respect to, and as a reminder of them. |
| noel | quote:
Originally posted by Caroline
Well said Noel, In the same spirit, when I bought a beautiful old ladder-back chair in the 60's, my Mum said ' what did you want to go and buy that for, I was brought up with that sort of furniture!' L&B was part of our industrial past, and tho' it sometimes wasn't a happy one for the workers, these architecturally interesting, functional buildings can remain as a mark of respect to, and as a reminder of them.
If you entered the boardroom Caroline, the room was panelled in oak from floor to ceiling. The library we had contained a complete set of Encyclopedia Brittanica 1928. 1928!!! I made sure that went to a good home before the kids got in and wrecked it. We had leather bound ledger books 3 inches thick dating back to 1903 with all the prices of orders sent out hand written . When we were told the place was closing the councillors made the right noises as did the unions and the MP , justthe right noises it seems to Mr Cynic here to get some good publicity. When they went away we never heard from the union again, my pal packed in his stewardship in disgust. My work mates carried on working as plans were made to shut the place down. They were all facing a bleak future, no jobs unless you counted the Tesco jobs at peanut wages and mainly part time at that.
At this point the 2 councillors proclaimed that thet were " glad the factory was coming down, it had become an eyesore." No comment at all about the factory's contribution to the economy of the town throughout 2 centuries, no concern for those who were losing their jobs. If any of those councillors read this forum then I hope they realise what a negative effect they had on our already low morale. They are a disgrace.
Umph, that's better. |
| William R | Noel, I feel as you do about factories closing for "economic" reasons. Over here I saw the same thing, men made redundant, their machines sent to Spain because they "worked harder for less money" and also "if you want cheap Spanish holidays, its got to be". No thought for all those who were out of work. We had one factory which closed on a Friday, I went in on Monday to do a survey, and you would think everyone was on their break. It was sad to see people`s working lives cut off, they left everything behind, cups, papers, shoes, overalls, tools, laboratory gear, scales, stop watches etc. We were a multi-national company, my own job was taken over by eastern Europe "because they wanted less money". I watched a british workforce go from 4500 in 1979 to 450 in 1983. Regards, Bill. |
| noel | Bill, I walked into the room at L&B where the de-icers were made, these were flexible rubber reinforced pads with a connecting multichannel that alternately inflated and deflated to crack any ice that might form under the wings of prop driven planes , just after the department had closed around Christmas time. It was like walking into a room on the Marie Celeste. Tools just left where they were being used, work left undone, even news papers in the canteen left on the tables.
Very sad. |
| Caroline | Well said, Bill, Noel. And all the moving firms elsewhere means more heavy goods on the roads. I was disgusted to see eggs on sale in Devon that came all the way from Lancashire, what a waste of energy! Biscuits and God- knows -what going up and down the motorways when they could be made locally! I try to buy produce from here in Brittany to support the economy.. |
| andy01 | It seems that the Leyland I grew up in is disappearing faster and faster.The Tiger gone,Leyland Rubber,BTR and and its social club,the ROF factory is to become a new "Village".They have built a Tesco's and surrounded it with empty shops.They cobbled the area around the Cross and then decided to dig it up again a few weeks later(wonderful planning).Any inch of space and they squeeze in as many houses as possible.I feel sorry for any strangers to the town who follow the 'TOWN CENTRE' road signs,they are most likely to end up in Southport!! |
| William R | Hi Andy, I know how you feel about the changes in Leyland, I was raised there pre war and up to 1950, when I went to live in Chorley. The Leyland I knew then has certainly gone, I`ve not been back for twenty years or more. When I picked up the Forum I began to wonder if people were talking about the same place, but I`ve slowly integrated due to the variety of postings I`ve received from Noel, Martin and Lady G et al. I went to school down Union Street in 1930`s so you can imagine how I see it. Colin seems to be a mine of information about old Leyland, well worth a few postings. Keep at it, Cheerio, Bill. |
| andy01 | Hi Bill, talking of Union Street reminded me that my mother was born and lived there in her early years ie in the late 20's early 30's.Her maiden name was Agnes Ena Leyland.She had 2 younger brothers Frank and Arnold Leyland and I believe at one time they all worked at Brook Mill in Leyland. |
| William R | Hi Tony, Had a Jack Leyland in my class at Leyland Senior School who would now be in late 70`s, left with me at Easter 1939 age 14yrs. Any connection? Bill. |
| Robbo | I would like to keep a lot of the old Leyland but if we didn't knock it down, they would have fallen down. Companies of today don't want renovated victorian/edwardian buildings, they want modern, multi purpose buildings.
Has anyone seen what the Post Office building in Blackburn, near the fire station looks like now? Part of it feel down so the council had to knock it all down. Its an absolute dump round there now.
If we don't knock down these old buildings and replace them with new ones, Leyland will end up looking like back street Blackburn which is an absolute dump and a discrace!
Nobody wants to build on the old post office in Blackburn, it will remain a dump for ever basicly!
I don't want the same thing to happen to Leyland. At least Leyland is a nice tidy looking area to live in. Leyland still has it's heritage, Fox Lane, most of Golden Hill Lane.
I'd rarther have a new housing estate than a perminent demolition site, like in Blackburn. (There's quite a few in areas like that in Blackburn, especially in Mill Hill where the flats use to be.) |
| noel | quote:
Originally posted by Robbo
I would like to keep a lot of the old Leyland but if we didn't knock it down, they would have fallen down. Companies of today don't want renovated victorian/edwardian buildings, they want modern, multi purpose buildings.
Has anyone seen what the Post Office building in Blackburn, near the fire station looks like now? Part of it feel down so the council had to knock it all down. Its an absolute dump round there now.
To be honest Robbo I always thought Blackburn was one big dump anyway. You can't really compare Leyland and Blackburn as Blackburn is so big compared to Leyland. To me Blackburn is the beginning of the West Pennines ruined. So too are all these East Lancashire towns, Haslingden, Rawtenstall, Ramsbottam, you ride along on the road and look towards the mountains and can only imagine what it must have liiked like without the modern industrial estates, the pylons dotted all over. Looking at the photos William sent me privately a few weeks ago, of Farington before Spurrier Works/Tank Factory, it used to be a beautiful area, believe me absolutely beautiful. And now it's got all the results of industrial development of the last 50 years. And if this is progress then lord help us. Give me the open fields, a a babblng brook, a shady nook.[:D]
[img]http://usa.venus.co.uk/weed/agifs/images83/owl.gif[/img] |
| Peter119 | Hi All
Since it is the third anniversary of the Historical Society website, I thought it was a good time to increase the information given about the various buildings around Leyland.
So since my second book "Through the Lanes of Leyland" has sold out, I thought it would be a good idea to put the complete book on the site with more pictures, both old and new.
Find the site at http://www.houghton59.fsnet.co.uk/Home%20Page.htm
and go to the Through the Lanes of Leyland index pages
I have also managed to add most of the words of the "Festival Route through Leyland's History" book to the website together with more old photos and photos of buildings like the Post Office (now much altered) and the Motors Canteen (now demolished).
Let me know what you think
Peter Houghton
Chairman |