An update to the update to the update.

Plans are now afoot to revamp the building in Orton Square which I discover is called Shahista House. Who knew? According to the Mercury the developers (Park Portfolio Ltd and Monkwell Ltd - who, a quick search reveals, are actually one and the same person) intend to convert the building into fourteen apartments, shops and a restaurant. This will be good news if it happens, although I see notice no plans have appeared on the council planning database yet. I'm always surprised at the workings of developers. They have received £150,000 from the council (in return for some improvements to another building in the area) and have presumably got some plans because they are talking about costs of £3m for the refurbishment?
The building has had a checkered history.  I think the first I was aware of it was in the 1990s when it was the "rave club" called Diehard or Dielectric. Happy House on one floor, hardcore techno on another. No alcohol but large quantities of water consumed (if you know what I mean and I'm sure that you do). Splendidly there is a website documenting this club (and it's subsequent reincarnations). See it here.

The building also housed a swingers club called G Spot. I took a photo of the sign back in 2008 and it was one of the most viewed photos on my flickr account. People most have been very disappointed when they googled "g spot Leicester"...

...although perhaps not as disappointed as anyone who visited the place. If this was the quality of their signage one wonders what the inside was like?

There is still a snooker club in the building (and a barbers) which has outlasted them all. Anyway, this will all be swept away (along with, I imagine boxes of flyers for long gone gabba nights, faux leather couches, a vast amount of pigeon debris and whatever was in that room at the top of the building which often had a light on...) and the building hopefully restored to what must have been an impressive edifice in the early 1900s.

5 Leicester Buildings I Will Buy When I Win The Lottery (UPDATE!)

It's been nearly four years since I wrote the last entry here and, incredibly, in all that time, I didn't win the lottery. However things have moved on for at least some of the buildings.

1. Friars Mill

Thankfully Leicester City Council bought what was left of this site for £550,000 and have redeveloped the site. You can see the difference...

Friars Mill Regeneration Project (Mat Fascione) / CC BY-SA 2.0

The (re)redevelopment is supposed to kickstart development of this whole riverside area and there are signs that this is happening. A long way to go though.

2. Hosier's house, Darker Street

Still empty and unloved as far as I know. Very sad. There was a flurry of activity last year around some similarly neglected buildings in Belgrave Gate which the owner wanted to demolish. Once again the council stepped in to prevent this but what will become of the buildings now?

3. Building in Orton Square

Still a snooker hall and occasional venue for a nightclub. Apart from that the building still looks in an awful state. Seems crazy that no-one has tried to do something with this place.

4. "Jeyes Garage", Belgrave Road

Still being used by a car washing firm, still deteriorating. I suspect art deco will never be fashionable in Leicester and this will eventually fall down. No one, not even the usual "heriatge" suspects seem to care about this one.

5. Stonesby House, Princess Road East

Better news about this one though. Developed (and extended) by James Sellicks it is now a collection of "luxury" apartments. The extensions are...OK but the house itself looks rather grand once more.

5 Leicester Buildings I Will Buy When I Win The Lottery

FROM WATCHING THE ADVERTS ON TV it's quite clear that I will soon be a multi-millionaire when I win the Euromillions lottery. With this is mind I thought I'd make sure that some of that cash stays in Leicester and have compiled a quick list of five buildings in Leicester currently either empty and/or at threat from ruination that I can buy when I win.

1. Friars Mill

Obvious one first. Badly damaged in a fire in July, now apparently under 24 hour guard (although that didn't stop it being vandalised again), this building needs to find an owner, and a purpose, quickly. I think I'll make it into a restaurant with rooms, perhaps do a bit of landscaping round it to to attract people down to the canal and park my barge next to it (oh yes, I'm going to buy a barge).

2. Hosier's house, Darker Street

Long neglected by whoever owns it, the last(?) remaining Victorian hosier's house in Leicester desperately needs saving. The roof was repaired and the building made (more) secure three years ago but its location (next to the Matalan car park) away from the main drag means it's difficult to imagine anyone wanting to restore it and perhaps make it into a small museum about Leicester's hosiery industry. So obviously I will have to do that when I win the Euromillions.
                                         
3. Building in Orton Square

This one's for me. I 'heart' the "cultural quarter". Love Curve, love the Phoenix, love the factories slowly being converted into factories and workshops, offices and restaurants. Love the Exchange Building. But it really needs a "boutique" hotel and restaurant. And I need a city centre pad. All these problems will be solved when I convert this grand Victorian block of bricks. It currently contains a snooker club. Previously it had been a swingers club called G Spot and before that you could catch up with the latest in German gabba and hardcore in a club whose name eludes me. It was for sale for £1m but I can't find the details on the Innes England site anymore, so maybe I'm too late? Hopefully, if someone has bought it they will refurbish this blot on the cultural landscape of Leicester. Also, if anyone knows what it's actually called perhaps they could tell me?

4. "Jeyes Garage", Belgrave Road

There is a bit of art deco in Leicester but you have to go looking for it. There's a fine factory in Nelson Street, a squash club off the London Road and, of course, the Odeon cinema in the aforementioned Orton Square. There are also some lovely tram stops, one of which may soon become a coffee shop. This former garage on the corner of Belgrave Road and Olphin Street is currently a car wash and has been badly treated. I think it would make a good information centre for Belgrave, a good starting point for anyone exlporing the "Golden Mile". I have suggested this to the Mayor but he's more interested in pointlessly knocking down the flyover.

5. Stonesby House, Princess Road East 

Another one for me. I think this will make pleasant offices for the Ned Trifle Foundation that I am going to set up with the rest of my winnings. This unlisted building has been called "in rather doubtful taste" which is good enough for me. I rather like it. Although it fits well into the surrounding Victorian grandeur of De Montfort Square it's bold enough to stand out on its own.


Picking only five is a silly idea. What about the Thomas Cook Hotel I hear you cry (especially if you a member of the Victorian Society)? What about The "Eastgates Coffee House" - empty once more, despite having a recent coat of paint? "Pares' bank" - will it ever be a restaurant? "The Leicestershire Club"?  So many buildings need saving and there's only a few of us potential lottery winners about...please think about that if you win.

"Greenacres" Update - Still Nothing...(NOW UPDATED AGAIN!)

Nearly two years ago I wrote about what was then called "Greenacres", the scandal of it's continued closure, and the lack of information available about the future of the building. Now, more than three years after it was due to open, the centre is still standing empty. The picture above is what it was supposed to look like - to be honest it does still look that, only without the people.

However, walking past the building a couple of months ago, I noticed it was a relative hive of activity - builders were on site, the smashed windows had been repaired, the security fence had been made more secure. It looked like something was finally happening. There was even a mention in the Birstall Post about it opening in the near future. Who was paying for this work I wondered aloud? No one seemed to know.

In fact since that flurry of activity nothing has happened. I tried to contact the two councillors responsible for the ward via their "Write to Me" sections on their webpages - no reply, not even an acknowledgement of my enquiry. Perhaps this is not surprising, as, back in 2008, the same two councillors said they were "not allowed to talk about it". This seemed astonishing to me at the time, at least £1.7 million of public (and private) money had gone into creating the centre and the councillors responsible for the ward in which it was located couldn't comment on it? Not only that, they couldn't even comment on why they couldn't comment! Even the local newspaper, usually so keen to make capital out of anything that might vaguely embarrass the council, has nothing to say on the subject. It's all very curious. And very frustrating.

I have been a vocal supporter of much that Leicester City Council has done over the last decades, and I think Leicester is a better place now that it was when I rolled up here in the mid-1980s, but this issue has driven me to distraction. If anyone knows anything, could they please tell me (and the other people of Leicester and Leicestershire who contributed to this buildings cost) before I start my own mini "Occupy" demonstration outside (or even inside) the (still rather splendid looking) building.

UPDATE: This building is now being leased to the Great Central Railway rent free for the next (I think) three years. This is good news. They will use it as a cafe on steam days and offices for training. Look on their website for details.

The Road To Holy Isle (is quite often under water)

Although it is tempting to stay on Holy Island between tides, it's worth not staying to see the Spectacle of the Advancing Waters. And for an event that happens every day it draws quite a crowd. As anyone who has been there will know Holy Island is reached by road, called the Lindisfarne Causeway. This floods twice a day, cutting off the island for about five hours at a time. At each end of the causeway there are prominent signs and details of the tide times but (you will not be surprised to read) on average one car a month gets stuck somewhere on the road. We didn't take any chances and left at the time specified by the tide tables. Where the road reaches the mainland there is a small car park and an expectant crowd.

To begin with nothing much happens. You look hopefully out to sea. From this vantage point you can see the waves hitting the northern side of the island. It's a strange sight. From here they look almost like people, or ghosts, hovering on the horizon. But the promised rush of water is nowhere to be seen. Near to a refuge (to help those who didn't read the signs) there is a raised bit of road and it slowly becomes clear that the water underneath this is, very slowly, getting nearer to the road. But, still no sign of a deluge. In fact, just when you think this is starting to get exciting, an ice cream van turns up.

Clearly they've seen it all before. They park

up on the side of the road and an orderly queue quickly forms.

The water has finally started to creep over the road. Either side of you the muddy creeks are filling up. Children stand on small mounds of earth eating ice creams until their little islands are submerged under the relentless tide.

During all this time traffic still appears from either side. Those coming from the mainland are put off by the crowd and the fact that there is an ice cream van in the middle of the road but those coming from the island are not so easily deterred. Eventually, just when you think no more cars are going to risk the trip, along comes one more. This time it was a plucky Peugeot (containing a family of four). The crowd watches as increasing amounts of spray appears on either side of the car. Will they make it? What would be more fun - them not making it, or them reaching safely? It's difficult to judge the mood of those watching. The car seems to stop briefly by the refuge. Are they stuck?

No, on they come! When they reach us a round of applause breaks out. The driver winds down his window and lets out an audible sigh of relief. The kids in the back look slightly shellshocked. And don't even get an ice cream.

The road is well and truly submerged by now. At the far end of the causeway a motorhome has stopped, deciding, very sensibly that they don't want to appear on the evening news. We move slowly back to the car park. Walking with the water as it slides up to us. Despite the people, the ice cream van, the water, it's all very quiet. People seem very happy with this simple pleasure of waiting for the water. Perhaps we are reassured by the predictability of it? Perhaps it's the mild sense of danger? Or perhaps it's just because we really, really like water?

The "Other" Silver Arcade - a Leicester time capsule

Leicester Civic Society this week announced that it had been "passed" (ooh...mysterious!) some photos of the medieval building discovered behind some dirty windows in the Silver Arcade. I naturally thought they meant the Silver Arcade which has been closed since 2000 and which is supposedly due to re-open in 2012.

In fact they meant the bit on the other side of Cank Street. This bit has always intrigued me. Used mostly by people as a short cut through to the market place it is currently occupied by two cafes and some other shops which seem to have odd opening hours (if they ever open at all). I don't know what the cafes are like (but Crusty's has been there for as long as can remember

(which is a shockingly long time) so it must be doing something right, and the other one has an interesting music policy so is probably worth checking out too.

There is also a jewellers (mentioned in the Mercury article) which I think has closed down, but rather confusingly the 'closing down' sign has been crossed out. It looks like they haven't changed the window display since the 1960s.

Or the sign advertising the shop. There are fonts here which just don't get used to-day (except in an ironic way).

Anyway, talking of things surviving more because they are neglected than for any other reason brings us back to the medieval building. According to an article in Leicester Mercury (from December 2009) this was actually first "discovered" in 2002 when some alterations were made to this part of the Arcade. The building is believed to be 16th century. I wandered down there to have a look and indeed you can still see this building if you press your face against a rather

grubby window just past Crusty's. There's not a lot left and I'm not sure I agree with the Civic Society who want to save it. I think there comes a time when we have admit that some buildings are beyond help. It's not listed, presumably because it's felt that too much of it has already been lost. I would imagine it's under no immediate danger anyway. But what could you do with it even even you saved it?

£250,000 for the Phoenix. Cheap at twice the price.

As far as I can see no-one in any position of power in Leicester takes a blind bit of notice of the whingers and whiners who inhabit the comment pages on Leicester Mercury website. Which is just as well. They are incredibly predictable. They hate the city council (curiously most of them seem to live in the county), they hate modern buildings, they're not at all keen on Muslims, travellers, art, young people, the present time...the list is a long one.

Saturday's Mercury headline - LEICESTER'S PHOENIX SQUARE NEEDS A £250,000 COUNCIL BAIL-OUT - was, naturally, like a red rag to a bull and all the usual suspects weighed in with their expert opinion. This had everything they hated - the council, spending money, a new building, art - oh they must have been so excited!

The fact that £250,000 (a small amount of money) would save 12 jobs and keep the only independent cinema in Leicester going was irrelevant to them. They saw a way to bash the council, bash "minorities" (i.e. people who go there), bash modernity itself. The Mercury encourages this, of course, or they wouldn't have put this minor bit of news on the front page, mischief making for the council is the Mercury's favourite pastime. As anyone who has read the Mr Leicester page (or it's sister publication the Leicester Chronicle) will know, they're not keen on the "new" Leicester, either.

I don't know if the Phoenix has been a success or not. I've never met anyone (who has actually been there rather than commented on it from afar) who didn't think it was pretty good. The cinema facilities are excellent and much more preferable to going to a huge, corporate multiplex. There was excellent (and sold out) performances during the comedy festival. The Mercury article tells us that there is an average attendence of 17%. I have no idea if this is a bad average for cinemas (I saw a film - Superbad - at the Odeon when I was the only person in the audience) and the Mercury, of course, doesn't explain any further.

I don't suppose this will be the end of the story. The winds of change are against those of us who think governments should spend money to improve life and employ people and the only way the phoenix will survive is if more people use it. So check out the diary, and go along. You might like it.

"Crowe's" - still the "CENTRE for SHOPPING", Leicester

"Crowe's" - still the "CENTRE for SHOPPING", Leicester
Originally uploaded by Ned Trifle

Reading letters and comments in the Leicester Mercury - or indeed reading the whole of the Leicester Chronicle - you might think that not only is Leicester covered in hideous modern buildings and concrete but that all traces of the past had been eradicated by the forces of modernity.

In fact much of Leicester's history is still there to be seen, although sometimes you have to lift your eyes from the pavement. Indeed it's the combination of past and present that I enjoy most when wandering about. The juxtaposition of Curve with Victorian buildings nearby (not to mention the contrast between it and the (former) Odeon (now Athena) is just one example. In this photo we see a smaller but just as satisfying one. The building that now stands at the entrance to Highcross (and now contains a Laura Ashley store) was once "Crowe's" -"The People's Drapers". You can see a postcard of it here. Quite an interesting building with an entirely superfluous but nevertheless striking tower on top and some lovely windows. Almost the whole building is still there (despite it not being listed), standing next to another building from Leicester's past - the Eastgates Coffee House.

Three Bridges near Thurcaston, Leicestershire

Reading Ian's excellent blog I was taken with the notion of microadventures (something he picked up from Alastair Humphrey's website). Of course, his idea of microadventures is somewhat more adventurous than mine ever would be, sleeping out in the countryside with only a sleeping bag for protection, doing the Leicestershire Round in four days, cycling 100kms. The kind of things that make me panicky just thinking about them. Anyway it did inspire me to make some small effort to get out and do some exercise (or what passes for exercise in my head).

Coincidentally, I was reading about King William's Bridge over Rothley Brook. This is an interesting little river which runs from near Cropston to join the River Soar just north of Rothley. Many bridges cross it during it's journey, including the aforementioned King William's bridge which was (probably) widened to let William III's coach get over it on his way from Leicester to visit the Grey family at Bradgate House in 1696. Looking at Charnwood Borough Council's listed buildings website I saw three other bridges nearby associated with the Brook. So I decided to walk around these and photograph them. A kind of micro-microadventure.

I parked in Cropston and headed out outwards the first bridge. I always like it when a public footpath sign leads between houses - you never know quite what you're going to see at the end of the path. In this case it was a field of something green that looked a bit like sprouting broccoli. The path crosses the field and joins another footpath leading from the Cropston Road. Britain's footpath network has to be one of the great wonders of the world.

After a quick ten minute stroll you reach Coffin Bridge. According to local lore this is so-called because if you had the misfortune to pass away in Cropston there was nowhere to bury you (and there still isn't - it being one of the few villages I know of without a church) and you had to be carried over to Thurcaston where they could accommodate you. It sounds like a plausible story. The oldest part of Cropston is at the far eastern end of the village and drawing a line directly from there to Thurcaston church would pretty much take you over the brook at this spot. It is a lovely bridge. In the distance you can see Thurcaston and it's only a few hundred metres up a gentle slope before you reach the village. The path divides the other side of the bridge with the left fork taking you to the church.

Through the churchyard and north up Anstey Lane takes you to another footpath sign heading away from the village back to Cropston. A little way along this path brings to the other two bridges on our little perambulation.

All these bridges are listed Grade II, they are all described as 16/17th century - although all have clear later additions or amendments. All were listed in March 1984 along with several other buildings in Thurcaston including "Latimer's House". Hugh Latimer, one of the Oxford Martyrs, was (almost certainly) born in Thurcaston, but debate rages (or at least simmers) about his exact birthplace. Anyway, what might or might not have been his house is a little further up Anstey Lane, and very nice it is too.

But back to our micro-microadventure. The first bridge no longer serves much purpose other than it enables the walker to get a good view of a small, stagnant pond. In fact, as you walk towards it you might not even notice there is a bridge there at all. As you get closer, however, it resolves itself into a small and perfectly formed one. Presumably a tributary of Rothley Brook once ran through here, as surely no-one would have gone to this effort to build such a sturdy bridge - especially not in the 16th century when all those stones would have had to have been lifted into place by hand. It's difficult to gauge it's size from my photo but the daffodils give you some idea. A lady was walking her dogs nearby but I didn't think she'd appreciate me trying to get her to stand still on the bridge for scale. She was having enough problems trying to keep her three hounds from jumping into the brook.

Moving swiftly on few more metres brings you to the final bridge. Known as Sandham Bridge, for reasons I am not clear about. This is the crowning glory of the three bridges. A genuine packhorse bridge with low parapets and niches on either side it stands pretty much has it has done for three hundred years. From the western side, looking back towards Thurcaston, the view is mostly as it has been for a hundred years, with the church in the distance surrounded by a few houses. Looking the other way you can see the "new" end of Cropston only a couple of hundred metres away.

Following the footpath up the hill, passing some ancient ridge and furrow fields on your left, brings you out onto the appropriately named Sandham Bridge Road and then onto Station Road (so called because it passes Rothley Station, now part of the Great Central Railway). Turning left here brings you back to old Cropston where (if you were me) you had left your car earlier.

So, not exactly a ramble, more a leisurely stroll through a tiny part of Leicestershire. But so much history in such a small patch of land, all seemingly unchanged for hundreds of years. But not really. On the right of the path towards Cropston someone had started a new hedge. Lots and lots of neatly contained saplings lined up along the edge of the field, replacing a much older hedge which had obviously reverted back to it's natural state. Combined with the whatever the crop was I saw when I started off, it reminded me that this is far from being a stagnant landscape (unlike the little pond) but one that is always changing and, as the patches of newer stone on the bridges testify, one in need of constant care and attention.

The scandal of "Greenacres", Leicester

"Greenacres", Leicester
Originally uploaded by Ned Trifle

While the Leicester Mercury, assorted politicos and various heritage junkies were getting their knickers in a twist about the demolition of the Bowstring Bridge a much more depressing sight could be seen on the outskirts of Leicester. The Greenacres community centre stands empty and increasingly vandalised eighteen months after it was due to open. As is the way of the internet the upbeat press release trumpeting it's opening is still online, as is the East Midlands Development Agency page about it - under the heading Success Stories! Although I suppose it was a success for someone, the £1.7m it cost went somewhere.

I was particularly looking forward to seeing it open. It was going to be run by local people (CHAOS Enterprises - maybe in hindsight not the greatest name). There was going to a cafe, workshops - it was located next to the Great Central railway and the, now booming, Red Hill allotments. I could see huge potential as a local hub linking the sometimes rather disparate communities of Mowmacre Hill, Belgrave and Birstall. Sadly it was not to be. Now it's only of interest to "urban explorers".

So what news on the development? You might think that this would be of interest to the Mercury. A load of public money down the drain, rumours about mismanagement, a brand new building (and rather a good looking one at that) standing empty? And yet the last time the local newspaper bothered to come this far out of the city centre was in October 2008 when they reported that the council was looking for another organisation to run the place. Since then nothing. What happened to the organisation that ran it? What are the council doing about getting it open? The people of Mowmacre Hill, not to mention Belgrave and Birstall, deserve some answers.

Slater Street School, Frog Island, Leicester

Slater Street School, Frog Island, Leicester
Originally uploaded by Ned Trifle

I take a lot of photos of buildings in my beloved Leicester. A few get looked at over and over again without comment, which is fine. But it's especially nice when someone sees a photo and it reminds them of something or leads them to remember something, as this photo of Slater Street school has. Follow this link to read more.

Slater Street is in Frog Island, a part of Leicester which has been on the verge of being "done up" for about as long as I've lived here and probably before then. It's very close to the city centre and every day there's a queue of traffic down Highcross Street out to Northgate and Woodgate and beyond. And no doubt many of the people sitting in their cars wonder if anything will ever happen to the area. But, even as it stands it's a pretty fascinating place. Look beyond the derelict buildings and there is a wealth of history and activity around the place.