Lenton Times

The Magazine of Lenton Local History Society

Photographs assembled in sequence from Priory  Street towards Beeston Road and returning towards Gregory Street

Situated next to the Priory Park is this detached property.  The different brickwork in the groundfloor portion show where a shop frontage once was to be found.  The premsies feature in Ted Marriott's reminiscences

Corner of Abbey Street & Priory Street in August 2001
See also Priory Street Gallery

The Abbey Street frontage of Nazareth House taken in August 2005.  The nuns having just vacated the premises, workmen were about to arrive and begin the demolition of the property.

In 1990 51 Abbey Street was occupied by George Akins - bookmakers. The wall immediately to its left marks where the River Leen used to flow under the road and past the side of the building in the days before it was redirected into the old bed of the canal.

53 Abbey Street - Smith's Newsagents, with the Johnson Arms Pub on the extreme right - August 2001

 53 Abbey Street in 1925. This photograph was rescued from oblivion by Brian Howes who in 1986 came across the original glass plate among many others which had been thrown into a rubbish skip.

David & Brenda Smith outside their shop, 53 Abbey Street in April 1987

55 Abbey Street in the 1930's, with Hilda Holton (daughter of the proprietors) in the foreground

Picture postcard from the early 1900's.  Shows Abbey Street Bridge over the canal with The Abbey Tavern on the left
See also Lenton Listener Article - The Johnson Arms

Early twentieth century view of The Abbey Tavern viewed from the canal.

A close up of the bridge and pub in the previous photograph although now The Abbey Tavern has been replaced by The Johnson Arms and the QMC is now visible in the background.  Photograph taken in 1984.

Same view as the photograph above on the previous row but by the 1950's the canal bridge is different and the pub is, of course, The Johnson Arms named after Frank Johnson, the man who had it built in 1912.

A 2005 view of the bridge with the River Leen now passing beneath it.  An additional section of bridge work was erected in the 1990s as part of the Nottingham cycle route network which uses a section of Abbey Street as well as the old canal towpath shown in the foreground of this photograph.

This view of The Johnson Arms taken in the mid 1960s looks much the same today except it is no longer a 'Shipstone's House'.
See also Lenton Listener Article - The Johnson Arms

Inside The Johnson Arms with Alan Johnson, the landlord, serving customers in the mid 1980s.
 See also Lenton Listener Article - The Johnson Arms

The view of the River Leen in 2003 looking south from the Abbey Street bridge.  On the left is the Johnson Arms and on the right the backs of the Cloister Street properties.

Taken from the same vantage point as the previous photograph, this shot taken in 1984 shows the River Leen coming within inches of overflowing and flooding the neighbouring properties.

Bridge House stood at the junction of Abbey Street and Dunkirk Road.  It came down in the mid 1970s and the site is now occupied by a block of townhouses.
See also Dunkirk Road Gallery

Looking back along Abbey Street with the Primitive Methodist Church on the left and No.1 Branch Shop of the Nottingham Co-op next door.  Photograph by J Spree in the 1920's

Click on the photograph for detailed information

A 2005 view of Parker's Cafe on Abbey Street.  Until recently this was a single storey property but after it had been extended on the eastern side a flat has been built above it with access provided by an external staircase situated at the side of the property.

A petrol station has been part of the Abbey Street scene for at least fifty years.  This is how it looked in the 1960s.

The same site as in the previous photograph as it looked in 2001 although little or nothing remains from the original building to help you get your bearings.

Petrol stations in Lenton are very much an endangered species - only the one at Sainsbury's Castle Marina site is still operational.  The Abbey Street one shown in the previous photograph closed and this is how the site looked in May 2004.  The premises now [2007] await redevelopment as either office accommodation or student housing.

Harrison's Hairdressers 1936.  Left to right - Cecil Harrison, Peggy Renshaw, Elijah Harrison and Clarence Collinson.  The premises were pulled down in the early 1980's.
See Abbey Street Hairdressers Gallery

The same property forty five years later.  The barbers had already closed and it it would not be all that long before the demolition men moved on to the site.

Slightly further along Abbey Street, shot taken in the 1950's.  The properties in the foreground have since been demolished as has the building just visible on the extreme right of the shot.  
See also Lenton Listener Article - Scene in Lenton

12 & 14 Abbey Street in the early 1980's.  Number 12 is still a cycle shop - but now known as The Cycle Inn. The Post Office, as is evident from the photograph below, later turned into a fish and chip shop.

The same batch of 1925 glass slides which featured Smith's Newsagency (see above) also generated this view of the Old Lenton Post Office.

Taken in October 1983 this shows the Post Office shortly after it closed down.
See also Lenton Listener Article - Why Old Lenton Lost Its Post Office

The property was then converted into a 'chip' shop by Nick Sellers who is shown standing in the doorway of his premises in July 1986.
See also Lenton Listener Article - The Return of the Chippy

4 & 6 Abbey Street taken in the late 1970's shortly before its eventual demolition.  In the early 1800s the building had housed a Dame School.