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

Corner of Abbey Street & Priory Street in August 2001.

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 1930s, with Hilda Holton (daughter of the proprietors) in the foreground

Picture postcard from the early 1900s. 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A close up of the bridge and pub in the previous photograph although now The Abbey Tavern has been replaced by The Johnson Arms and the Queens Medical Centre is now visible in the background. Photograph taken in 1984.

Same view as the photograph above on the previous row but by the 1950s 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.

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 1920s.

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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.

Dunkirk Fire Station used to be located at the end of Abbey Street as shown in this 2005 photograph. After the new Highfields firestation was completed in 2009 on Hassocks Lane, Beeston the old Beeston firestation and Dunkirk firestation were both closed and in due course the buildings demolished.

This photograph also taken in 2005 shows the rear of the firestation with the training tower positioned centre stage.

Several projected developments for the Dunkirk firestation site came to nothing before it was finally decided to use the site for the new Nottingham University Academy of Science and Technology. Kevin Chamberlain's photograph taken in July 2014 captures the new building just before the builders added the exterior cladding. The school finally opened in September 2014.

Regulars from the Johnson Arms gather before boarding the coach for an 'outing' in the late 1950s. In the background are part of the premises of Simms, Sons and Cooke while beyond these can be seen some of the Commercial Street/ Spring Close properties.
See also Lenton Listener Article - The Johnson Arms

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 Sainsburys 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 1980s.

The same property forty five years later. The barbers had already closed and 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 1950s. 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

This photograph taken in the early 1980s shows the scene after the row of terraced properties had been demolished and a new boundary wall built in their place. Beyond the brick wall lay the building that had once served as a corn mill for the Lenton & Nottingham Co-operative Ltd. but was now used as premises for the Nottingham Co-op's building maintenance department.

Taken at the same time as the previous photograph this shot shows a more modern structure used by the Nottingham Co-op's building maintenance department. All these properties were subsequently demolished and the site incorporated into the staff car park for the Queen's Medical Centre.

12 & 14 Abbey Street in the early 1980s. Number 12 is no longer a cycle shop. 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

Ted Blagdon posing for his photograph in the back of No.8 Abbey Street. Over the wall you can just see empty bottles belonging to Redgate's mineral works based on Leengate. To the left of Ted Blagdon was the entrance to the outside toilet. At this time there was no inside toilet. See Gwen Thornhill's Memories of 8 Abbey Street shown below

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

Taken by Kevin Chamberlain in June 2012 this shows Nos. 14, 12, 10, and 8 Abbey Street, now unoccupied and awaiting the demolition team to arrive and knock them down, as they stood in the way of the new tram system shortly to make its appearance in Lenton.

Kevin also offers us a close-up of Nos.10 and 8 Abbey Street - with the ground floor doors and windows all boarded up to prevent any unauthorised access to the buildings while they wait to be demolished.