Lenton Times

The Magazine of Lenton Local History Society

 

Willoughby Street - New Lenton



 Photographs | Lenton Listener Archive | Family Memories | Street Map



Photographs
Click on each photograph below  to show the enlarged version



Pre-Demolition
 

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society

 

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society

 

 

Billy Hill's newsagents in 1964.  The shop was situated at the junction of Willoughby Street and Derby Road
See also Derby Road Gallery 

 

An undated photograph of Willoughby Street probably taken in the late 1950s.  The photographer was standing at the Derby Road end with his/her back to Derby Road.

 

The Boys Brigade Club in May 1930.  The building situated at the corner of Church Street and Willoughby Street later became the base for the Monty Hind Boys Club.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society

 

Photograph courtesy of The Lenton Listener 

 

Photograph courtesy of The Lenton Listener

 

 

This is the stretch of Willoughby Street between Park Road and Castle Boulevard.  The property on the left is still with us but the factory on the right burnt down in the 1980s and the property was subsequently demolished to make way for the M.F.I. furniture warehouse.
See also Castle Boulevard Gallery 

 

Ball's the chemist stood at the adjacent corner of Park Road and Willoughby Street.  This business was transferred to a shop further up Park Road before the property came down in the general clearance of the area in the 1960's.
See also Park Road Gallery   

 

Willoughby Street at its junction with Castle Boulevard.  In the foreground is the old tramshelter and in the background some of the properties which stood on Sherwin Road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



During Demolition
 

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society 

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society

 

 

This portion of Willoughby Street stood near the junction with Derby Road.  Halfway along the terrace is a passageway leading to other properties situated at the back. The sign above the passageway reads 'Bell's Yard'.

 

This is the same set of properties but viewed from the other direction.  Demolition has now got underway and the date given for this and the next photograph is May 1962.

 

Probably taken later that same day the next portion of the terrace comes tumbling down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society

 

 Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society

 

 

This sequence of four photographs shows a set of properties fronting on to Derby Road in the process of being demolished.

 

A present day viewer can get some idea of where these properties stood from the presence of the Derby Road Methodist Church properties just visible on the left of the photograph.

 

This photograph provides evidence as to how the demolition men went about their business.  A chain attached to the mini-bulldozer is wrapped around the building and then the driver simply puts the vehicle into reverse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seconds later the final portion of the buildings hits the ground.  The date given for this sequence of photographs is May 1963.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



During and After Redevelopment
 

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society 

 

Photograph courtesy of Lenton Local History Society 

 

 

The Willoughby Street flats undergoing construction with Billy Hill's shop just visible on the right.

 

Another view of the flats with the Daks Simpson factory situated behind them on Park Street.

 

In many respects this 1978 view of Willoughby Street from its junction with Park Road looks much the same today.  However the commercial premises on the lefthand-side have both since changed hands.  The story of Allen Embroideries who occupied the building in the foreground is told in Lenton Times No.19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph courtesy of Gordon Jackson

 

Photograph courtesy of Gordon Jackson 

 

Photograph courtesy of Gordon Jackson 

 

 

The three photographs above were supplied by Gordon Jackson and show the recently completed and still unoccupied Willoughby Street flats in 1965.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph by John Perivolaris

 

Photograph by John Perivolaris 

 

Photograph by John Perivolaris 

 

 

These three photographs are reproduced courtesy of John Perivolaris and were taken on 14 March 2007.  They are looking northwards from the Church Street end of the flats complex.
More of John Perivolaris's photographs can be found at www.flickr.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Lenton Listener Archive
Articles from 'The Lenton Listener' Magazine

J.R. Ball - Chemist - Issue 18 (May - June 1982)

 

Family Memories

Peter Stables - Alvaston, Derbyshire
I was born at No. 1 Albion Place in 1940.  My parents were Arthur and Louisa Stables and we continued to live there until 1953.  Albion Place was the name given to a terrace of five houses situated in a yard off Willoughby Street and just behind the Albion Inn on Sherwin Road.  The properties on Albion Place were effectively one room deep.  On the ground floor was our living room, above it my parents’ bedroom and on the top floor the bedroom I shared with my brother, John.  The staircase leading up these was very steep and we always had to be careful.  We had a scullery off the living room and a very small yard at the back with a gate which led on to Albion Terrace.  

My brother and I could regularly be found playing on the ‘Prom’, the strip of land between Sherwin Road and Castle Boulevard. When not on the Prom we might be found playing on Abbey Bridge banks or perhaps further afield off down Trent Lane. Once I was old enough, I was employed by Harry Wells as a paperboy.  He had a newspaper business on Willoughby Street and gave me a round that took in most of Dunkirk so I had the use of the shop bike.  This meant an early rise to deliver the morning papers and I was back there after school to do the evening papers not to mention the same round on a Sunday.  For this I would be rewarded with the sum of 8s 6d. – I thought I was rich!

Mr Turton who lived in house on Willoughby Street which backed on to Albion Place ran a greengrocery business from his front room. He also had a pony and cart which he used to go around the streets selling his wares.  His pony was named Nelly and on Sundays his boys, Alan, Maurice and John would put Nelly in the trap and take us for rides around the countryside.  Riding out in this cart remains one of my most vivid memories from this era.

My uncle and aunt, Charles and Rose, used to have the chip shop on Grove Road across from the Grove Hotel.  Also on Grove Road at No.23 was Alf Hornby, the coal merchant.  His son, also called Alf, married my aunt Rose Scarlett.  I also had an uncle Lawrence (Lal), who lived on Hungerton Street and an uncle Frank, who lived on Harley Street.  In 1953 my mother gave birth to my sister Pamela and this prompted our move away from Lenton.  No. 1 Albion Place was now thought too small for our family and the Council offered my parents a new house on the Clifton Estate.  We moved in over the Easter weekend and gradually lost touch with our old neighbours.  I do know that the Martin family, who lived at No. 3 later moved to a house on Castle Boulevard but I have no idea what happened to the others.

Sandra Clegg (nee Arnold)
My father was Nathaniel Arnold who was killed in the Second World War.  His name has been included on your list of Lenton people who died in that war.  It is good to know that he will not be forgotten.

Nathaniel had married Nora Tunicliffe and they subsequently had my sister, Jill, and myself.  His brother Lou had married my mother’s sister, Dora - while another brother, Bert Arnold, married Alice, another of my mother’s sisters.  Three brothers marrying three sisters was very unusual and I understand that an article on them appeared in the local paper – possibly the Nottingham Evening Post.

Dora and Lou Arnold, my aunt and uncle, lived with their son, Mick, on Willoughby Street.  My Grandma Tunicliffe also lived there.  Alice and Bert Arnold, along with their children, Susan and David, lived on Lombard Street.  They later moved to Park Street where my Grandma Arnold lived.  

After my father’s death my mother married Jack Shaw and they had two sons, John and Martin.  Our new father was a wonderful man and we couldn’t have asked for better.  We lived on Church Street.  The property was situated in a yard with houses on three sides with a row of toilets making up the fourth side.  Each toilet was shared by two houses.  I remember on washdays my mother used the facilities at Lenton washhouse – washing was still hard work in those days.

Among the other people I recall are Les Betts, his wife and daughter, Jean, who had a fresh fish shop on one side of Willoughby street & a greengrocers on the other.  Their properties were just a couple of shops away from Monty Hind boys club and as a child I would sit on my window sill and watch them play.  There was also Mr & Mrs Tom Adams, who had a grocers shop on the corner of Lombard & Church Street.  They would sometimes give us the odd sweet while they were on ration.  Otherwise, we only got sweets once a month.  The Adams eventually sold the shop and moved to 29 Church Street about 1949/50.

John Dennis
My family lived at 31 Willoughby Street, which was next door to The Nag's Head public house.  Following Forest's victory in the 1959 Cup final we all stood on Derby Road to watch the team pass by with the cup on display. 

I can also remember 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' being filmed at the top end of Willoughby Street - I got a signed photograph off one of the actors.

Once they started to demolish the Willoughby Street properties I seem to recall that the whole area became plagued with mice and rats. 

I was only seven when we finally left in 1961 to move to Clifton.   Does anyone reading this remember my family - my parents were Bill and Dorothy Dennis?

See also 'Growing Up In New Lenton'
 Len Taylor recalls the Willoughby Street area of his childhood.

Let us know your memories of Willoughby Street

 

Do you have any historical information or other photographs of this road?  If so, email us with the details or write to us.