Nottingham Slab Square 1950's
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 เม.ย. 2016
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By 1951, when this film was made as part of Nottingham's Festival of Britain celebrations, nearly 25 years had elapsed since the great civic upheaval that saw the city's centuries-old market and annual Goose Fair ousted from the square for a new and imposing Council House. Since then 'meeting by the left lion' (the most favoured of the Joseph Else-designed sculptures) has started many a Nottingham night-out or relationship.
Members of the Nottingham and District Film Society were behind the camera for this well-made look at life in Old Market Square.
There’s a tunnel under the Council House that runs up to The Park, built by an extremely arrogant Victorian Lord Mayor who wanted to avoid mixing with the plebs on his way home,
The stone used for the Council House was left over from the building work of St Paul’s cathedral in London.
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A truly exceptional film! Everywhere so clean, everyone dressed and looking so smart. Imagine if we could go back there for just a few hours and experience a much simpler, more respectful time!
i just played this video for my 98 year old grandmother who has lived in Nottingham her entire life, grew up on St. Anns Well Road. She actually recognises some of the people in this documentary! Says she wonders if they're still alive like her.
Fascinating! I lived in Bullwell - No 10 Tonton Street - long gone - in the 1940's - moved to Upton - during the late 1940's - Married in St. Giles Church - West Bridgeford in 1958 - visited for many years till there are no longer any living relatives left, but always have happy memories of Nottingham and its environs.
I left Nottm years ago. But, loved growing up there in the 60's. Still say Duck, and am proud to be a Nottinghamaen. Nice to see it in the 50's always so bustling n busy.
I've just seen my mum in her late twenties am fifty two
She was beautiful back then,dead now
Which lady is your mum? (What time?)
Thanks for the upload of this. I was born and bread in Nottingham and grew up in Radcliffe on Trent. I am in my 50s now. My parents came from the meadows & Trent Bridge / West Bridgford areas, and my grandparents had a popular small chip shop chain in Nottingham. This is great to see how life was all those years ago and people getting on with things. Also as Nottingham is one of if not the oldest city in the UK I still love to see the building architecture and the history behind Nottinghamshire, it’s rich and steeped in history. The buildings are historic and timeless and the market square is the jewel in the crown. I think I preferred the old market square when their were water fountains as I did not know it when there were the flower beds before. For me now it’s not quite as good today since they transformed the end of it and removed the fountains as it is today, but it still has a huge part of its heritage here and will always be Nottingham’s go to central prominent place to meet, chat and shop.
Happy memories started work 1953 and crossed the square many times,
I moved to Nottingham for a few years as a teen on my own in the 90s, and even I sensed it use to be a great city, but I noticed the gangs who would hang around and the troubled areas. Even I knew that Nottingham was once a great city. I still like to visit every few months and it feels still like home, even though it was almost 25 years ago since I moved away.
In the 60's, the Market Square was such a lovely places to sit and watch people go by. Then, they decided to modernise it . . . . !
This is wonderful, it typifies my memories of a Nottingham lad born in the 50s, how spotless and smart everywhere and everyone looks. Fantastic film.
The street cleaners have cleaned it!! The people threw plenty of litter...I was born in Notm. in 1946 Much of this looks like a Saturday with so many people not at work and dressed for a day out, shopping and seeing friends. You can take film footage and make the story you want to sell a town ..
I grew up in Hyson Green area of Nottm [I'm 70 ] where many of Alan Sillitoes stories are set ,I remember the trolley buses that sounded like dodgems [no fumes] The LENOS,the CAPITAL [cinemas] THE FOREST,[goose fair, billy smarts circus] anyone remember "stick jimmy" who sold bundles of fire wood . aaah nostalgia , crowded buses ,freezing cold houses out door loos , community council laundry and baths on Noel st . Full employment .
Best film on Nottingham I've ever seen -- should be compulsory in schools -- notice how the ladies are taller and prettier and better dressed; didn't spot a single obese person or a single beggar. many policemen on the beat. Just six years after the war and Nottingham looks better then than it does today!
You make a very good point. It's because of that decline and basic rudeness that I left the city in 1991. Mind you, Manchester isn't any better. On reflection, I should have stayed!!
No obesity because partial rationing is still in effect. The square looks mostly the same today. Nostalgia is an easy indulgence is how the past was better, but it's a selective memory.
Lee Stokes how can we get back
Oh yes women should be taller, prettier and better dressed now
ZalthorAndNoggin notts people are lovely even now, rough sometimes but lovely. Mostly polite, smile and are friendly and have manners.
Nobody slams doors in face.
I lived on Goodhead Street, The Meadows till 1953. Then !moved to Westleigh Road, Strelly Estate.
Thankyou to the folks who made or shared this lovely Nottingham film. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.
I was born and raised in Nottingham. The Old Market that you call Slab Square had ceased being a real market since before I was born. It was transfered to the New Market behind what used to be Victoria Railway station at the bottom of Mansfield Rd, I think it is now a shopping mall. Goose Fair has been held on a 10 acre site at the Hyson Green end of Nottingham Forest Recreation Ground on Gregory Boulevard since before I was born in the early 1930s. My dad lived in Forest Fields when he was a kid during and after WW1 and my grandparents were there until they passed away in the late 1950s and I visited them frequently and I left my bike there when I visited Goose Fair.
Sure, I left there for New Zealand in the early 1960s so it is interesting to see how the city has changed in the last halt century
Great to hear your story, Keith. I too, was born & raised in Nottingham, until i was 5 years old. My big sister tells me we lived at number 4 Gregory Boulevard, when there was no Goose Fair just over the road from us, thanks to WW11, but a line up of air raid shelters. I do remember my Dad going to Goose Fair,after the war & winning me a doll. We left Nottingham in 1947 & moved to Australia in the early 1950s. Thanks for the video, W.P.Stape, very interesting.
@Cheryl Hi Cheryl...good to hear what it is like there now. Yes i think that is where you mentioned, sadly i don't remember much about that area.
Wish I could go back in time to be there.
Such a shame how much of it’s character has been lost to corporations and supposed ‘improvements’ (aka knocking down lovely old buildings and slapping an eye sore in their place)
On one hand I see what you mean as older buildings are historical and give a city alot more depth and character but you can't deny the fact that as a city, they always have to aim to improve and progress and new buildings are required.
Like Cornerhouse!?
Some things like the change to road layouts in the early 2000s and the trams were defo needed.
Now it's just a glorified birdbath
I was born in Nottingham but live in New Zealand now. I wasn't born until 1980 but a lot of the character of the city shown here was around even when I was young, though the trams were long gone and the roads had a lot more cars on them. But I smiled when the narrator side Beeston, that was where I lived the first 6 years of my life :D
E Nikata the trans are back now
@@sonnyreddevil69 Oh yes, I know they were put back in. I never used them as I lived in Long Eaton at the time.
The trams returned in March 2004 & the network has steadily grown since then. They are clean & efficient. The square has that pleasant big city bustle about it. The city has been tidy'ed up a lot in the last twenty years. With New Zealand what confounds me is the emptiness of the country, Nottingham is as large as Wellington the national capital & Auckland is but a Birmingham or Leeds in size then nothing but towns of which Hamilton is only a big town by British standards. NZ is beautiful but I think I'd get bored living there full time. Here I have the choice of multiple major cities within easy reach.
They weren't Trams, but Trolleybuses. I rode on them in the late 1950s, when visiting My Grandma, who lived in Old Radford.
I have a very clear memory of an occasion when, as a 3-year old, I clung on to the passenger rail at the entrance to a trolley to make sure it would not leave until my grandmother had got on it. I was so proud to think that I was stronger than the trolley. Then, around my 5th birthday, I realised that this was just an illusion and the trolley was actually a lot stronger than I was.
makes me want to weep.
Nice To Watch This... I Was There Early 60s....from Donegal.. Lived at Robin Hood Chase, worked at Vic Hotel, Portland Hotel BICC, Gem Ect...Nice To See The Trolley Buses and Hear Little John..
Free expression of all shades of opinion - not today.
Not a hooded yoof in sight lol
A lot of litter though.
*Do you remember England?* as Edward Dowson asked.
Excellent.
fascinating, thank you. i was born in 64. these were my parents times.
Even in the 2000s, city still had an elegant Edwardian Square. Now ruined by lopsided pedestrianisation and knock-off Chinese Granite/'gob fountains'. Watch teenagers marvel when you tell them it actually had greenery, functioning toilets and benches like a proper public space...
Absolutely brilliant👍thank you for sharing.
Brilliant Film!!! Thank You!!!
Back then: "The last buses will pull out, leaving the square to the lions, the pigeons and the great bright clock face"
Now: "The last buses will pull out, leaving the square to the lions, the pigeons and the rowdy louts"
I was 2 at the time, wish we could go back to a far better time, never mind what some negative comments may say it was. It was the Queen of the midlands but not any more sadly.
Love to see the miners still with their safety helmets on, I wonder which pit they worked. Ask a person in the square today (if they understand English that is) can they name any old local pits, I doubt it. Once known as the Queen of the Midlands. Now a typical British multi cultural city, a crap house. Thank you Blair. I still miss my old home town though.
The Council House was originally a Hydro Turbine installation and so was Nottingham Castle.
"meet at the lions" I don't actually live in Nottingham city centre but the first ever time someone said that to me I didn't understand what she ment
Inspire6 ‘Meet at left lion’ is what Nottingham people generally say. Ask someone from Notts to meet at the right lion and they’ll look at you like you just crawled out of the sewer.
@@AH-be6bu the gays would meet at the right lion
@Jake Foster someone told me, best way to find out stand at the right lion on a friday evening and see what happens
@Cheryl at the bar in the lord roberts
While it was great to see Nottingham back in the late 50' most commentators just whined about bad it is today, or better back then. I am sure those old folk watching in 57 who saw the old Council House pulled down in 1928 and watched this 'monstrosity' (current Council House) replace it whined. No doubt the Saxons did the same when the Normans built the wall down the middle. Sure there are losses along the way, but gains too. But you only see them if you bother to get out the past. We live in a forward direction, not backwards. We are bonded to the past, not wedded to it.
Yes, the chaos and cultural barbarism of our time is such a testament to the wonderful progression we have made since then. You need a good shaking if you think life today is better than back then. Look past the material. People back then enjoyed the fruits of an ordered, highly trusting, well-functioning society, and all the statistics which matter reflect it.
The last thing you need is progress when you're headed in the wrong direction.
St Ann's at its worst was like a slum in Pakistan = indescribably horrible. I've been in both. My great-granddad was an Old Radford gunman & my grandfather supplied "ladies of the night" to kings George V & VI & shooting-party associates + placing their unwanted offspring, of whom I'm one. My life is Dickensian in its twists & turns: a Jewish cuckoo & my call-girl honky-tonk pianist mother - hence unknown father; a brutal step-father; discovery by Mil Intel of my maths skills = super-genius; and a wild ride of adventure in many countries: hobo, fighter, academic, artist, cockster ETC + author of the biggest illustrated book since Leonardo. To quote an uncle: no-one will believe your life, it's too incredible.
Whatever people say about the social attitudes with the benefit of hindsight, the tranquility of order back then comes across as indescribably palatable.
G'day l was born in the meadow,then lived in mapper and migrated to Australia a
@@mumdadattenborough558 You poor sod. That's the frying-pan into the fire in my books. Oz = ANUS MUNDI.
Enjoy the rest of your life, Jiim.
My grandparents emigrated from Jamaican to Nottingham in 1958 for work and a better life for their children (my parents). Loved all the great stories the good, bad and the ugly (racism).
Racism is a natural phenomenon...not to be taken personally
Everybody's slim
Rationing didn't end until 1954, and a lot more physical work in day to day life.
yep, funny coincidence that being "big boned" wasn't invented until recently 😂
....then about 15 years later they start the process of gradually destroying a small but proud city - stripping it of its wealth and architectural gems. A process that went on right into the 80's. So much wanton destruction was carried out by town planners aswell as central government throughout the 60's and 70's 'in the name of progress'.
Sustainable transport (electric trams) got rid of in favour of polluting cars running on leaded petrol. The glorious Victoria station demolished except the clock tower, depriving the city of a landmark and architectural gem.....oh, and a second railway station with a fast straight line down to London. Apparently it took less time to reach London than the Midland line, but was still scrapped.
Victoria station replaced by a ghastly concrete monstrosity called the 'Victoria Shopping Centre'. Other fine buildings torn down because they looked ' abit old' or 'weren't fashionable and modern' went too. All of this for what?? ......so the car could become king, the streets full of bland buildings containing chain stores all selling similar goods. Was it all worth it?? ......No, is the answer.
Fine archive film footage showing the extent of what Nottngham lost in the decades that followed.
Seeing Nottingham look nice is very weird it's really going down hill to be honest, but it ain't as bad a fucking derby lmao
1.48 a miner buying a newspaper.
Suprised by the amount of litter
oh wow i bet those days were so nice. Notts looked very different to today. if only we could travel back inside that film to experience it. im a 70s baby so i would love it stepping back in time
2:48 The 4th largest of the quarter bells in the Nottingham Council House used to be much louder than it is today, I wish they had not put a suede pad on it, It muffles too much of the sound.
I worked at Gauntleys (Arcade entrance) for 8yrs, they're all definitely loud enough 😉
Notice how a video in early 1900s everyone looks at camera. But here these see people were probably kids back then now are now used to cameras
Fab
maybe you could do a same film but now in 2017 and compare side by side. thatd be awesome.
Terina Jenson you really want to see a video of Nottm in 2017, homeless begging for money and 15 year old girls wearing false eyelashes and layers of makeup
@@Inspire6 2019 ,it looks like saudi arabia now
Awesome, and equally depressing.
I live in Nottingham
Ndey Kah this is why it’s in your recommended then
I miss hearing my grand parents speaking proper old Nottingham. You mashing duck??
like that
Need more people to do the cleaning... scrubbing polishing
Life was so much bether i guess
Was that Tug Wilson at 4.43 or was this too early for him. Observations - very busy, and a lot of litter (at the beginning when they're cleaning up).
Much too early for Tug, The Man Mountain of Nott's Law Enforcement.
@@IndianaDel1 Tug should have a statue,on the corner of Fish Island,faceing the Council House, just keepin an eye out
Not heard that name for a long time. The man was a legend. Never cross or argue with Tug.
Theres a video of Tug Wilson being interviewed by trent radio in 1979 in which he states he had been on the force for 26 years. So that very well could be him at 4.43
*Bell Siphons and Water Turbines.*
This is the year my Father was born in the Panjab
My beloved city has been completely ruined by decade after decade of mismanagement from inept councillors
i took a picture with lion on my earthday,i was born there...Coyi
Nottingham 2019, Chavs, shady characters, fat ladies and blokes, and chicks in skimpy dresses. Yobs, beggars and unfortunate folk selling Big Issue. Hyson Green, Meadows, Clifton, St Ann's, are really rough areas. And only West Bridgford remaining a nice area, but with stupidly high house prices. And the infamous nights out with drunken half naked girls vomiting outside clubs. Surreal.
The 'stupidly high prices" of the houses is the reason West Bridgford maintains a higher standard.I was born and raised there in 1942.What a wonderfull place it was ( and still is I hope.) I emigrated to South Africa in 1967 but came back to the UK in 1990.
@@rogerwoodhouse7945 the high prices keep out the riff raff
@@johnross2924 Exactly.But the infiltration of millions of illegals will have to be 'placed' somewhere with the result in the lowering of house prices.This will be welcomed by the certain section hell bent on destroying the 'housing market' in the mistaken belief that the melting pot' of society we once knew will disappear..It wont of course but millions of people will see their 'paper' wealth evapperate..The rich will just get richer.
Notts
WOW every bodies white
AND DEAD.?
@@galin95 Not necessarily.
25,000 people per day!? Where have all them jobs gone then?
alot of those jobs are all online now, internet has made it so everything is remote. And a good chunk of those 25,000 people worked in garment factories in the lace market making clothes. But nowadays clothes are all made in china because people dont want to buy quality clothing anymore, people just want cheap fast fashion unfortunately.
Guinness is good for you. Don't believe me? Check out @12:48
It looked stupid much nicer and cleaner
wtf do you mean?
Not a mask insight
th-cam.com/video/dmbxAVR1tgk/w-d-xo.html
NO CINEMAS OR THEATRES IN THE FILM. NOT GOOD.
Time Index 1;10.. CORRECTION FOR YOU. The earliest of the workers were the bus drivers here, otherwise no one else would get to work.. And Nothing but nothing has changed in all that time.. Other than we the people are poorer in general. But what i mean also to say is, the hours are just as long for workers and starting times just as bad.. Nothing has changed..
It's about time that all people should work no more that 8 hrs a day, and all be home at night at a decent hr, and all going to work in the morning at a bloody decent hr.. 3am is not a decent hour, nore is 4 or 5 oclock.
People hardly sit to talk in the square any more, as they haven't the time. Let alone the knowledge in the art of conversation. And as for the modern architecture of the road layout, or the square it's self, I'd have to say standards have dropped off. Getting around Nottingham now is a pain in the neck, let alone your wallet or purse. Drive up the wrong street and you will end up with a heavy fine. Say a days wages for the man in the street.. So no longer people like me go to Nottingham or shop there. And this has had a massive effect.. Just look around at all the shops closing down or boarded up.
Therefore i am not alone in not wanting to go to Nottingham any longer just so the council can fine you..
Pay backs a real bitch.. YOU THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF THIS SYSTEM ARE KILLING OFF SHOPS AND PEOPLE WANTING TO COME TO THE CENTRE. So well done you.. keep it up, and that's not all.
Look at the amount of pubs closing down. Only to be given over to another pizza of kebab shop.. Because we need more kebab shops don't we.. EERRRR NOT.