From 54 Baxter Gate to 1 Old Hospital Court Road!

So, after a very long wait something is finally opening both on the site of the old hospital and in the former nurses' home. 

A couple of years after the old hospital had closed, and the new one on Epinal Way had opened, it looked like this:

The Baxter Gate hospital

And it wasn't long before it was demolished:

After demolition

The demolition of the hospital rather exposed the side of the former nurses' home (which is how my friends have always referred to it, so that's why I call it this) and it was sad to see such a handsome (Grade II listed) building literally crumbling before our very eyes.

The former nurses' home

However, this has now all changed, and whether or not you think the town can support another cinema, and another half-dozen or so restaurants, the area has been redeveloped, and I have to say I think it all looks rather smart.

The new cinema is on the site of the old hospital, and there is a new "court" between the former nurses' home and the cinema itself, which will be filled with various restaurants. I wonder if the idea of this court harks back to the many courts there were in Loughborough at one time (and, indeed, there still are a few).

Looking out onto Baxter Gate from inside the court

At the end of the "court" was a wall hanging: it took me a few seconds to work out what on earth Laurel and Hardy had to do with Loughborough, but a closer look revealed lots of film characters - from Star Wars, King Kong, Jurassic Park etc. - interspersed with Loughborough landmarks. So, for example, there was a dinosaur peering over the Charnwood Museum.   

The wall hanging

Anyway, if I'm going to go out for a meal I very rarely choose to go to a chain, rather preferring to support local businesses, but, if I'm in a strange town and I am looking for somewhere to eat and I want something safe and predictable, in a pleasant setting then I might choose to go to a Pizza Express. The ones I've been to have all been in sympathetically restored buildings, which makes them a good deal more exciting than uninteresting new builds.

And so I have been watching and waiting for Loughborough Pizza Express to open, mostly because of the joy at seeing the nurses' home being renovated. Last evening I managed to book a table and took my family out for a celebratory meal, and what turned out to be quite an eventful occasion.

The entrance to the restaurant is on the side, and the inside seems to split into two areas, one at the front with large windows, which is obviously the old part of the buildings, and an area towards the back, which is part of the new building. In case you're interested, the washroom facilities are inside the old number 53, which has been opened up and joined with number 54. 

Inside looking out towards Baxter Gate

Our hosts were quite hospitable, but when we arrived it was in torrential rain, and we had hardly sat down at our table, when we became aware that the rain was bucketing down in through the ceiling into the restaurant porch, and then started coming into the restaurant. I don't think the waiters/waitresses really knew what to do! I don't think it was until we came to leave that I realised that the leak was probably in the join between the old and new building. Anyway, our spirits were not dampened and we had an enjoyable meal.

Can you see the rain coming through the ceiling in the porch?

I admit to being quite impressed with the artworks that were placed around the walls, as they all seemed to depict something of the history of the building. So, there was a painting of an auctioneer (was that Mr Garton or Mr Amatt?) - paintings of various auction lots, including a selection of Ladybird books, a group of folk sitting waiting, but I wasn't sure if they were attending the auction, or waiting in the doctor's surgery, and a picture of Towers (which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year).     

Also, I think there was a hint of harking back to the 1930s as part of the new building was tiled in cream tiles with a pale green border, all shiny and new. All in all, it was a very pleasant meal in very pleasant surroundings.   

The auctioneer and the Ladybird lot

Towers!

Changes in Loughborough

Isn't it funny how things can remain the same for years and years, and then suddenly lots of things seem to change all at the same time?

Some of the things that stand out in my mind are the building of the Inner Relief Road, and all the changes that brought, like the partial demolition of Warner Street School and the butchers, amongst other things. The building of the law courts a couple of years previously, then seemed to make a bit more sense, as its position is now on the side of the relief road.

There are too many recent changes for me to document, but here are a few that I have noticed when I've been out and about in Loughborough recently.

Over the last couple of years, I've been watching with dismay and interest as the former nurses' home on Baxter Gate (built as an auction mart for Garton and Amatt), a Grade II listed building, has first deteriorated and then been taken over and renovated by Pizza Express: here's a couple of photos:

After the demolition of the General Hospital

Soon after the start of the renovation in 2015

At the beginning of 2016

At the beginning of 2016

Down by the old Ladybird factory, there's been a bit of derelict land, surrounded by fencing, which is finally taking shape as houses:

In June 2015, from the canal, Ladybird factory in the middle distance

The same view at the beginning of 2016, but with the canal slightly behind me

Fairly close to this, after passing the Herbert Morris works, where, on January 31st, 1916 a Zeppelin bomb landed, a pile of rubble has been transformed into a flat piece of land, presumably on which will be built more homes:

In 2015 there was an interesting pile of rubble, mostly made up of Victorian bricks

In early 2016 the rubble has gone, and the land flattened

  
In March 2015 I had a look around SOFA, a second-hand shop based in the old Towles factory on Nottingham Road. Going up to the top floor gave me a lovely view across parts of Loughborough, including the patch of derelict land which used to be the site of a dye works (if memory serves me correctly). This looks a little different today:

A view from the top floor of the former Towles building in February 2015

A view from the canal, looking towards the former Towles building

The biggest surprise I had on my latest walk was the changes that are happening down on Sparrow Hill, at Sid Powell's old place. The render has been removed, exposing the brick, and the modern tiled roof has been replaced with slate tiles. Ok, so they're not Swithland slate like the Manor House (now Caravelli's) next door, but, I presume, the thinner Welsh Slate:

Sid Powell's shop (formerly the Shakespeare Inn and the Crown and Thistle) in Jan 2014

The same building in Jan 2016. Renovation also taking place on what is thought to be an old butcher's in the yard behind.

Now, I am waiting with trepidation, to see what is going to happen at Parks Millwrights. Planning permission  has been requested to do something to the buildings in the yard. I'm hoping this won't affect the main building.

Sorry if I haven't documented the recent history of your favourite building or piece of land, but I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the developments that are happening in current day Loughborough.

Spotlight on: 54 Baxter Gate

Former nurses' home



Number 54 in the distance


I'm a little short of time at the moment, so I am posting today about a brief conversation which I was involved with on the fbk Remember Loughborough page about a building on Baxter Gate. Coincidentally, I had been talking about this building earlier this week, and it has been one of my favourites since I first discovered it as part of my tour guiding course end 2012/beginning 2013.







Baxter Gate is an interesting street, with buildings from many different eras existing side-by-side. It's

1930s building on Baxter Gate

a one-way street: On the left-hand side as you go down, there are many fantastic examples of 1920/30s buildings, whilst on the other side are much older buildings, one such - Titania's - being thought to be 16th century. The reason for these different building styles is that in the late 1920s, early 1930s Baxter Gate, along with several other Loughborough streets, was widened from its original Tudor width. I do find it rather amusing that around 1985 (and I did say "around" because I can't quite remember the exact year!) the corner of Baxter Gate, where you turn left off the High Street, was made narrower again when the market Place was pedestrianized and the pedestrian lights changed. Not sure what's happening there at the moment, with the pedestrianization of the High Street.

Number 54 Baxter gate

Anyway, the building in question is a Grade II listed building, which at one time was next door to the hospital. Before the hospital was built, in 1862, there was a dispensary on Baxter Gate, which had been originally situated in 1819 on Mill Street (now Market Street), but moved to Baxter Gate in 1824. Looking at a map of 1837, I would suggest that the dispensary is on the plot now occupied by Beacon Bingo, and ceased to be used once the new hospital was built.

Messrs Garton the Mart

So, number 54 Baxter Gate was built around 1900, in brick, with terracotta - possibly from the Hathern Brick company - as an auction mart for Garton and Amatt, with a restaurant and rooms on the upper floors, and has a carriageway arch to the left. I'm not sure when Garton and Amatt vacated the building, but I know Garton moved to the Temperance café on Cattle Market.





The hospital was originally a two-storey building, but in the early 1930s, when more space was needed, a couple of extra storeys were added, and some time later, the buildings adjacent to the hospital were demolished and an extension built on the side. This meant that number 54 Baxter Gate was now next to the hospital.



57 Park Road



The nurses' home at this time, was in a purpose-built building which had been built from about 1924 onwards, but at some point they moved to number 54 and stayed there until 1960 when they then moved to 57 Park Road. In 1963, number 54 became offices for the hospital, and was used in this way until at least 1984, becoming a medical information centre in the late 1980s, before closing the doors sometime in the 1990s.





Folks on fbk have said that they remember number 54 being used as a doctors' surgery: Certainly, a Dr McLeod lived at number 52 Baxter Gate in 1929. Mention was also made of Drs: Thompson, B[r]amber, Riley, Harris, Ryan, Acker, Jeffs, Earl, Shicks, and Janner. Perhaps the term "offices" really meant "doctors' consulting rooms"? Apparently, these doctors moved to Woodbrook Medical centre on Bridge Street: There is still a Dr Ryan listed as working there.

So, there is now a planning application out to re-develop the former hospital site, with number 54 included in this. The notices are currently pinned to the mural where the hospital used to be.  

  
See ya next week, hopefully!