Lynne About Loughborough: Generous Briton

Showing posts with label Generous Briton. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 April 2025

U is for Utilitarian

In this series of posts featuring some of Loughborough’s Art Deco heritage, we’ve already had a look at some stunning buildings, many with some highly decorative and ornamental architectural features – I think one of my favourites has to be the torches on the Blacksmiths, and the lotus columns peeking out from the top of the columns outside the former Echo Press offices on Swan Street.

So, for today’s entry in the A-Z Blogging Challenge, we’re looking into the letter U. I’ve decided to go with Utilitarian. It’s not specifically an Art Deco term, and the dictionary defines the term as something that is designed to be practical and useful rather than something designed to be attractive, so those buildings I’ve just mentioned certainly don’t fall into that category.

Some of our Art Deco town centre buildings really are more utilitarian than some of the others, but in my personal opinion this doesn’t detract from their beauty and elegance. I’m thinking particularly about a couple of our pubs (nothing new there then!), like Fat Sam’s (at one time called the Mundy Arms, and you can find an explanation of why in ‘Loughborough Pubs’), the Generous Briton, which featured in a recent blogpost, and the former Moon and Bell. As I said, the design of the buildings in no way affects how important they are in our town’s history and streetscape.

I guess, you could call the side of Beacon Bingo utilitarian. Absolutely by necessity – the huge auditorium nestled inside the building means that the outside has to stretch a long way, and really it would have been too expensive and unnecessary to clad the whole length in Hathernware! However, do note the most unusual brick poster frame on the side which flows along Lemyngton Street.

There are plenty of other Art Deco buildings which one might suggest are utilitarian in style, and while the fronts of the shops along Market Street all have some lovely features on them – balconies, Crittall windows, beaten metal, and a variety of motifs – a sneaky peek around the back of the buildings, either looking along from the Market Street entrance to the Carillon shopping centre, or from the entrance to the Carillon car park on Derby Square reveals the familiar cube-like rooms at the back of the shops.

I suppose in this respect, the Generator Building might also fall into this category: construction began in 1934, and officially opened in 1937, it certainly is rectangular in shape, and well-suited to the activities that originally took place within its walls. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the new building on Frederick Street, close to Caldwell Street certainly echoes the style of The Generator to good effect.

And here we must leave these beautiful buildings and search for the next entry in this challenge!

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). U is for Utilitatian. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/u-is-for-utilitarian.html [Accessed 24 April 2025]

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Sunday, 13 April 2025

The Generous Briton

On a recent trip to Melton Mowbray I was told a story about the origin of one particular Melton Mowbray pub name, and this intrigued me, as I had written about our own Generous Briton in my book ‘Loughborough Pubs’, which was published back in 2023.

Our own pub seems to have been around since the early eighteen hundreds, and when it was auctioned in 1875, it was described as consisting of “a bar, parlour, taproom and kitchen, along with several bedrooms, good cellarage and brewhouse, and outside was excellent stabling with granary above.” The building we see today, on the corner of Ashby Road and Regent Street is a new one, built in 1937 to replace the much older building. Since that time, the GB has had a number of refurbishments, and been included in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, as well as at one time being celebrated for its historic interior. Here is the building photographed from Ashby Road in 2021, and from Regent Street in 2013.

So, what of the name, the Generous Briton? According to a website about Nottinghamshire villages, the name is used in an ironic way, and is supposed to have come from a poem called “The British Prison Ship”, written as long ago as 1780, by Philip Freneau. Freneau was known as being the poet of the American Revolution, and the poem was written as a result of his experience being held captive by the British on a prison ship. This was during the American War of Independence, when Americans were captured and held on overly hot ships, without much access to fresh food or water, so the death rate was very high. The idea of the “Generous Briton” is therefore in contradiction to what the prisoners actually experienced.

As well as the intriguing origin of the name, it was also suggested to me on my visit to Melton Mowbray, that there were only three pubs bearing this name in the country, and all of them being in Leicestershire! Here's Melton Mowbray's pub during renovation works in 2023.

Well, I just had to check that out! So, as well as Loughborough’s GB, there is a GB in Costock, although I’m not sure whether or not this is still open; there is also a thriving one in Melton Mowbray on King Street, and there is one on the High Street in Brant Broughton in Lincolnshire, although again, I’m not sure if it’s still a pub. The GB which was at No.12 Lombard Street Newark hasn’t been a pub for many years, and the latest picture I could find of it was taken in 2001. It has since been renamed as Clinton House, and has been an insurance agent, to let as shops and offices, and currently subject to a planning permission to become flats.

Why there are only a handful of pubs with the GB name, and why most of those remaining are in Leicestershire I have no idea!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). The Generous Briton. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-generous-briton.html [Accessed 13 April 2025]

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site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Sunday, 5 November 2023

Spotlight on Ashby Road 2023 Shops and other buildings

Over the past two weeks, we've been having a look at odd-numbered properties, and even-numbered properties on Ashby Road, and comparing current pictures with ones from 2013. Today we'll have a look at some of the shops: in 2013 I didn't actually share many photos at all, so most of the pics will be from 2023.

Fifty-Three, the cafe on the corner of Storer Road and Ashby Road, with ghost sign from the old grocers

Here's the Catholic church on the corner of Hastings Street in 2013.

Hastings Street - Catholic church left, lemon lady right - on a sunny day October 2023!

Hastings Street - Catholic church left, lemon lady right - on wet day in August 2023!

Shops on Ashby Road, heading down towards the town centre

The Generous Briton on the corner of Regent Street in 2013

The dentist and the Generous Briton, on the corner of Regent Street

On the corner of Regent Street, heading towards the town centre

The Old English Gentleman on the right-hand side of Ashby Road towards town 2013

On the right-hand side of Ashby Road, heading into the town centre

Back on the other side, on the corner of Union Street

I think this was open Heaven in 2013, but in 2023 is Purple Pumpkin Patch (see below)

On the side of the Old English Gentleman

On the corner of Chestnut Street

On the left-hand side of Ashby Road heading towards town

A little further along on the left-hand side

The former post office on the corner with Broad Street

On the opposite corner of Broad Street, which used to be Hopkins the plumber

On the right-hand side heading towards the town centre

A group of houses on the right-hand side heading towards the town centre

Looking back along Ashby Road away from the town centre, for the corner of Granville Street

Right-hand side towards the town centre on the corner of Granville Street

Left-hand side of Ashby Road, looking from Granville Street

Left-hand side of Ashby Road looking towards the town center

Right-hand side of Ashby Road, opposite Sainsbury

Difficult to see what's changed since 2013 as I hadn't posted many photos to be able to compare, but I'm sure you'll spot some huge changes!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2023). Spotlight on Ashby Road 2023 shops and other buildings. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/10/spotlight-on-ashby-road-2023-shops-and.html [Accessed 5 November 2023]

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site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Sunday, 20 September 2020

Changes in Loughborough over the past 6 months

100 years ago, in 1920, the country was just moving into a decade known as the 'Roaring Twenties' - a brief interlude between two world wars, and a brief period before the 'Great Depression' - which saw people having as much fun as they possibly could!

Here we are, 100 years later, in 2020, but it doesn't look as though the 2020s is going to be anywhere near as much fun as the 1920s. However, the 1920s saw lots of development in Loughborough, which resulted in the rich heritage of Art Deco buildings we see in the town today.

Over the past 6 months, the country has been in various degrees of lockdown, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. People have taken the opportunity to prep, plant, and prune their gardens; to paint their house; to improve their kitchen, bathroom, and loft space, and to convert the garage into living space, and the attic into a bedroom.

In fact, over the last 6 months, there's been evidence of huge new buildings being erected, of major improvements to other buildings, going right down to small changes. Here in this blog are a selection of changes I've spotted as I've been walking around Loughborough on my 4-times a week, 1-hour walks. It did occur to me that although this range of photos is over the past 6 months, there are some months without photos, which is probably because I'm not good at taking pictures in the dark, and during the early days of lockdown it was still quite dark in the evenings while I was working. Apologies for the order of some of the photos below: the software wouldn't let me add pics where I wanted them.

Let's look at the big stuff first!