Ilkeston Town Walk - Stage 14 - Back
To South Street
w/e 12 October 2003
Passing along Coronation Street from the
previous stage of our town walk, we rejoin South Street where
this striking building of a classic 1930's design stands on the
corner. Formerly a cinema, it is now a Bingo Hall and Amusement
Arcade. Not so very long ago (well, perhaps 40 years ago) there
used to be four cinemas in Ilkeston and when the programmes changed
mid week, it was possible to see a different main feature film
every night for a week - AND still have change from £1-00.
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There are two sides to every story and
this image of the same building taken from the Weaver Row car
park shows just that. The impressive frontage that makes such
an impression on South Street is little more than a buttressed
wall (see immediately below the inset picture) when seen from
the rear. In previous stages of the Town Walk I have mentioned
that weavers' cottages once stood around here and The Ritz was
built on the site of the weavers' pool.
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The building on the other corner of Coronation
Street was built some time near or just after the end of the
Great War. A photo exists showing the military buying horses
on this site for use in the 1914-18 war. (Search for image DCER000145
at Picture
The Past). For many years the building
served as the town's main Post Office and in more recent times
was taken over by the Ilkeston Co-Operative Society being used
in the 1990's as their restaurant under the name of "The
Old Mail House". At the turn of the century it had been
converted to offices for a local Building Society. In 2003 it
was standing empty (see above), but later it became a public
house.
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Through all of its identities, it has retained the words "Post
Office" over the door. On a personal note, it was from here
in the early 1960s during the Christmas holidays from school,
that I worked as a temporary employee delivering parcels and
earning enough money to buy myself a sheepskin jacket which were
all the rage at the time.
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When the Co-Op took over the Post Office building, the
business transferred directly opposite to take up residence within
the Co-Op's premises. The PO sign is visible against the entrance
to the supermarket which is the bland brick box in the centre
of this image. The whole of this architectural hotchpotch in
South Street from the supermarket onwards, which stands on the
site of an old Methodist Chapel, houses a number of franchised
outlets under the guise of the Ilkeston Department Store. The
businesses to the left are still privately owned.
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Despite the new name over one entrance to the store, one of the
more interesting architectural portions of the complex still
bears the old name and to Ilkestonians everywhere it's still
just "The Co-Op".
Other stages of the "Town Walk"
may be seen by following the links from the Archives page.
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