Ilkeston - (Not So) Iconic
Buildings - Part 02
w/e 03 April 2022
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Nikon D3300
As noted in Part
01 of this mini-series, there have
been a lot of changes in Ilkeston since the middle of the last
century but some iconic buildings still remain and would be instantly
recognised by anyone who was around at the time if they saw images
of them today. On the other hand there are more iconic structures
that have disappeared in the intervening years and in many cases
replaced by some "not so iconic" buildings. In this
part we take a look at those replacements - you can make your
own judgment but if you want to see what they have replaced,
I've added a reference below each image. Copy that reference
into the search box at Picture The Past and
it will bring up an old photo often with more information about
the buildings we have lost.
Part 01 ended with a view of the former EMEB offices in Toll
Bar House. EMEB also had a depot and offices nearby in Park Road
and years ago before that it was the Tram Depot. Now the old
buildings have all gone to be replaced by a housing estate.
Picture The Past Ref. - DCER001656
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The Park Road housing estate
also covers an area once occupied by Gladstone and Hallcroft
(later Cantelupe) Schools and another school site, that of Cavendish
Girls, is now also a new housing estate.
Picture The Past Ref. - DCCS000850
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The Cavendish School also became an annex first to Cantelupe
School and then to the South East Derbyshire College of Further
Education (SEDC). The College buildings were demolished and replaced
by Morrisons Supermarket with its sports ground/playing fields
becoming another housing estate.
Picture The Past Ref. - DCER000937
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We also saw in Part 01 two churches that are still instantly
recognisable, St Mary;s on the Market Place and the URC on Wharncliffe
Road. Other churches and chapel have not been so fortunate. On
South Street for example the Methodist Church site is now occupied
by the Job Centre.
Picture The Past Ref. - DCCS000927
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Similarly on Bath Street the Central Methodist Church (now Wilko)
was demolished in 1971 and the congregation joined with the Primitive
Methodists a little further down the road to form St Andrew's
Methodist Church on the site of the also demolished Primitive
Methodist Church.
Picture The Past Ref. - DCER001020 and DCCS000375
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Cinemas in the town have also suffered the same fate. There were
four in the middle of the last century and with a midweek change
of programme you could easily see a different film every day
of the week. The Scala is the only one to survive as a cinema
and whilst the Ritz building still stands, it is currently undergoing
refurbishment since closing as a Bingo Hall. The other two cinemas
have been demolished. Opposite Mount Street (on the left here)
the King's Cinema on Bath Street made way for a row of shops
and flats.
Picture The Past Ref. - DCCS000111
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The other cinema in the town in the 1950s and 60s was then known
as the New Theatre. Previously it had been called Vint's Electric
Picturedrome, The Coliseum and The Theatre Royal but after it
closed in 1963 it became a Bingo Hall. The building was demolished
in 1990 and a Care Home built in its place.
Picture The Past Ref. - DCER001379
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Another entertainment establishment at the bottom of Bath Street
was the Rutland Hotel which later became Crockers and Kristies
Nightclub in the 1980s and 90s. Now an Aldi Supermarket stands
on the site where many other buildings opposite were also demolished
to make way for the island at the northern end of Chalons Way.
Picture The Past Ref. - DCER000141
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Among other developments opposite the former Rutland Hotel are
the Tesco Supermarket and across Rutland Street from Tesco's
car park are other businesses like KFC and MacDonald's to name
but two. They occupy the site where many years ago the Gas Works
stood.
Picture The Past Ref. - DCER000915
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Another industrial site that has seen recent redevelopment is
on Corporation Road where the former Charnos factory was demolished
and replaced yet again with, yes you've probably guessed it,
more housing.
Picture The Past Ref. - DCER001758
As we can see therefore, Ilkeston has lost many iconic buildings
and although some still remain, those that have replaced them
are generally less than iconic. There are now plans to build
thousands of more houses in the neighbourhood, some of them controversially
on Green Belt land but it is very unlikely any of them will be
anywhere near as iconic as those that we have lost.
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