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 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 actually 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 (just like
Adam
Faith wore) 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".
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