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Town Walk 2026 - Part 11 - St Mary Street to Wharncliffe
Road
w/e 22 February 2026
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Nikon D3300 camera
This part equates to part of Stage 19 and most
of 20 of the original Town Walk from 2004.
There have been a lot of changes in Ilkeston since the original
Town Walk in 2004 but in this part of the route, the visual alterations
have been minimal an in all honesty, I could quite easily have
used the same images and descriptions again. For example: "This
stage of the Town Walk leaves the Lower Market Place via St Mary
Street. The narrow entrance widens out slightly on this S-shaped
street to reveal contrasting architectural styles on each side."
That still holds true.
To record this photo as your favourite
from this week's selection vote for "St Mary Street"
below.
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In 2004 I wrote that "Following St Mary
Street round to its junction with Burns Street we pass this large
house now occupied by solicitors." On the corner of
St Mary Street and Burns Street, it was "called The Laurels
although I could see no evidence of the name." I have
since discovered that it is actually two properties with the
left hand side being The Laurels and the right hand, Burnside.
The most interesting part however remains "the large
brick structure on the roof which I assume is the remains of
the observation platform that once surmounted the building."
To record this photo as your favourite
from this week's selection vote for "Observation Platform"
below.
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Returning to the Market Place along Burns Street we pass the
block of flats in the former Congregational Chapel. The
1849 building on the site of an another dating from 1781 was
sold in 1913 to the Church of Christ following the opening of
the Congregational Church (later URC) on Wharncliffe Road but
even before 2004, It had been converted into flats.
To record this photo as your favourite
from this week's selection vote for "Congregational Chapel"
below.
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At the top of Burns Street on the corner with Pimlico is The
Scala, the last remaining cinema in the town. Built in 1913,
it has recently changed ownership (September 2025) but continues
to make the latest film releases available without having to
travel out of town.
To record this photo as your
favourite from this week's selection vote for "The Scala"
below.
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Our walk now returns us to the Market Place "between
two pubs - "The Moon and Sixpence" (formerly "The
King's Head") on the left and the "Sir John Warren"
to the right." One thing that has changed since 2004
is the name of the pub on the left - it's reverted to "The
King's Head". It seems a common trait with pub names. They
often acquire a new name and then revert to the old one. As we
saw earlier at the top of Bath Street "The Harrow/Roundhouse"
and there is also "The Prince of Wales/Poacher" on
South Street, "The General Havelock/ Finn M'Couls/Zeon Defteros"
on Stanton Road and even "The Gallows/Lock, Stock and Barrel"
going back even further on Nottingham Road. And there's probably
more that I've not even thought of.
To record this photo as your favourite
from this week's selection vote for "Market Place"
below.
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Looking back towards The Scala another change that becomes obvious
from the similar 2004 photo, is that both pubs have been repainted
and now have matching colour schemes but the focal point is still
the "Drinking Fountain and Horse Trough erected
in 1889 to commemorate the creation of Ilkeston Borough two years
earlier."
To record this photo as your favourite
from this week's selection vote for "Drinking Fountain"
below.
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The Town Hall stands next to the Sir John Warren and whilst visually
it looks the same as it did in 2004 there have been some significant
changes since then. The number of staff housed here has been
reduced with services split between this building and the Borough's
other Town Hall in Long Eaton. The Registration Office is now
housed in part of the building allowing marriages to be conducted
here.
To record this photo as your
favourite from this week's selection vote for "Town Hall"
below.
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The "Public access to the building can be obtained
via several entrances and above one of them on the side of the
building is the Borough Coat of Arms." The "three
commemorative plaques either side of the main door" are
memorials to those who lost their lives in The Boer War and
those in the Sherwood Foresters Regiment in the two World Wars.
The Notice Board at the entrance includes the opening hours of
the Town Hall which have been much reduced since the splitting
of the services between the two Town Halls.
To record this photo as your favourite
from this week's selection vote for "Crest & Plaques"
below.
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The original Town Hall of 1867-68 was extended at the
rear into Wharncliffe Road and the first floor finance block
in the extension is now occupied by Maclaren Warner Solicitors.
The extension was built on the site of the town's outdoor swimming
baths which closed about 1972 and were replaced by the Victoria
Leisure Centre near Victoria Park. I still "have
many painful memories of sessions there, shivering in the unheated
water or standing on the side of the baths in the depths of winter."
To record this photo as your favourite
from this week's selection vote for "Town Hall Extension"
below.
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"Opposite the Town Hall is the Ilkeston Department Store
or the Co-Op as it is still referred to by most Ilkestonians"
but the Co-Op is no more and the upper stories are now apartments.
The Royal Regency Rooms in the building no longer exist and the
ground floor is now home to several independent shops and businesses.
To record this photo as your favourite
from this week's selection vote for "The Old Co-Op"
below.
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