First Impressions
No. 02 - Part 05 - Station Road
w/e 22 May 2011
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
  Several
months have passed since Part 04 of this occasional series but
I was prompted into action for this part by work that has recently
been ongoing along Station Road. This work has effectively narrowed
the road by the creation of parking bays (left) and also the
construction of a mini-roundabout (right) at Flamstead Road where
we concluded Part 04.
 New "Station
Road Residential Area" signs have been erected near the
Waterside Retail Park and at the juction of Station Road and
Chalons Way and a weight limit introduced to restrict heavy vehicles
on the road. Whilst the mini-roundabout is universally accepted
as an improvement, the other alterations have not been met with
the same enthusiasm by everyone and the weight limit will only
be effective if it is enforced. It has to be acknowledged though
that there are many residential properties in this section but
there are also several corner shops as well such as Sue's Off
Licence (right) at John Street and the 5 Star Fish Bar (above).
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Not all the corner shops are occupied though and this one on
the corner of Taylor Street appears to have seen much better
days in the past. The side streets, like Taylor Street, that
meet Station Road in this area do so at an angle which presumably
accounts for the stepped frontages of the properties on both
side of Station Road.
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King Street also crosses at an angle and the former lace factory
is now occupied by the Seven Stars Cash & Carry business
supplying goods to the food and drink industry. The building
itself is a reminder of several more in the town that were involved
in the lace industry although only one, Cluny Lace on Belper Street, now remains
It was lace manufactured at Cluny Lace that was used on Kate Middleton's
wedding dress when she married Prince William to become the Duchess
of Cambridge.
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Beyond the Cash & Carry, much of the south side of Station
Road was demolished in the early 1980s to make way for Chalons
Way to be constructed, Station Road being diverted to a new route
to meet it.
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Much of the north side however remained intact and the portion
from Wood Street to Chalons Way now has houses on one side only
and has become a cul-de-sac, the last property being number 28.
The Erewash Hotel, number 23 and seen here in the distance, stood
on the corner of North Street but numbers 25 to 27 Station Road
inclusive were demolished along with the whole of North Street
to be replaced by Chalons Way.
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  Chalons Way actually marks the end of this "First
Impressions" route into the town but Station Road continues
on the other side of the roundabout (left) to Bath Street. USA
resident with Ilkeston ancestors, Shirley Hall, must have stood
in the vicinity of the future roundabout when she captured this
image on the right of the Erewash Hotel back in the 1970s before
Chalons Way was built.
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And it is with a couple of Shirley's photos taken in 1971 that
we end our look at Station Road. Shirley writes: "My
Great Grandparents, Edward and Alice (Booth) Smith ran a shop
at 25/26 Station Road around 1925. When I first came to Ilkeston
with my husband Chuck, we found the shop all boarded up and some
man had his car parked smack dab in front of the shop, so I could
only get a half way photo. I think all this area was razed for
the ring road, if I'm not mistaken as I couldn't find it at all
the next time we visited.
According to Kelly's directory of Derby for 1925, Alice Smith
was the shopkeeper at No. 26. She is also listed in the 1928
edition while the 1932 edition names Edward as shopkeeper. From
my understanding, Edward was too involved with cricket (also
a well respected referee), so Alice ran the shop. They sold pickles
in big barrels, had all kinds of sweets. The Smiths probably
lived in number 25."
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Shirley also sent this photo of the corner of North Street opposite
the Erewash Hotel. Even in 1971 it looks as though the demolition
process had started but there are a couple of images at Picture
the Past (see DCER000478 and DCER000480) from 1982 that show the old factory
that stood on the North Street/Chapel Street junction. Originally
this had been built as a mineral water factory that became the
Erewash Valley Brewery in 1899/1900. That only lasted until 1905
but the buiding stood until the early 1980s and was used by a
number of other business concerns before its demolition.
My own particular memory dates from the post war years when buses
ran "Evening Tours" on Sundays. The destination of
the tours was always a secret but they usually called at a pub
on the return and were known as "Mystery Trips". The
increase in popularity of private vehicles in the post war years
meant that the trips ceased to be a viable propostion for the
bus companies and they were discontinued sometime in the 1950s.
I can only echo Shirley's sentiment when she writes "Wouldn't
it be wonderful to re-run those days and see what Station Rd
looked like in 1928?" Or 1950 or 1971 or .any other
year but all we have now are the memories.
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Shortly after uploading this page Bob Martin contacted me with
some of his memories. He wrote: "The pictures of Station
Road really took me back! I spent a lot of time in that area
as a child, my grandma lived on Mill Street. Where "Sue's
Off Licence" is, used to be a butchers, called Woods, I
think. The "5 Star Fish Bar" is where I used to have
my hair cut, at a barbers run by Tommy Chapman. The Erewash Hotel
was the terminus for the Kimberly buses. The buses from Kimberley
came up Station Road and turned into North Street, returning
via North Street, Carr Street, Mill Street, Canal Street and
back onto Station Road.
There used to be an electrical shop on Station Road between Wood
Street and North Street, where I used to take grandma's accumulator
to be charged, so she could listen to her radio - this must have
been in the late 1940s!
I too, remember the Sunday night mystery trips 'on General' and
remember going to Loughborough, Matlock and Ashbourne on them."
The "General" Bob refers to was the Midland General
Omnibus Company (MGO) but he says the mystery trips started from
outside St. Mary's Church. He also remembers a butcher's shop
on the corner across from Starrs that had a cast of a cow's head
above the door. Although Bob doesn't have any photos of old Ilkeston,
he says that there are still a lot of images in his head from
days gone by. Thanks for sharing your memories Bob.
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The next route we will follow into Ilkeston will be along Nottingham
Road.
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