Loughborough, High Street c.1955

Photo ref: L197008X

Photo ref: L197008X

Photo of Loughborough, High Street c.1955

More about this scene

Whilst the open fields still surrounded Loughborough the town could not expand; later they were enclosed by law and the pattern of small fields emerged. The great hunting parks remained, although partly used for farming. Woolcombing and framework knitting became the principal industries in Loughborough. Hundreds were employed in Paget's 'manufactory' but most people worked at home or in small frame shops. Yet the town was still under the control of the one - Hastings - family. The Hastings family owned the majority of the land and hundreds of properties in Loughborough. The Boot, the Royal George, the Rose and Crown, the Unicorn, the Bull's Head, the Griffin and the Black Horse were all a part of the Hastings' extensive grip on the town. But the family needed cash to invest in the new coalfields.

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A Selection of Memories from Loughborough

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Loughborough

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Football

My father would take me to watch the Brush football team play at home matches, one of my relatives played for them; his name was Stan Hodges. The ground was behind the Queens Park, I remember a narrow foot to the entrance where it opened out, near the turnstile to get into the ground. Years later it was closed and a leisure centre was put in its place.

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Added 18 January 2014

Simpkin & James

This was a wonderful delicatessen (although it would have described itself as "general provisions" or something like that, It had huge cheeses and whole sides of smoked pork and giant hams in the window. It had a unique smell - a mixture of spices, coffee, smoked meat and cheese. NO modern deli comes anywhere near it - apart possibly from Volpetti in Testaccio, Rome.

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Added 22 December 2013

Swimming Baths

In my final year at Mountfields we were led up to the swimming baths in a long crocodile to be taught how to swim, if we couldn't already. I'd just about learnt to swim the previous summer holiday in Wales, but it felt much easier (& a lot warmer) in the swimming pool. The changing areas were quite primitive. Some of us used to go swimming here on Wednesday afternoon when I was at Loughborough Grammar School (when we worked Saturday mornings, but not Wednesday afternoons).