Gosford Street

Thank you Helen, That must be the very last I have seen of the F & V. A few changes since the 40's or 50's I imagine. Thanks again for the picture. You are a gem and now another fan of yours on your list. xx

This cracker is Gosford St looking west towards Jordan Well which was posted earlier on FB. What makes it particularly interesting is it appears to have been taken pre 1905 because it doesn't look like Whitefriars Street has been built yet -

That's a very interesting one Neil, particularly of the buildings closest to the camera. I think that Whitefriars Street is there but the dome hadn't been built on the Coliseum Ballroom/Gaumont. Either that or it's faded into the sky.

This is Chambers' from the other direction and a slightly later date as you can see the telephone number has gained a digit.

More great new images © Elizabeth Tyler from her personal collection. This time the Tax Office Fire (1964?) As per the last one - Modern Machine Tools Ltd are showing as at 46 Gosford Street in in the 1960 directory -

What fantastic photos - many thanks to Elizabeth for allowing us to use these, and thank you Neil, too.

As a sixteen year old I cycled in from Wyken and took photographs (now lost !). I remember seeing firemen bravely stopping the fire from spreading, to the part now occupied by the university, in the corridors, high up, linking the buildings. There must have been grave danger of collapse pulling the corridors down with it. Afterwards, the civil defence stores of sodden blankets caused a revolting smell to pervade Gosford Street. Some 5 years later I spent 5 months working as a clerical assistant for the DHSS in the remains.

That was my gap year, 1964. I'm even wondering if I'm in that picture. I'm not going to copy that photo, but I'm going to see if my friend, living in Southampton, recognises himself with his bike.

Ministry of Pensions Fire,15th June, 1964, Neil. Over 200 Patients were evacuated from Gulson Hospital. The evacuation involved hundreds of Civilians on their way home from work , Emergency Services and Hospital Staff !

Gosh, I remember that !

It might be me but I'm not sure I've seen some of these Court ones on CD before so possible recent additions?!

Not very recent but it's been a while since we posted much about CD in this area lately. Some of this collection were on the system as early as 2022 (one Gosford Street yard incorrectly labelled court 24). These are from the Herbert rather than David Fry which seem to be amongst the newest. The post office mentioned is the Black Lion location, not the later Blue Pig building. When I search by latest first these are at the same location as the court but I don't entirely trust the date order as they seem to shift as they're updated. I've a feeling that there were more to this collection, even for Gosford Street but I was copying the photos not the negatives, so the two might not match.

This is a better shot of the one I previously posted Helen of the rear of The Mermaid -

I really like that picture Neil because it proves that the Mermaid was a genuinely old building, which you wouldn't know from the front view.