SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Passing yesterday, I noticed this being demolished. Has anyone heard what's replacing it?

There will be three reply's along in a minute Tomq all at once

j.c.d. wrote:There will be three reply's along in a minute Tomq all at once

This was my old garage for 15 years up until 1986 and deregulation, good times were had there and many old friends.
It was a shame to see it shut, but it was closed so the new Yorkshire Rider Ltd could be made profitable and all the buses were moved to the remaining garages, I myself went to Torre Road which was a dump compared to Middleton Garage with very basic facilities.

The Coop bought Middleton after closure and it has had many tenants over the last 28 years, I know cos I live fairly close by. Next Time I go to the Asda I will have a look at what's going on.

Good Times

The site is owned by Tesco's who lost out to Asda in the race to build a supermarket in Middleton.

There are a couple of applications/notifications of demolition for redevelopment
https://publicaccess.leeds.gov.uk/onlin ... U4CJB08400

http://plandocs.leeds.gov.uk/WAM/showCa ... /05148/DEM

but no planning application that I can see for the redevelopment even though these minutes http://www.newforestvillage.yolasite.co ... -02-14.pdf suggest a pub or pub/restaurant and 2 non retail units was envisaged. Does a Premier Inn/TravelLodge count as non retail given a pub restaurant usually means eating facilities for a low budget hotel these days?

Note that the answers came in pairs

j.c.d. wrote:There will be three reply's along in a minute Tomq all at once

Nice

I was Senior Inspector for a couple of years before taking over as mini bus manager in 1986 when Midd closed. Was the most modern garage of all and when I took over as manager at Torre in 1988 could not understand why Torre was not closed instead, as Torre was an outdated tip.

My new name is Questa was Amber

Hi questa - you are right about Torre Road - it was indeed an outdated tip and perhaps it was retained over Middleton because it was marginally a bit more central for Town ?? Mention of Middleton reminds me of my very first solo duty as a one man driver, on service 9 Ring Road on a Saturday, and service 9 in those days ran only between Whitkirk and Middleton Depot forecourt - three hours a round trip. I stood at Lawnswood School ready to take over at 1234 and was very nervous indeed - the Swift arrived on time and the driver I was taking off was a maungy old so and so who was one of the early OMO "select" who didn't like us new upstarts. Well, all went very well indeed and I managed to get to Middleton on time for the 9 minutes standing time - very chuffed with myself. Off I went happily at 1330 and got to Whitkirk on time at 1446 and left on the dot at 1505 arriving with a head as big as Flamborough Head at Otley Road at 1534 where the old superior was waiting to take the bus over again. "I 'ope yer filled it up at Middleton" he grunted. I answered "No" and wondered what on earth he was talking about till he grunted "Huh, don't yer read yer runnin' board " Oh dear, there it was in the right hand margin in explanation of the letter "A" alongside arrival time at Middleton at 1321 - "REFUEL AT MIDDLETON DEPOT. " I slunk off considerably deflated and went to Headingley depot for my meal, cursing the AEC gurus for fitting fuel tanks which wouldn't run the whole day on such a long route !!

BLAKEY wrote:Hi questa - you are right about Torre Road - it was indeed an outdated tip and perhaps it was retained over Middleton because it was marginally a bit more central for Town ?? Mention of Middleton reminds me of my very first solo duty as a one man driver, on service 9 Ring Road on a Saturday, and service 9 in those days ran only between Whitkirk and Middleton Depot forecourt - three hours a round trip. I stood at Lawnswood School ready to take over at 1234 and was very nervous indeed - the Swift arrived on time and the driver I was taking off was a maungy old so and so who was one of the early OMO "select" who didn't like us new upstarts. Well, all went very well indeed and I managed to get to Middleton on time for the 9 minutes standing time - very chuffed with myself. Off I went happily at 1330 and got to Whitkirk on time at 1446 and left on the dot at 1505 arriving with a head as big as Flamborough Head at Otley Road at 1534 where the old superior was waiting to take the bus over again. "I 'ope yer filled it up at Middleton" he grunted. I answered "No" and wondered what on earth he was talking about till he grunted "Huh, don't yer read yer runnin' board " Oh dear, there it was in the right hand margin in explanation of the letter "A" alongside arrival time at Middleton at 1321 - "REFUEL AT MIDDLETON DEPOT. " I slunk off considerably deflated and went to Headingley depot for my meal, cursing the AEC gurus for fitting fuel tanks which wouldn't run the whole day on such a long route !!

That Blakey happened on more than one occasion on the Ring Road bus I can assure you, although on an evening it was always good to have free fish and chips from the Skyliner if you went in and gave him your change.

I recall similar to you we had the old OMO senior drivers on the 86 route which ran from Bramley Shopping Centre to Broom Cross (Grey Goose) and most drivers would run the bus up to Middleton on changeovers. However on this particular day I was changing over and when I got to Middleton Garage only to find there was no relief, where was he? Waiting at Broom Cross so I had to run the bus back down and get some earache from the Senior OMO Driver (who of course knew best), by the time I had got back to Middleton Garage I had lost half my mealbreak.

Went past today and at least three quarters has been demolished only the old office and canteen section still standing along with the eastern wall of the engineering pits, there are no signs to state what is happening just the old TO LET sign.