SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

My parents had a friend that worked at a GPO small building (before they became BT) for years until the early 80s but they are having a disagreement as to where this building was. Now my dad thinks it was on the ringroad between Harrogate Road (St Johns church) roundabout and shadwell lane. I dont remember a building being there but I was young. My mum thinks that it was opposite or near what used to be the Kingsway Cinema on moortown corner.
Can anyone shed any light on this or perhaps even have a pic too.?

I seem to recollect that this was a GPO building ???

http://tinyurl.com/pncex7x

There was also another much smaller one off Street Lane LS8

This is now offices.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.84109 ... 6?hl=en-GB

The one shown in U. Mick's link is still in use, minus all the operators.

spainboy wrote:My parents had a friend that worked at a GPO small building (before they became BT) for years until the early 80s but they are having a disagreement as to where this building was. Now my dad thinks it was on the ringroad between Harrogate Road (St Johns church) roundabout and shadwell lane. I dont remember a building being there but I was young. My mum thinks that it was opposite or near what used to be the Kingsway Cinema on moortown corner.
Can anyone shed any light on this or perhaps even have a pic too.?

Sorry I can't offer any help only that the Kingsway Cinema was much farther down Harrogate Road than Moortown corner. it became the 64th. Vilna Synagogue, which later was demolished and became Flats.. my Aunt lived in a large stone house just below the Cinema so I remember it well

j.c.d. wrote:

spainboy wrote:My parents had a friend that worked at a GPO small building (before they became BT) for years until the early 80s but they are having a disagreement as to where this building was. Now my dad thinks it was on the ringroad between Harrogate Road (St Johns church) roundabout and shadwell lane. I dont remember a building being there but I was young. My mum thinks that it was opposite or near what used to be the Kingsway Cinema on moortown corner.
Can anyone shed any light on this or perhaps even have a pic too.?

Sorry I can't offer any help only that the Kingsway Cinema was much farther down Harrogate Road than Moortown corner. it became the 64th. Vilna Synagogue, which later was demolished and became Flats.. my Aunt lived in a large stone house just below the Cinema so I remember it well

If that is the case, and I'm not insinuating it isn't, that location is across Harrogate Road a little further down than the Stainburn Parade which is an L shape formed on Stainburn Drive and Harrogate Road. What google maps claims, but I can't confirm, is a BT building in the gap behind that L shape certainly was a GPO building but I'd hardly call it small https://goo.gl/maps/4Mcm5

Moortown Tel. Exchange is the large building as shown previously.

It is almost hidden behind the Stainburn shops.

http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=430671 ... &A=Y&Z=106

Brunel wrote:Moortown Tel. Exchange is the large building as shown previously.

It is almost hidden behind the Stainburn shops.

http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=430671 ... &A=Y&Z=106

Yes apologies to Uncle Mick who's link I hadn't followed but then I was thrown of track by mention of a small building and in a location from about half a mile to almost a mile away

There is a building at Harrogate road and Nursery Lane, up the road from St. John's Church. It was built around 1953 and for years was supposed to have been a Post Office telephone exchange (a minor one) in addition to being a local GPO mail distribution centre.

I don't know what its function is now but it's possible this may have been the building Spainboy's dad might have remembered.

The large building behind the shops on Stainburn parade is Moortown Exchange and is still in use. In recent times it did house operators and did alos have a very nice canteen.This one one of a few exchanges and buildings in Leeds that did have operators. The other building in the picture is the old Roundhay exchange which was closed along with Oakwood exchange which was just below oakwood clock the building being demolished. all the circuits that fed from these exchanges were "turned" into three other surrounding exchanges some time in the 1980's.
The other exchanges being seacroft,harehills and moortown.
There was another building which was what was called a repeater station , this is on shadwell lane the building has been added to but its now a doctors surgery/pharmacy. I think this was Leeds C only one Leeds B is still in use. One of the others was the tool hire place that is boarded up outside where IKEA is, one was at the rear of the shops on queenswod drive at headingley. And one was at the end of sharp lane at rothwell. The old chapletown exchange building is alo still there but closed when the new one was built.I believe that is also office space.
The other places that i know where operators were are Leeds Park exchange which was where there was a large contingent of night operators.. The building was at the end of park place but this was demolished and also in the main Leeds exchange which was and i believ is the largest single exchange for connections in europe. There are possibly more exchanges than you think in Leeds.Some are quite large buildings Moortown possibly being the biggest of the ones in Leeds.

The Moortown GPO Exchange, consisting of the automatic exchange, operator switchboard and maintenance control was in the building behind the parade of shops at the junction of Harrogate Road and Stainburn Drive. It is still there.