SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Someone posted about buses and trams to Horsforth in another thread and it got me interested. There are traces of what was once there in places like the old tram substation which is now a metalwork place, the former public toilets and bus shelter built into the wall at the junction of New Road Side and Hawksworth Rd, and a former turning circle just before the Vesper Gate that was removed when the bus lane was installed in 2006. With the closure of Kirkstall Forge the Sandoz/Clariant chemical works, and much earlier than that the building of the ring road in the 1930s I'm guessing services used to be very different and much more comprehensive. Personally I'd be happier if there were direct services to Pudsey and Bramley that ran more often than once an hour, and something through Headingley that was a bit closer to The Green than the 97.

mhoulden wrote: Personally I'd be happier if there were direct services to Pudsey and Bramley that ran more often than once an hour, and something through Headingley that was a bit closer to The Green than the 97. If you have any kind of permit/Rover ticket etc I can only suggest catching the 50/50A at The Green and changing to the 97 either at the bottom of the Ring Road/Low Lane or the stop half way up Butcher Hill./Lea farm Road, or alternatively at Stanhope Drive area depending on times and 50/50A alternative - worth a try to save a long walk.

I used to live on Broadgate Crescent and catch the bus to Headingley on Alexander Road. I'm not sure of the route that bus takes though before it reaches Alexander Road.When I moved to Farsley I had to rely on the number 9 Ring Road busto get me to work/mums in Horsforth and that was only every hour.Or, I had to hike up to The Green and catch the double decker to Pudsey.I always seem to live where the bus routes don't suit my needs

"the former public toilets and bus shelter built into the wall at the junction of New Road Side and Hawksworth Rd"where please?

Pablo Leeds"the former public toilets and bus shelter built into the wall at the junction of New Road Side and Hawksworth Rd"where please?are you joking? The location is clearly described in the sentence you quoted above!

You can see the bricked up doorways here: http://goo.gl/maps/Hh3G8Behind the wall was an old sewage works so it probably didn't need a lot of plumbing to get it hooked up, but it is a bit of a remote spot these days. How busy was it round there when the forge was still open? Was the old bus stop (at http://goo.gl/maps/2Zizo) originally a tram stop?As far as the other side of the road goes, Hawksworth Woods around the bus stop is pretty neglected but the council is trying to set up a Friends Of Hawksworth Woods group with an activity day this Saturday morning to tidy things up a bit. I missed the first one last month but once I've had a chance to meet people and swap contact details I'll see what I can do to see about getting it set up a bit more formally and sorting out a website. I'll post some details about this in the parks & woods forum if anyone's interested.

MHoulden I'd be interested in getting involved with Hawksworth Woods, you say there is something happening this Saturday? How can I find out about that? I only live about 5 minutes away from the top end of the woods near where The Bridge pub is.ta!Johnny

Meet at 10 am by the Butcher Hill entrance to do things like cleaning graffiti and clearing Tibetan Balsam. I'll just dig out the email I was sent. Probably wouldn't say no to a quick pint and lunch at the Bridge afterwards either.