Cine film of Leeds city centre in the late 60s

[martinu]

You might be interested in these shots that my dad filmed, probably when he was testing his new Super 8 cine camera, in the late 1960s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZi6EPdoRNA

• Dome of Leeds Town Hall
• Unidentified tower block
• Shops in Merrion Street, seen from Albion Street junction (goes on a bit!)
• Merrion Street exit from Merrion Centre (including a lopsided woman struggling to walk down the slope while carrying a heavy bag!)
• Unidentified road with Timberland "DIY Supermarket"
• Advertising hoarding for Telefusion colour TVs which dates film to very late 60s when Emley Moor began broadcasting colour
• Advertising hoarding for High & Dry gin
• Newsagent booth (near Merrion Centre?)
• Wade Lane looking south towards Merrion Street
• The Headrow, looking east, opposite side to Schofields, so Lewis's on LHS (my wife now works in an office in the old Lewis's building)
• The Headrow looking west towards Town Hall
• Briggate (?) - I remember overhead gantry signs and I think those were at the top end of Briggate
• Leeds Army & Navy Store - where?
• Jewellers selling Albion watches - where?
• Ivey Travel - junction of Lands Lane and Albion Place
• Commercial Street - WH Smith in arches of building which houses The Leeds Library (a blink-and-you've-missed-it shot!)
• Closing zoom out from Leeds Town Hall dome

Does this bring back any memories? Can anyone correct my locations or identify the missing locations?

There's also a brief segment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYZgGr6g8po showing the Black Prince in City Square, cranes on the River Aire and the river emerging from the Dark Arches, which my dad may have intended to use as the opening shots of a film he made about the Aire at Malham, to show the contrast between the small stream and the mighty river.

[martinu]

Leodis site http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... SPLAY=FULL (when I was looking up Ivey Travel) says that Betty's used to have a branch in Lands Lane / Commercial Street which only closed in 1974. I never knew they ever had more than York x 2, Ilkley, Northallerton, Harrogate / Harlow Carr.

[Leodian]

Thanks martinu for the video .

I recognised many sites but many of those I had also forgotten about so the video reminded me of them. Some scenes have barely changed but others have quite a lot.

[blackprince]

Yes, thanks for posting the video Martinu.


The Army and Navy Store was on the East side of New Briggate,
as shown in this Leodis photo

http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... SPLAY=FULL

[martinu]

Yes, thanks for posting the video Martinu.


The Army and Navy Store was on the East side of New Briggate,
as shown in this Leodis photo

http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... SPLAY=FULL

Thank you. If I've identified it correctly, this is the same view on Google Streetview today

https://goo.gl/maps/D8Ea6hLywrx

[blackprince]

Yes, thanks for posting the video Martinu.


The Army and Navy Store was on the East side of New Briggate,
as shown in this Leodis photo

http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... SPLAY=FULL

Thank you. If I've identified it correctly, this is the same view on Google Streetview today

https://goo.gl/maps/D8Ea6hLywrx

Yes the style of the first floor windows , confirm it is the same shop in the cinefilm and both photos ( past & present).

[volvojack]

I thought there was an Army and Navy Surplus clothing store on Boar Lane in the 1950s on the left hand side and not too far away from City Square .
( Or am i having one of my memory lapses )

[blackprince]

I thought there was an Army and Navy Surplus clothing store on Boar Lane in the 1950s on the left hand side and not too far away from City Square .
( Or am i having one of my memory lapses )

Yes Jack that's the Army and Navy store I remember best - on Boar lane on the left as you walked from City Sq. towards Briggate. I can't find a photo of that store but I think it was double fronted not a single unit.
There is no doubt that the one in the cinefilm is the one on New Briggate - the distinctive 1st floor windows are identical and remain to this day.

[Bruno]

Re: scene 2 “Unidentified tower block”. Isn’t that the British Gas office block on New York Road? The dome in shot is Heaton’s clothing factory on North Street, now called Crispin House, and I think the very pointed spire to the left of the tower block, in the distance, is All Saints Church on York Road, not far from York Road library and baths

[blackprince]

In the second short film clip [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYZgGr6g8po [url]
I was interested to see the old steam crane with its bucket grab actually working.
Also the canal basin was very busy. I have never considered Leeds as an "inland port" but maybe it was?

The camera also lingered on a square culvert emptying into the river. I am sure that SL experts will know whether this is a named stream or just a drain.