E B Balmforth- Another one bites the dust

fevlad · Post by **fevlad** » Mon 07 Apr, 2008 9:05 pm

Phill_d wrote: I did a post about the old & New Roscoe a while ago here http://www.secretleeds.co.uk/forum/Mess ... readID=527 awesome stuffI think the new roscoe is a pretty uninspiring building, but I've had somegreat nights there.I think some of the names of tribute bands who play there are hilarious.

Rich87 · Post by **Rich87** » Fri 11 Apr, 2008 1:59 am

you say these buildings dont have any use, which yeah can be true. but still thats besides the point, they can still make use of em if they want to. 1 example is dynley arms towards otley, got burnt out, totally gutted, layed dead for a couple of years..... and look at it now! And all because someone decided to do it up rather than just keep knocking places down as if they had never existed in the first place.

wiggy · Post by **wiggy** » Fri 11 Apr, 2008 2:12 am

Rich87 wrote: you say these buildings dont have any use, which yeah can be true. but still thats besides the point, they can still make use of em if they want to. 1 example is dynley arms towards otley, got burnt out, totally gutted, layed dead for a couple of years..... and look at it now! And all because someone decided to do it up rather than just keep knocking places down as if they had never existed in the first place. agreed sir!! the town hall don't serve much purpose anymore.....would they have us pull this down too?..i was a toggler at both balmforths and miers tanneries,plus half dozen other jobs with even stranger names!

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Fri 11 Apr, 2008 8:52 am

wiggy wrote: Rich87 wrote: you say these buildings dont have any use, which yeah can be true. but still thats besides the point, they can still make use of em if they want to. 1 example is dynley arms towards otley, got burnt out, totally gutted, layed dead for a couple of years..... and look at it now! And all because someone decided to do it up rather than just keep knocking places down as if they had never existed in the first place. agreed sir!! the town hall don't serve much purpose anymore.....would they have us pull this down too?..i was a toggler at both balmforths and miers tanneries,plus half dozen other jobs with even stranger names! wiggy do you remember E J Gough being close by at all? I remember the sign was similar to the Balmforths one but it was green. Cant for the life of me remember where it was though!!

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 11 Apr, 2008 9:32 am

fevlad wrote: Presumably it had a lot of Irishness about it, since the 'new' roscoe has: which if I remember was a working mens club. Yes that's right - the "new" Roscoe was built as The New Foresters' Working Mens Club.Does anyone also remember a new pub built at the bottom of Meanwood Road in the 1960s (approx) called the King's Arms. It was a Hell hole for trouble, and I and many of my colleagues on the one person operated Hyde Park Circular bus services (57 - 60) used to live in dread of having to work the last 59 from Briggate to Hyde Park at weekends. The gang who got on at the pub for the few minutes journey up Woodhouse Street (mainly free 'cos they wouldn't pay) were terrifying. I remember still one night when there was a full scale riot on board between rival "factions" and a charming young thug was attempting to shove a lighted cigarette in my eye.

fevlad · Post by **fevlad** » Fri 11 Apr, 2008 10:29 am

BLAKEY wrote: fevlad wrote: Presumably it had a lot of Irishness about it, since the 'new' roscoe has: which if I remember was a working mens club. Yes that's right - the "new" Roscoe was built as The New Foresters' Working Mens Club.Does anyone also remember a new pub built at the bottom of Meanwood Road in the 1960s (approx) called the King's Arms. It was a Hell hole for trouble, and I and many of my colleagues on the one person operated Hyde Park Circular bus services (57 - 60) used to live in dread of having to work the last 59 from Briggate to Hyde Park at weekends. The gang who got on at the pub for the few minutes journey up Woodhouse Street (mainly free 'cos they wouldn't pay) were terrifying. I remember still one night when there was a full scale riot on board between rival "factions" and a charming young thug was attempting to shove a lighted cigarette in my eye. I remember itI went past the site the other day, it's got some sort of business premises there-I forget what.Anyway it was nearly dark and there were these big models of prehistoric animals outside.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 11 Apr, 2008 12:46 pm

[quotenick="fevlad"][quotenick="BLAKEY"] fevlad wrote: I remember itI went past the site the other day, it's got some sort of business premises there-I forget what.Anyway it was nearly dark and there were these big models of prehistoric animals outside. HA ha - by the time they'd sobered up then the King's Arms was demolished and the last 59 had gone many years ago !!

fevlad · Post by **fevlad** » Fri 11 Apr, 2008 3:36 pm

very little of balmforth's now remainsto be honest it does improve the look of that imposing building on the apex of the junction.

iansmithofotley · Post by **iansmithofotley** » Fri 11 Apr, 2008 10:23 pm

BLAKEY wrote: fevlad wrote: Presumably it had a lot of Irishness about it, since the 'new' roscoe has: which if I remember was a working mens club. Yes that's right - the "new" Roscoe was built as The New Foresters' Working Mens Club.Does anyone also remember a new pub built at the bottom of Meanwood Road in the 1960s (approx) called the King's Arms. It was a Hell hole for trouble, and I and many of my colleagues on the one person operated Hyde Park Circular bus services (57 - 60) used to live in dread of having to work the last 59 from Briggate to Hyde Park at weekends. The gang who got on at the pub for the few minutes journey up Woodhouse Street (mainly free 'cos they wouldn't pay) were terrifying. I remember still one night when there was a full scale riot on board between rival "factions" and a charming young thug was attempting to shove a lighted cigarette in my eye. Hi Chris,The original Kings Arms was situated at the traffic lights on Meanwood Road at the junction with Meanwood Street on the Blenheim/North Street side. It was replaced by the new Kings Arms which was built a little further along Meanwood Road but set well back.I used to go in the pub as I got to know the licensee who was called Terry. Terry ( I have forgotten his surname) was an ex-Rugby League player. I met him as I had to interview him in 1969 when April Fabb got murdered in Norfolk, he had been on holiday in the area with his family and relatives. A child, in the area where April Fabb was last seen on her bike, who had been noting car number plates (not an unusual hobby in those days), wrote down Terry's car number along with the number of his relatives car, and thousands of others. They all had to be interviewed for elimination purposes.Terry used to be the licensee of the Fforde Green but got moved to the Kings Arms after getting into trouble with the brewery. It was an interesting story. What happened was that in a very hot summer, he was desperate for stock of soft drinks and mixers but the brewery would not deliver despite repeated requests. In the end, to keep the business going and to keep his customers happy, he went to the Cash and Carry and bought some stock until the brewery could do their delivery. The brewery found out about what he had done, which was against the rules, and 'demoted' him to the Kings Arms. He was there for a while but eventually he moved to the Welcome at Tinshill.Ian.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 11 Apr, 2008 11:22 pm

Many thanks indeed Ian for all those interesting facts. I still lived in Ben Rhydding until 1964, before coming to Leeds, and so I don't think I knew the older King's Arms, although I do remember the bottom of North Street and the Golden Cross pub, and a cafe by the same name, and a large old church on a left hand corner coming out of the City. I also well recall from the media a pub landlord being in hot water (no pun intended) over privately buying soft drinks instead of dealing with Tetleys - and I seem to think the Fforde Green chap was not the only one, but may be wrong. Trouble must have followed him around, because I know there was frequent disorder at the Welcomb in the 1970s and the TGWU considered withdrawing journeys on the Tinshill service (36 in those days, 96 now) especially on "music nights." I could wallow in fascinating nostalgia for ever and make no apology for that - still, I suppose that applies to everyone enjoying this particular site. Thanks again.