QUEENS HALL

[Nick_Stevens]

amber wrote: Nick_Stevens wrote: amber wrote: Tut Tut I was manager at Sov in1988 and you didn't cut me in on the backhanders for cars on the pit. Oops - thats the danger of me going "public". Left the trade for a "respectable" career with clean hands, 13 weeks of holidays and regular Ofsted inspections. Can we negotiate? - What % do you want? Seeing I retired in 1989 Nick I will waive the %. You made the right move in getting out as when I see the service today it makes me cringe. All the best in your career as a teacher. To be fair Amber, I've been out of the "trade" since '91. If you are the person I believe you to be (GP?) then I remember you left Sov sometime shortly after I arrived (was it someting I said?) with the "new" man being JM? I vividly recall a driver trying to test the front of an Optare City Pacer against the scaffolding when they were replacing the roof of Sov - deep joy - had to climb the scaffold with a mate and chain it to the roof whilst recovery prepared to tow the mini-bus out! Good times but not really missed - especially the time I got arrested when a number of tops of parking meters went missing and I was seen to have a pipe cutter in use on an exhaust! Managed to prove my innocence (such were my cherubic good lucks then) and left Sov soon after only to be laid off from my new job less than a year after!

[amber]

Nick_Stevens wrote: amber wrote: Nick_Stevens wrote: amber wrote: Tut Tut I was manager at Sov in1988 and you didn't cut me in on the backhanders for cars on the pit. Oops - thats the danger of me going "public". Left the trade for a "respectable" career with clean hands, 13 weeks of holidays and regular Ofsted inspections. Can we negotiate? - What % do you want? Seeing I retired in 1989 Nick I will waive the %. You made the right move in getting out as when I see the service today it makes me cringe. All the best in your career as a teacher. To be fair Amber, I've been out of the "trade" since '91. If you are the person I believe you to be (GP?) then I remember you left Sov sometime shortly after I arrived (was it someting I said?) with the "new" man being JM? I vividly recall a driver trying to test the front of an Optare City Pacer against the scaffolding when they were replacing the roof of Sov - deep joy - had to climb the scaffold with a mate and chain it to the roof whilst recovery prepared to tow the mini-bus out! Good times but not really missed - especially the time I got arrested when a number of tops of parking meters went missing and I was seen to have a pipe cutter in use on an exhaust! Managed to prove my innocence (such were my cherubic good lucks then) and left Sov soon after only to be laid off from my new job less than a year after! Yes you got the right manager It would have been odd if JM had posted as he died a couple of years ago following a car accident not his fault.

[bruxxie1]

On the Beatles theme, I can confirm that they did play the Queens Hall but they were actually second on the bill after Acker Bilk.The gig was (I think) one of the first "all-nighters" The Beatles had only just started to take off and I guess the Leeds booking must have been made months before this happened, hence their second billing.On the same night there was a "Battle of the Bands" (I think organised by the local newspaper) which was several local Leeds groups all competing for best Leeds band before the Beatles and Acker Bilk came on. I think these bands also played after the main show as it was an all-nighter.One of the local bands on that night was "Tony Dean and the Wanderers" who used to practise at Stainbeck Youth Club. They eventually changed their name to "The Grumbleweeds"! Wise move.The Queens Hall was actually an old Tram repair shed (I think) and the gents toilets were so bad they made any second division football team's toilets look like the Ritz. Ah the memories of an 18 year old !

[Chrism]

Not yet the Queens Hall, still the tram-shed, but this is the nearest I could find.

[Bert]

Thanks for the memory Chrism. Yes, back in the early 60s this was what we just called The Tramsheds. We went there every Wednesday night for the Leeds Art College weekly knees-up featuring Ed O'Donnell's Jazz Band and copious amounts of Tetley's Mild - now that was a beer festival. Another trad band - Al Crossland's - played interval there to Ed in those days, and I played with them. Here's a picture of us doing it. The dancing blond in the foreground is my then French girlfriend Nicole.

[BIG N]

I used to travel on the fair for quite a few years, one of my many jobs in a colourful history LOL. We did one of the last Christmas fairs to be held in the Queens hall before it was finally closed but it was a total waste of time to be honest.Most of the time we were there the place had more staff than punters, a very poor turn out from the public indeed, it was bloody cold as well in there LOL.Seem to recall going to a custom car show there as well, somewhere back in the mists of time.One thing that intruiges me about the Queens hall - how did it end up with that name, being as it had been the tram depot and was not exactly an ideal building for the uses it saw in later life - how did it come to have such a glamourous name bestowed on it ??

[simong]

BIG N wrote: One thing that intruiges me about the Queens hall - how did it end up with that name, being as it had been the tram depot and was not exactly an ideal building for the uses it saw in later life - how did it come to have such a glamourous name bestowed on it ?? I assumed that it was originally related to the Queens Hotel.

[BIG N]

Its close but not that close to the Queens hotel, certainly not close enough to take the name automatically I would have thought.

[buffaloskinner]

Queens Hall 1981    

[buffaloskinner]

1989