We buy owt-Guesswhere Leeds!

[raveydavey]

Phill_dvsn wrote: raveydavey wrote: At a guess, somewhere along Boar Lane, opposite what was C&A? I seem to remember that being a very run down area for a long time before the hotel was built. Well done Ravey It's amazing just how much that area has changed these days. It may be clean and tidy, but in all honesty I couldn't tell you one thing that's there. I'd never go to that part of Leeds for any reason other than pass to be somewhere else. It's very soulless today. Cheers Phill - it was somewhere along here that the legendary Martial Arts shop was where you could buy Hira shuriken - Japanese throwing stars. I vaguely remember some sort of big hoo-ha in the YEP about them being sold (allegedly) to school children....Your bigger pic also features a very rare Subaru XT, made between 1985 and 1991 and only sold in tiny numbers over here. You'd be doing very well to spot one on the road even at the height of their popularity!When the hotel was built and the site redeveloped, the original facade was saved - supported by a huge frame of scaffolding and incorporated in the design. And finally, just to prove how much useless info I retain, this was of course proposed as the site of Leeds very first skyscraper, our own "Empire State Building" in the 1930's which never saw the light of day due to the outbreak of WW2.

[Jogon]

Great photo and yes, I remember how crappy Boar Lane (and Wellington Street) were.Ravey - that YP stuff about schoolkids buying throwing stars was rubbish (they all had .177 Webley Juniors).

[Si]

raveydavey wrote: Your bigger pic also features a very rare Subaru XT, made between 1985 and 1991 and only sold in tiny numbers over here. You'd be doing very well to spot one on the road even at the height of their popularity! Hi Ravey. As you know your stuff, is it true that Subaru's still have a flat four (boxer) engine because Mr Subaru bought Jowett's (of Idle - not quite Leeds, but fairly close) blueprints after they went bust? I can't remember if I've read it somewhere, or if it's just a pub myth.    

[raveydavey]

Si wrote: raveydavey wrote: Your bigger pic also features a very rare Subaru XT, made between 1985 and 1991 and only sold in tiny numbers over here. You'd be doing very well to spot one on the road even at the height of their popularity! Hi Ravey. As you know your stuff, is it true that Subaru's still have a flat four (boxer) engine because Mr Subaru bought Jowett's (of Idle - not quite Leeds, but fairly close) blueprints after they went bust? I can't remember if I've read it somewhere, or if it's just a pub myth.     The WRX (Impreza), Legacy and Forester still use the Boxer engine - I couldn't say if the rest of the range do. I'd guess they would want to retain it as their "thing" given the heritage they have with it.

[Phill_dvsn]

I've found another photo from the Second Hand City.The signs in the window upstairs must date from the 1970's, maybe even the 60's perhaps?

[Leodian]

I love seeing old and even 'not so old' photos such as those in this thread if only to see just how little I recall of an area that I should have remembered. I have for example no recollection of the We Buy 'Owt shop nor most of the other shops in the photos.That stretch of Boar Lane (if it's not that then I really don't know Leeds) has certainly been smartened up in recent years, at least at street level.

[majorhoundii]

raveydavey wrote: Your bigger pic also features a very rare Subaru XT, made between 1985 and 1991 and only sold in tiny numbers over here. You'd be doing very well to spot one on the road even at the height of their popularity! My boss's wife had a Subaru like the one pictured. The company I worked for at the time were very keen on Subaru's - not the four wheel drive ones though. I had two, one was a white two door - a "V" reg - the other was a red "Y" reg estate. The all had the flat four engine.I was coming down the A64 near Bramham Crossroads, one night in June 1981 at about 90mph in the "V" reg car, with my lights on main beam, when the lot went out - it was like running into a brick wall - I drove home on the hazards.The electrics on that car were a nightmare, one day I observed the hour and minute hands on the clock going around backwards fairly quickly, the battery would boil - it smelled like a chippy when you got out sometimes, it had a new coil and several relays fitted but nothing seemed to cure it. It was very nippy though. The estate was just run of the mill, except the spare was under the bonnet, after a puncture I was putting the old wheel back and I hit my head on the bonnet catch - which was just like a gaff, I drove along with blood streaming down my face! Fairly unhappy memories of Subaru's really.

[Steve Jones]

One survivor of that era which amazes me it is still going is Id Aromatics on Station Approach where it shifted when the shops were demolished.It supplies incense materials as well as making their own.it used to have a lot of occult stuff and magazines under the original ownership in the 1970's, and was owned by Ray Sherwin, one of the founders of Chaos Magic among others,until he sold his share in it.

[Jogon]

Saw that for first time last week as I headed for the steps down left at the side of NCP, neat short cut to lower Briggate.Looks a sort of Patchouli / Joss Stick kinda place, though I expect they've gone a bit more mainstream these days as the oils have become more popular. They're at No12.Young K Waterhouse took his first job at the undertakers (then) at No 18 N Stn St.It's now a bar, he'd like that.

[BarFly]

I remember the shiriken shop and wanting some. I also remember buying josticks in iD's before I had anywhere I was allowed to burn them.Is the bar you refer to the Brewery Tap, Jogon? If so I'm lead to believe it hosts a gathering more secret than Secret Leeds on the first Friday of the month.