Queens Road, Clarendon Park, Leicester.

Stress Free.

2010-12-23T10:22:00.002Z

Food shopping for Christmas all done on Queens Rd. Time taken. About 20 minutes. Stress level: Zero.
From Archers, a Copas (est 1957) free range Turkey, as recommended by Rick Stein. As it has enjoyed a very pleasant life strolling around a meadow and then being gentle put to sleep to the sound of Chopin, it should taste good. Leeks, carrots and other assorted veg from Peasgood’s, but no Cauliflower. There’s a shortage apparently. Also bought a red cabbage which is already in the slow cooker, finely chopped and mixed with a jar of Mango Chutney. Wine from Bargain Booze and various other bits and pieces from Sainsbury’s Local. Merry Christmas one and all!

A Great Success.

2010-12-05T17:41:00.002Z

The first Queen’s Road Christmas Fair was blessed with perfect weather. Crisp, at around 0º, but a clear blue sky and a huge turnout. The shops were busy, the bars rammed and the stalls well attended. How rewarding to see so many people out and about talking to each other. Lets hope there’s another one next year. Photos shows Ian Reeds raising awareness for his Round the World cycle ride next year. In aid of Cancer Research and M.S. The band are Acoustic Abuse. A great act!

Bit of a do.

2010-10-19T21:41:00.002+01:00

Sorry for the long absence of posts. I’ve been putting a lot of time and energy into other projects this year.

It seems we are to have a Christmas fair in Queens Rd. and I have reproduced the two sides of the flyer here, which are self explanatory. Hopefully the idea will be embraced by all and the sun will shine. I wonder if it will be anything like one in Spain where tempting local nibbles were on offer. Try one, salivate, then buy. I hope so.

It is most uncharacteristic, but I have just attended a meeting! 18 of us sat around a table in the Christchurch Meeting Rooms to make suggestions to Councillor Patrick Kitterick , who had a lot of good plans already, about what would make the event successful.

One of the best was that it should carry on after the planned 5.00 pm finish and migrate to a bar with live music and lots of beer! All those in favour.......

The work of spies.

2010-03-29T20:51:00.002+01:00

Recently, a Queens Road Blog Stringer contacted me to alert this Blog to strange goings on at the far end of Queen Road. Somebody has been dumping hundreds of old music VHS tapes in the public litter bins. Clearly the work of spies, we should keep our eyes on developments. The main bins used seem to be the two at the far end of the road. I have not seen who turns up to collect the tapes, but expect it is a Cold War Spy and the tape featured here, craftily labelled 1960’s, in fact refers to escape routes over the Berlin Wall. Keep it to yourself though. Walls have ears.

No need to go out.

2010-03-16T13:30:00.003Z

Blimey! We are all on Google maps for The World to see. Fascinating when looking at where other people live, but a little uncomfortable at looking at where we all live, especially in SUCH detail.

Tax collector.

2010-03-08T22:23:00.002Z

Well. That’s what they are. Carefully positioned on the pavement (which I thought was reserved for pedestrians - Oh well). ‘We’re only doing our job Guv’ they would say. But they’re not. The idiots that do belt along Victoria Park Road at 60 mph do it when the boys in blue are playing snooker in the Police Social Club, pint of mild in hand. These snoopers just get us gullible idiots who let the speedo drift up to 35 mph whist gorping at the Uni students in short skirts, then make us feel like criminals.

Well. The snoopers missed me! I spotted their cheap trick and drove past smiling, benignly, at a steady 20 mph, two fingers waved at them, majestically, from under the dashboard.

Snow stops Queens Road!!

2009-12-23T07:55:00.003Z

Merry Christmas all. Here’s to open fires, mulled wine, pints of Timothy Taylor’s, roasting chestnuts, carols, proper Christmas Tree’s, Turkey, Cranbury Sauce, crackers, hangover’s, traffic chaos and the Queen’s Speech.

Juicy steaks

2009-12-05T20:02:00.002Z

Two fillet steaks driven down from Scotland to Archer’s on Queen’s Road, Fried potatoes from Ron Combo’s garden in Italy and mushrooms from Peasgood’s, fried in butter with double cream, as a sauce. Washed down with a decent Cote de Rhone. May find room in about half an hour for a sliver of Ossau-Iratu stinky French cheese. Fantastic! Sorry for the break. Been busy!

Who's foolin' who.

2009-09-23T08:10:00.002+01:00

I was greeted at the checkout yesterday (pack of 4 veg samosa’s - £1.45) with a sign congratulating all of us who have helped reduce plastic bag use by 50%. I imagine we are all supposed to feel most virtuous by doing our bit to save the Planet (doomed anyway). But, hold on a minute. Just who is the biggest winner in this campaign? The annual plastic bag budget for a supermarket chain must be colossal. So they have a saving of 50% on that straight away. Us wicker basket users are offered extra Nectar Points for not using bags as some incentive, but most middle aged, middle class, middle income males don’t know their nectars from their elbows. So the supermarkets are on a pretty save deal there. Then - and this is the big one- many of us recycle the give away bags as bin liners. They're bit small, but free. So the supermarket looses out on bin liner sales as well. So next time you are in a supermarket demand a free plastic bag and a spare one to line the bin with! Gosh ! That’s another rant. Must be my age.

Disobedience on the Park.

2009-09-16T15:55:00.003+01:00

It was noticed that during the hotter days of this summer, certain irresponsible groups of young people were flagrantly disregarding this important notice. Disposable Barbecue’s bought at Sainsbury’s were being blatantly lit and sausages cooked, whilst alcohol was consumed. Clearly there is a great danger of scorching the short grass and the possibility of burning the odd finger. Grass that would take days to recover! On a stroll across the park after a particularly busy weekend I counted at least five one foot square areas of blackened grass. Disgraceful! I trust that next summer the Council will employ a permanent guard armed with a fire extinguisher. Rather oddly several well attended, and jolly good, music festivals took place on the park this Summer leaving their own temporary scars, but this was okay as it was controlled. I wonder if they ever stop to wonder why so many of us turn to drink, or leave these shores for pastures new in the free World over the Channel.

Tea and home made scones.

2009-09-14T15:27:00.002+01:00

Launde Abbey is a beautiful building just 17 miles East of Clarendon Park - A cycle ride for the fit and healthy. Yet, despite it’s proximity few venture down the lanes that lead to it. Heading for Rutland Water at the Bank Holiday we were lured off route at the promise of an ‘Open Day’ at the Abbey. It was like stepping into another World - home-made cakes and cups of tea on the lawn, served by matronly women in check shirts, an overpriced car boot sale trying to flog the junk of the Counties. All in aid of the renovation of this fine building. The Alvis Doctor’s Coupe was on display with a proud owner explaining all about his ‘dickey’ seat to those interested. Old fashioned (Totally inadequate title!) Fairground attractions lumbered round to entertain children. The Home Office's Vetting and Barring Scheme thankfully as yet unannounced, so children and adults could be freely seen within just a few inches of each other, enjoying the day.

Squirrel Pie.

2009-08-28T16:45:00.001+01:00

Sat round a table in Babelas last week enjoying a pint of Dorothy Perkins when old pals Doug and Richard came in offering anyone who was interested, Squirrel Pie! Doug had bagged a few in his garden and he and Richard had skinned the blighter's guided by a Youtube film. Doug cooked two in a pressure cooker and added home grown potatoes, carrots and onions to make a few pies. I ate one in the bar, cold, but brought a second home to re heat the following night. It was superb! A delicate flavour, not like any other meat. being vegetarians squirrels have a pretty good diet, nuts, berries etc. This could be the way forward. I’ll definitely have it again, maybe done with shallots and garlic. Yum yum.

Park wherever you like.

2009-08-19T16:00:00.001+01:00

It’s been like this all summer whilst the students are back at their parents sleeping off the rigours of the last gruelling 8 week term. Next time there is a campaign to introduce residents parking permits please flutter this picture under the noses of the all controlling Council. If the vile ruling had gone through we would have been paying a King’s ransom to park in these near empty streets. So glad people power stopped it.

Bonjour mon vieux ami.

2009-08-06T17:15:00.003+01:00

Just back from France, where even the smallest of village cafe’s can rustle up a fresh croissant and a good cup of coffee in seconds. Not wishing to end the holiday atmosphere too soon, we fancied a leisurely petit dejeneur a la Queens Road. First stop was the recently opened Salvador Deli run by John Husain. The Husain brothers have made their mark on Queen’s Road with the hugely successful Bar Dos Hermanos and Barceloneta, both of which offer superb places to eat and drink. For those unfamiliar with the Deli it is half shop and half cafe, with tables outside that catch the sun in the afternoon. We fancied a couple of Cappuccino’s, croissants and pain au chocolate. Surprisingly these were not on the cafe menu, but clearly visible in the shop so I ordered them there and returned to my seat in the cafe bit. The coffee arrived quickly and was hot and good, but then we waited, and waited, and waited. I asked the girl what the problem was - they only had to travel 10 feet and we were two of four customers. She said they would be ready in a minute. This became 5 minutes so I went back in the shop to see them being put in a microwave. ‘No!’ I cried. ‘I’ll take them as they are’. (Microwaved croissants are soggy). Finally, coffee finished, we got them and they were stale. Yesterdays probably. We never did get to see the pain au chocolate. A fiver down on the deal we pottered across to Fingerprints opposite, in the interests of research, and ordered two Cappuccino’s and two pain au chocolate. The pastries went in a real oven and were served a few minutes later, hot, crispy and delicious, the coffee’s were a little smaller, but fine and the whole experience was less fraught. A tad more expensive though, at £5.80. Anyway. It is good to have a bit of competition between deli’s and I shall try and frequent both of them more regularly. In the meantime I shall continue to get my deli foods at the long established Christopher James Deli that doesn’t pretend to be anything more than a very good deli.

A Short Ride on a thing you push.

2009-07-21T07:13:00.003+01:00

The weekend saw a spirited send off for Clarendon Park resident and frequenter of Babalas, Ian Reeds. Ian is on a mission to shake off the demons of a broken relationship. He is cycling from here across France to Italy, where he’s going to take a shower at Ron Combo’s, Grappa Hell paradise. From there he will continue down through the former Yugoslavia, before catching a ferry back to southern Italy, back up to Ron’s for a second shower, then west across the South of France to Barcelona. Paris will be the next destination, then back home, eventually, to Queens Road, where he would appreciate it if the road is lined by girls waving flags and the bunting is out, last used for the Queens Silver Jubilee in 1976. It must be in a box under a cupboard under the stairs somewhere. Is it in the Conservative Club?

Moon - Sorry about nicking your excellent title, once sold to the Telegraph.

The Green Door.

2009-07-07T19:10:00.001+01:00

At the risk of treading on Unmitigated toes, I just wanted to share this lovely door with you. It is at the northern (park) end of Queens Rd near the opticians. The house is having quite a lot of work carried out on it at the moment. It is a shame that some previous owner made rather a hash of fitting a letterbox, but the basic style and structure of the door rises above that. The point is we simply cannot make doors like this any more. The skills have been lost. Those few craftsmen left would charge thousands to make a replica and would then struggle to find timber of a good enough quality. This door is over a hundred years old, yet perfectly serviceable. Where did it all go wrong. Progress I suppose and the need to conform to a government standard of door manufacture that achieves a sustainability rating of Tog 15. Those who share my commiseration's feel free to rant, and rant hard, below.

Perfect steak.

2009-06-15T17:15:00.002+01:00

Simple pleasures available on Queens Rd. every day of the week, but especially Fridays when the steak munchies arrive. Two fillet’s from Scotland courtesy of Archer’s. I like to imagine these are from an animal that has been gazing out across some Loch in the highlands. I hope it led an easy life and has enjoyed every minute of it. I don’t actually eat a great deal of meat, but when I do, I’m picky and this is the best by a long way. Fresh English asparagus, Lincolnshire new potatoes and wild mushrooms from Marian and Joe Peasgood’s round off the fare for Friday night. Washed down by a smooth Rioja I had stashed away, it was a perfect meal and not a Nectar Point in sight.

Bin there, done that.

2009-06-03T07:38:00.002+01:00

Much commotion outside this morning as the Bin Men try to negotiate their way around Clarendon Park. It is the same every week. One or two cars just a few inches out on their parking accuracy and the whole place shuts down. Here we have two culprits from the land of the rising sun narrowing the gap by a good couple of feet and the truck can’t get through. Given that all the streets around here and many other areas of the City comprise terraced houses built around the turn of the century, and most of them have similar width roads, would it not perhaps be worth using a fleet of smaller trucks? Too obvious I guess. Too much like the logic applied by a ten year old, not encumbered by committee thinking. What we need is those ones from the fifties with four gently curved roll up sides and an all up weight of about three tons. I had a Dinky Toy version as a lad. In the time I’ve taken to upload this pic and write this, he’s managed to reverse out and turn round. It’s taken 15 minutes. They may come back and do our road later in the day. Daft!

Daylight robbery.

2009-05-19T21:00:00.001+01:00

For a long time the Mars Bar was used as a barometer of inflation. ‘A hours wage would buy 5 Mars bars in my day’ etc. etc. But we may have a new one in these more cosmopolitan times. The Clarendon Park essential, Lavazza coffee. I would never want to be thought of a consumer researcher, but brace yourselves for this bombshell! We, as many know, have a new local Sainsbury’s on Queens Road. This seems a good idea all round as it makes us all less car reliant. Lavazza is about the only thing I rely on supermarkets for. The going rate (Morrison's) for a pack is £2.74. The big Sainsbury’s in Oadby had it on spesh last week at £2.05. A snip. Here on Queens Rd it sell for £3.05. A more than a 10% price hike. Watch out!

Solid tyres

2009-05-08T08:19:00.000+01:00

How much longer shall we hear the distinctive city clatter of a Milk Float? Surely the days must be numbered for this fine English institution, in the light of supermarket milk being about half the price. I saw our local Milkman this week speeding along Clarendon Park Road and wonder if he knows of the impending speed humps that will blight all our lives very soon. Too late to protest. Letters had to be in by 30th April.

But just look at this simple electric truck. Perfectly designed for the job. I guess it probably covers about 20 miles a day. Therefore, with the aid of a calculator with fresh batteries, since 1965, when it was first registered it must have covered ( 44 years x 365 days = 16060 trips x 20 miles = 321,200 miles!!!!!

All the fun of the fair.

2009-04-30T11:17:00.001+01:00

Growing up in Warwick in the sixties, a highlight of the year was Warwick Mop, a funfair that closed the centre of town for a few days. Probably still does. We have a local fair on Victoria Park just about to open and it is reassuring that even in this doomed climate some things remain pretty well unchanged. Sneaking around this morning there are still ERF lorries and Foden's. Old English manufacturers that used to be powered by Gardener 180 diesel engines with a second in the back to power the massive generator needed to run the ‘Bumper Cars’ as we called them. I intend to visit one night very soon and see if the heady smell of candy floss and diesel can take me back to my childhood when i watched in awe, the operators skipping nimbly from one car to the next collecting a shilling off each of us. Of course, it was all in black and white then....

A Boom for Shoppers.

2009-04-28T10:02:00.001+01:00

There used to be a grocers here, run by a smiling chap with greased back, black, hair. Those that have lived around here for over 25 years will remember him. It was old style. Shelves with packets of Birds Custard and a slicing machine with some dubious looking cooked ham. Now we are having a new Sainsbury’s Local to a mixed reception. As there was always a queue in Jackson’s a need can be clearly proved. My own thoughts are that far from suffering, the local, owner driver, shops may well benefit. There will no longer be a need to drive to a supermarket for loo paper etc. and I, for one, will be doing all that on Queens Rd, on foot. This may prompt locals to return to buying meat from a proper butcher and fruit and veg from a proper Greengrocer. Completing all of the weeks shop (whatever that is) on foot and on Queens Road. I hope so.

1984 and all that.

2009-04-01T09:07:00.002+01:00

In a dastardly move today the Council has announced that we shall now be held responsible for issuing our own parking tickets. This move, hugely unpopular with residents, will save thousands on traffic wardens. Surveillance cameras will be positioned on every street corner and of such high definition they will even be able to read tax disk dates. Car users, the scum of our society, will be charged with sticking parking tickets on their own cars if illegally parked and reporting their own out of date tax disks! Fines will have to be doubled to cover the installation costs, but Graham Ramsbottom, the brains behind the scheme assured people they would soon get used to it like all other stealth taxes. The pioneering scheme is being applauded by snoopers everywhere hunched over monitors in their high vis jackets and hard hats. Possible future developments include catching thieves who bend down and pick up coins off the street, those who don’t own up when they’ve been given too much change in shops and people who wear odd socks. As English subjects will shall, naturally, take it all on the chin. If we were French we would block all the roads with turnips and retreat to a bar until the plan was shelved, but we’re not. Vive le France.

Lost World.

2009-03-17T17:09:00.002Z

Few people ever notice as they stumble from one bar to the next on Queens Road, that if they were to just stray a little further the other side of the Clarendon Park Rd. traffic lights, then hang a left, they are in unspoilt countryside. This is the Queens Rd. allotments and have, I guess, been there since the area was developed around the beginning of the twentieth century. Throughout the War they would have provided a lot of fresh food and post war they have offered chaps a chance to escape from the family at the weekend and head for the shed. There are various pleading notices asking if any are vacant, but no clues as to who owns any of them. Some are cultivated, but many are not, so I expect it’s only a matter of time before a property developer buys them and they become another housing estate. Ever the optimist.

All gone.

2009-02-18T16:30:00.001Z

Almost as quickly as it came, saw and conquered, so it has melted with the exception of these massive snow balls rolled in the park looking rather incongruous in the sunshine. I listened last week to the news on local radio casting doom and gloom about closed schools, buses not running, the county ground to a standstill etc. etc. What a stark contrast this made to the reality on the streets and in the parks, where everyone was out having fun - snowball fights, tobogganing and building snowmen. I guess that will be it now, possibly for some years. What fun it was and how it brought back memories of ones own childhood as a crisp, well formed snowball goes down the back of your neck.

Flower Power.

2009-02-13T15:51:00.002Z

Braced for the busiest days of the year the stalwart and delightful staff at Flower Corner are ready to sell, wrap, listen, advise and deliver thousands of blooms this weekend. It’s quite a risky business. All those flowers will fade rapidly if not shifted over the next three days. Those who plan in advance were in today ordering the best, tomorrow will be the last minute’ers and Sunday morning will be those in the shit trying to bail themselves out of a tricky situation. My pals Naomi and Steve run a florists in Gloucester, Steve seems to end up doing a lot of the deliveries, like Paul, the owner of Flower Corner. Steve told me he was amazed at the number of girls who, when he knocks on the door with a lavish bouquet ask him to tell the bloke to shove them where the sun don’t shine, and slam the door in his face! Strange creatures women.

R.I.P Vicbag

2009-02-11T19:24:00.001Z

Vicky Keens-Soper, aka Vic-bag, or Vicky Keen Groper was our first employee at TJ’s Hamburgers when we opened back in 1982. Vicky was a little older than us and a member of the much revered Clarendon Park Women's Army. A group of women who all went through divorce at about the same time and were feared throughout the area. Vicbag was a star though, and a good friend as well as model employee for about 7 years before drifting off into a thing called a career. Social Services, working with ‘lifers’ in prison, from memory. However, she was always at her best flirting with the young chaps and this picture was taken at Clive Millac’s 40th a couple of years ago when she was in full flow with Clive and Leon Fisk. Vicky was always good at listening to the problems of others. Hence the career listening to prisoners. Maybe her own colourful life equipped her for that. It seemed to have many phases. First the Mum, living in a Chateau in France bringing up Robert, Alex and Gus, then a vague cultural existence with Maurice 2nd in Clarendon Park, then her ‘wild’ days working for us and sharing her life with Doug, before settling down with Stephen in Devon and starting a whole new life. It all adds up to far more ‘life’ than most of us manage and yet she embraced it all. It was last Autumn that I had a call from Splev (Ian Splevings) to say she was not well and in Hospital. Things were apparently ‘not looking good’ and just today I bumped into her old pal, Lynne Smith, who confirmed Vicky had died last week. A great loss. Many fond memories, but one that sticks in my mind is when I had completed a basic food hygiene course and felt I should assert the importance of hand washing before starting work to all the TJs staff. “There’s no need for me to wash mine, they are perfectly clean already” was Vicky’s predictable response! R.I.P.

Curry Bashing.

2008-12-16T20:41:00.002Z

Staple diet of the English.... Curry. What better after a few pints than a couple of Popadom’s, some hot pickle, Onion Baji’s and a red hot Ruby Murray, washed down with Indian beer, probably brewed under licence in Birmingham? Following three lovely pints of Timmy Taylor's each last night, three of us ambled over to Queen’s Tandoori starving. It was busy. Usually is. Giggling like school boys we ordered a mixture of dishes, none of which I can remember, but all were good and we ate the lot, complimented by a bottle of Cobra each, just to be polite you understand. The bill was £55. Very reasonable for Popadoms and two courses to follow, whatever it was. The downside of consuming so much beer is that I clean forgot to photograph the meal itself, casually getting my camera out when it had all gone and we had licked up the gravy.

Resident's Parking.

2008-12-09T10:09:00.001Z

We have seen a victory for common sense here over the last week. The council was planning to impose a residents parking permit system. £25 to park outside your own house - no guarantee of a space, a quid a go for visitors, local businesses wiped out as shoppers unable to park and everybody getting thoroughly pissed off with parking tickets when they forget/don’t give the visitor a voucher/left the second car out by mistake. There was a heated meeting on Wednesday 3rd, as about a quarter of the residents would like a residents parking scheme. True. It is very difficult to find a space, but that is the price we pay for city living, for having good bars and restaurants on the doorstep, for a range of excellent local shops. Without free parking they would all loose custom, we would loose the ‘buzz’ of Queens Rd. and the whole area would slip back down the popularity scale. Those of us who have been here a while can remember the empty shops of the eighties. One pub and a couple of takeaways. The plan has been shelved for five years. Great.

He's here.

2008-11-25T21:51:00.002Z

Still November and the first sighting. Thanks God he can't see. Wake me up when it's all over.

çok tesekkür ederim!

2008-11-25T21:39:00.003Z

We should give a warm welcome to the Turks who have brought reasonably priced fresh food to Queens Road. Lurking between two Queens, Indian Restaurant and Chinese Takeaway, Zesty’s is, strictly speaking, a takeaway, but it has seating and if one happens to sit down, through tiredness you understand, the guys who run it will bring your food over, to save you the effort of walking three feet to collect it from the counter. Once comfy, you may as well eat it there, to save walking home and allowing the home made bread to go cold. Three of us ate eight mezes. Three of which were stuffed peppers, as they are so good. Washed it down with a pot of tea and walked out having spent under twenty quid. This is fantastic value as every mouthful is delicious. They seem to be open virtually all the time and always greet one with a smile. Good for them. Babalas don’t seem to mind one popping over there to use their loo, especially if it’s their Timothy Taylors one is rejecting from the bladder.

One to take the edge off.

2008-11-14T17:31:00.007Z

Friday night and spoilt for choice. All within walking distance. Starting foreground, left there is a fine selection of cocktails and bottled beers at Bar Dos Hermanos, our local Cuban Bar. Big and always busy. Great atmosphere. Draught beer tends not to be quite so well kept and are always a tad disappointing, but they serve quite the best G&T. Double measures of Bombay Sapphire, stacks of ice, lime and Schweppes. Moving on down there is Sansomes. Bit brash and yet to hit the spot with the locals. Mainly lagers and this new Marstons Pedigree ‘Smooth’. It’s a keg beer - easy to look after. It sounds harsh, but Sansomes is just not quite Clarendon Parky enough. Maybe cruise over the road to Babalas wine bar. Cosy and full of atmosphere. The sort of place you can peer into and usually see a familiar face, if solo drinking. My personal favourite thanks to a good choice of wines and the all conquering - Timothy Taylors Landlord draught bitter. Could then stay on the same side of the road and ease on down to Olives Bar on the first floor of the corner premises, above Subway. Not been in and I find there is a mental barrier about entering somewhere that you can’t see into. Final option would be to walk up the end of Montague Rd and visit The Clarendon. Rather naff 30’s building. About 15 years ago The Clarendon was the ONLY bar here, served great draught beers and was rammed, but has had to try very hard in the light of such tempting opposition. As it’s just a stumble too far, I’ve not been in for ages. That’s the drinks sorted. Food blog next time.

A new Bar.

2008-10-29T19:44:00.003Z

Sansome’s is the new bar on Queen’s Rd, lurking behind the Marston’s lorry in the last posting. The name has been recycled from the Haberdashery shop that used to be there. The last place in Leicester you could buy a string vest. I popped in there to try the Pedigree the other night with a few friends. It was a new brew called Pedigree Smooth. A keg beer which I felt was rather a sell out to the traditions of Marston’s Brewery. I tried a couple of pints, while my friends stuck to lager. It had a similar taste and one could imagine the waters flowing across the gypsum of South Derbyshire into Burton on Trent, but somehow it wasn’t quite right. designed for the minimal maintenance required by bars these days. I felt moved to nip over the road to Babalas and have a proper pint, hand pumped by a buxom barmaid. no Pedi that night, but the Timothy Taylor's Landlord was just perfect.

Beautiful Apparition

2008-10-07T21:44:00.002+01:00

Something you will only ever see in England. The reassuring sight of a big delivery of Marston’s Pedigree. Seen here outside a new bar on Queen’s Road, Sansomes, named after the drapery store that used to be there. The only place left where one could still purchase a String Vest.

Easy to let the mind wander for the everyday tasks and imagine the waters filtering across the gypsum of Derbyshire, south to Burton-on-Trent where noble men brew, and I mean BREW, Pedi. Oak barrels and brass pipes. Centuries of history. Unchanged methods, all resulting in the perfect pint, and I’ve supped well this evening as you may guess. Cheers and sorry for the absence.

Red Nose Day.

2008-09-05T08:53:00.001+01:00

A wine tasting, organised by The Wine Society was, conveniently, in The City Rooms, here in Leicester this week. My son Will and I strolled down dodging various heavy showers to sample 16 wines from around the World. Rubbing shoulders with so much tweed and silver hair was novel and made even me feel quite young! Kicking off with some refreshing sparkling whites, we moved on to heavier whites, light reds and then the Clarets. A good learning experience! Favourite was wine number 7, a full bodied white Burgundy at £225 a case. At the end of the tasting the girl serving it poured the last of the bottle into our glasses as we confirmed it really, really was our favourite and we stumbled off to get something to eat.

Mrs Baggit.

2008-08-07T09:33:00.002+01:00

We had, last Sunday, The Leicester Caribbean Festival, here in Victoria Park. I usually stroll across and am generally in favour of the event. It is truly multi cultural and brings a sense of excitement into the city, with some elaborate floats on the backs of lorries and stalls selling Jerk Chicken and Goat Curry, all washed down with gallons of Red Stripe. There’s a lot of loud reggae played and a stage with a live act. Everybody has a good time and the law turn a blind eye to those smells that waft through the air, taking one back to college days. The whole thing’s over as the sun goes down and everybody goes home. What I can’t understand, is why they can’t take their rubbish home with them. A brisk walk across the park the following morning revealed an army of private contractors picking up a sea of litter, mostly called Igor and Perestroikavitch. The Caribbean community was not well represented. But, by lunchtime you wouldn’t know anything had ever happened.

Not Queens Rd.

2008-07-24T09:55:00.003+01:00

I'm just back from a week in Jersey and know that a few of you out there enjoy a good example of the architecture. Jersey Airport proclaims to have been built in 1937 and as most of it is still there under the hideous addition on top, it is not difficult to imagine the De-Haviland's taxiing in and disgorging their wealthily clientele. In the north of the Island (Jersey is only 44 sq. miles in total) there is this delightful school at St Johns, originally built in 1901, but extended, in the same style, in 1929. If only the architects of the Airport extension had been as considerate those who extended the school.

On a bit of a tangent, and according to my uncle, who is the holder of such information, my maternal Grandmother flew back from Cairo in about 1934-36 in a Handley Page Hannibal or Horsa. The seats were Lloyd loom basket chairs (for reduced weight) arranged like a lounge, not in rows as they are now. One of her fellow passengers was Geoffrey De Haviland of aircraft fame.

Monkey Business

2008-07-14T13:28:00.001+01:00

Always amusing to see a man of a certain age dressed in fancy dress in public. One month it’s dear old Max Moseley, the next Friends of the Toxic Waste on Queens Rd. They were protesting about Bio Fuels and thought the countryside should be used to produce food with prices constantly rising. Having topped up my diesel tank with 40 litres of Sunflower oil, that I had photographed recently, I was thrilled to travel about 60 miles for nothing. Bring on the Bio Fuels I say.

The Looney Bench.

2008-07-07T14:25:00.002+01:00

This, Ladies and Gents, is The Looney Bench of Queens Rd. That transitional place where we end up, somewhere between sanity and another world. There is always somebody there, either waiting, listening, or offering a point of view on nothing much in particular. Sometimes a poet, other times a bag woman. A can of Special Brew is never far away. Nobody knows what they talk about, but it’s always busy. Blockbusters is right behind with the latest, rather appropriate, offering displayed on the telephone kiosk. Maybe you have to go through some right of passage to sit there? having lived here 27 years I have never dared sit there, but there’s time........

The cost of Vanity.

2008-06-25T22:54:00.002+01:00

Having so little and being so vain, it is always a challenge to get my hair cut. I have tried them all around here. I started going to Yan’s years ago, when the money was rolling in, but to save a bob or two shifted my loyalty to Mohammed at 'Gents & Boys'on Clarendon Park Rd. When asked, ‘What number would you like?’ I came over like Patrick McGoohan - I am not a number. However, Moh and I bonded, but I was never truly happy with the cut and after a few weeks began to look like Tintin, with a spikey bit sticking up in the middle. He thought he was doing me a favour covering my baldness with a faux Bobby Charlton. At £7 a throw it was good value though. Determined to make the most of the bit that’s left though, I returned to Yan’s yesterday. A very pretty girl washed and conditioned my hair, then Holly cut it. Well worth thirty quid.

Saving the Planet

2008-05-28T13:49:00.001+01:00

Welcome to Pennbury. This is the view you will get entering the new ‘Eco’ Town of Pennbury from the area just north of Houghton Lodge farm, Stoughton. A 10 minute cycle ride from Queens Road. The exciting news is, there will be a bio burger outlet, a new venture for the great McDonalds empire, situated just where the rape seed is in the middle distance. The lane in the foreground will have to be widened, of course, but this will be done under strict Government guidelines. In the woods to the left will be a Toyota Prius outlet covering 10 hectares. The biggest in Europe and built entirely from recycled Range Rover tyres, filled with compost and planted with evergreen bushes. The lush, green, grass in the middle will make way for a paved recreation area. This being favoured over grass by the Health & Safety committee, for obvious reasons. New residents will be queuing up to buy their Eco friendly houses, a snip at just 30% more than the comparative normal houses, but what price to share the Governments dream of a new, Eco town.

A Pint of Kimberley please Landlord.

2008-05-14T22:55:00.002+01:00

Just over on the unfashionable end of Queen’s Road, the other side of the traffic lights, is this nicely preserved off licence. I can just about remember this being a shop about 25 years ago, but it has been a house since then. Hat’s off to the owner who has kept us wondering: ‘Whatever happened to Kimberley Ales’, all these years. Well! I’ve just looked and the brewery was in Kimberley, Notts and was bought out by Green King, who, as recently as 2006, closed it down as it was not cost effective. So there you are. Thanks to Martin Cordon, of Kimberly for the picture of the brewery.

Mr Patel’s

2008-04-17T16:24:00.001+01:00

Alas, poor Mr. Patel. If he could see his shop now he would turn in his grave. When we first moved here in 1982, Mr. Patel’s was our nearest corner shop and many was the evening I would walk 100 yards down the road to buy a can of Carlsberg Special Brew to take the edge off. He and I would discuss a test match with India, who if playing, would be on the radio for the duration of the game. An enterprising chap, he was one of the first to set up video rentals, but this was not enough to secure a long and happy life. He moved on to that big cash and carry in the sky about 20 years ago and bit by painful bit the shop has drifted into dereliction. A compulsory purchase order was slapped on it before Christmas and it’s up for auction on 31st April with outline planning permission for a four bed house. A big job for somebody.

Shut that door!

2008-04-16T17:05:00.001+01:00

A stroll round to Queen’s Rd to buy some parsley for the Moules Marinere I’m cooking later, took me past two corner shops and prompted me to record the others in the immediate vicinity. Within an area that can be no bigger than an acre there used to be myriad shops selling pop, crisps and sweets, limp vegetables and alcohol, some cashing in on the video rental boom in the mid eighties. Most have changed use to domestic houses now, but here’s a selection that I can just about identify. I’ll release them over the next month, individually, to keep up your excitement!
SW1 Hairdressers has not been in the current ownership for long, and has the look of a business in decline. There is a heavy mesh at the window to keep out intruders, but it has the effect of frightening off, would be customers, as you can’t see into the darkness they cause. The shop used to be an unlicensed ‘one armed bandit’ emporium back in the early ‘80’s, then an Antique Shop, before becoming a Hairdressers about 15 years ago. Up until recently it was run by a very camp man and he catered for the blue rinse brigade and was always busy. You could hear him gossiping from my house 200 yards away. “Ooooooooooooooooooooo, really!”

Hokey Kokey.

2008-03-21T08:49:00.003Z

I pulled up at the lights next to an Ice Cream Van this week and was amazed at how little they have changed since my own career as an Ice Cream Man, killing time in the summer holidays. Still on offer was the ‘99’ and the ‘Oyster’. Even the boxes of wafers and cones looked exactly the same. How on Earth can they make a living in these days of marvellous Hagen Daas and Ben & Jerry’s available at all hours from Supermarkets?
For your amusement I have included a picture taken in 1972 of my pal, John Littlejohn, now a U.S.A. resident, and me on the right, with two cameras around my neck. The 35mm rangfinder camera was a Contax 2 and the twin lens reflex a MPP Microcord. I sold the Contax, but the Microcord bounced out of a shopping bag loosely fastened to the rack of a moped in Crete some years later. Gone forever, as have Suncream Dairies, my employer.

The Last Post

2008-03-08T09:06:00.000Z

In the constantly changing urban environment, that is Queens Road, one thing remains a steady constant. This post box, now at a rather jaunty angle, probably following a dice with a delivery van, has been a link with the outside world since Clarendon Park was first built. Even in this age of super fast internet connections and e-mail, the humble envelope and stamp combination still has its place, be it to send a birthday card to a mate in a far flung place or to partake in the greatest pleasure available to the self employed, sending a clutch of invoices off at the end of a busy month. Odd how we take that red 2 inch x 10 inch slot so much for granted and grumble at a slight rise in cost every year. I actually think its pretty good value to be able to spend 30p and have something delivered to the other end of the country for the next day.... hopefully.

Hot Pork Fat.

2008-02-21T12:57:00.000Z

Hot Pork cobs with apple sauce and fried onions. Impossible to resist on a crisp, but cold Saturday morning as the aroma wafts down Queens Road ever intensifying as you close in and watch the knife slice through the tender meat. Even a vegetarian would struggle to walk past Archer & Sons, the butchers. Sean roasts a pig outside the shop every now and again. Maybe one he’s got spare, or a cancelled order. Whatever, its usually all gone by 2 o-clock. At £2.50 a cob its money well spent. Part of the business is hog roasts and it keeps him pretty busy,especially in the summer. See: http://www.hogroastuk.com/
Pictured is Simon. Simon is, bizarrely, a hairdresser by trade, though has clearly given up on his own locks.

On All Fours.

2008-02-19T14:35:00.000Z

We are privileged in Clarendon Park to have a ‘real’ garage, staffed by chaps who have the ability to repair anything from classic to modern. There, in oil stained overalls they toil in all weathers under the watchful eye of Terry, the proprietor. They do MOTs which is very handy, though they are a bit efficient, if you catch my drift. None of that ‘I’ll let it go this time, but get it sorted for your own good’ malarky. The building itself is interesting. I think it was once a tram garage and wears a faded plaque above the door, too eroded to read. Trams did once run along Queens Road and the place would be far better if they still did. Before Terry took it on it was known as Reggio garage, after Reggio in Sicily, ‘Mafia Country’ as Tony, the old Italian owner once confided in me. Tony specialised in Citroens, along with his son, Tony and grandson.... you’ve guessed, Tony. Tony senior had a lovely DS 23 Automatic, which one day he intended to drive back to Sicily. I had a DS 23 Pallas at the time which seemed to spend far too much time round there. In October Tony and other members of the Leicester Italian community used to buy a lorry load of grapes and make their own Italian wine in his garage at home in Knighton. I was invited to witness the event once and sampled a glass, or two. I believe it was an acquired taste!

Light Frost on Queens Road.

2008-02-06T11:26:00.000Z

Following the great success of the Grand Central Station ‘Big Freeze’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo a scaled down version took place today on Queens Rd. Ignored by most, the event was almost a flop. To star in a flop is always a good career move as negative publicity is no worse than good publicity. The three stars await international recognition. In case you hadn't noticed.... It's a film. Click on the arrow, bottom left. A first amongst the collective I think.

A North African equivalent.

2008-02-04T13:26:00.000Z

As the Collective have spotted, I’ve been away for a while in The Sahara Desert. I have the great and unprecedented pleasure of bringing you the Libyan equivalent of Queens Road. This is Idri, slowly festering at N 27º 29’ 37” E 13º 04’ 25” if you fancy a look on Google Earth. Idri was out first tarmac since Derj 600 miles further north and a chance to refuel and pick up supplies from the local shops. The local petrol station actually had fuel which is suprisingly unusual in a country that produces the stuff. Electricity is still something of a novelty and the Libyans have not quite mastered the ability to do a neat wiring job, seeing nothing at all wrong with the ‘twist them together’ method. A request for electricity will often be met with the proud presentation of two bare wires and who can argue with them. The litter bin is still regarded with suspicion and largely ignored, rubbish being someone else's problem. Wade through the mess and dust and you find a genuine hospitality in rural Libya and a great desire to practice spoken English with a native speaker.

Christmas Carols.

2007-12-17T20:33:00.000Z

So far, I’ve not heard Slade’s, ‘So here it is, Merry Christmas’. If I do, and I doubt it will be on Queen’s Rd, that will be the time I roll down the shutters, put the answerphone on and retire from all festivities. That and that bloody Roy Wood, Wizard one really, really piss me off. Gripe over. I do like the effort that the Queen’s Rd. businesses have gone to with all of them having a tree. Must be a sign of improved income as I think this is the first year there has been complete unanimity. Bar Dos Hermanos/Barcelonetta take the biscuit for bewst deco’s, so they will get my hard earned later in the week when I venture out for one to take the edge off. Might have two.

Always a queue.

2007-12-12T17:55:00.000Z

There was a time, some ten years ago, when everyone was concerned that Queens Road was going down hill. There were several empty shops. The shops that survived were (with notable exceptions that still thrive) offering nothing special in terms of service or products. The turning point came when the Quakers 100 year rule ended banning pubs from Queens Road. Hogan's Bar opened immediately. From then on things improved. One person invests, so do other on the back of it. Some four years ago Jackson's appeared on the scene, putting the lacklustre Spar out of business within weeks. I hate supermarkets, their bright lights and cunning ways of overcharging you and convincing you it’s a special offer simultaneously, but Jackson's is offering residents what they want from 7 to 11 every day. Oddly, their planning application to expand was refused as locals thought it made Queens Road too busy!

Large chest for sale.

2007-12-07T08:41:00.000Z

The ads posted in shop windows are always addictive. I bought a garden pond in the summer for a fiver. Took all weekend to dig it in. The Newsagent splits the ads into two sections, conveniently. This side for odds and ends and the other side for accommodation. Having a roof over my head I am always drawn to this side and read every ad. The red heart is a rather touching ad from ‘Frank’ seeking a ‘trustworthy woman, as friend and probably more!’. Items for sale first appear it ridiculously high prices, then drop week on week to the true value. ‘Thomas the Tank Engine Bed, cost £400 (sucker) accept £150 (no chance)’ phone Johnny 07922960728.

Sole Man.

2007-12-04T20:50:00.001Z

So far south, he’s only just still on Queens Road, is Jan Kirski, of Superfine Shoe Repairs. I first photographed Jan in his shop about 15 years ago, and then again today. Nothing has changed. He doesn’t even look any older. He is 82, not a bit dodery and as sharp as anybody. Jan was in the Polish navy as a lad and married a Leicester girl, moving to here in about 1953. He is still married to her and they live quite close in a ‘nice house’. He bought the shoe repair business as a going concern from a chap who was retiring. It had once been a fishmongers, hence the tiles, but has been a cobblers, continuously for about 70 years. Jan’s only major investment was to buy a German scuffing and polishing machine when he first bought the business. This has now given faultless service for 50 years, needing only replacement v belts and recently (in the last 10 years) a new electric motor. Entering, it is a living, breathing, smelling museum. NOTHING has changed in about 70 years. If you are ever down this way, take an old pair of shoes in, just for the experience.

Smooth Tarmac.

2007-12-03T20:23:00.000Z

About 10 years ago, planners, planned, in some remote office where the coffee is tasteless and the girls have thin lips and no waistline, that Queens Rd should have traffic calming humps. Bastard speed humps top the rest of us. There was uproar amongst both shop keepers and residents and for once all were mobilised into defeating this menace together. Many letters were written and phone calls made and it actually worked. We won!! The French would have simply blocked the road with turnips until the council were drawn to their knees, but we actually did it the English way and won. I still can’t really believe it but just look how smooth that tarmac is.

Bollards to you too.

2007-11-27T13:27:00.000Z

About a year ago these appeared over the space of a couple of weeks. The very day after completion two of them were flattened! Fantastic! They must have cost a fortune and of course, we have paid. They are there just to stop the few parking on the pavement and cracking the slabs, but I think a certain amount of chaos adds character to a High Street. Anyone who’s wandered around a North African Souk will appreciate the manic chaos of the place. Vans, donkey carts, people, all thrown into a tightly confined space and being sliced through by mopeds, some with a goat as a passenger. They do not have a blame culture there. You get hit, it’s your own stupid fault for not looking. People are allowed to think for themselves and as a result are far more alert. I can imagine that here on Queens Rd White van Man will reverse into a bollard, it will then be tripped over and the tripper will claim huge compensation from us, because he wasn’t looking where he was going. Init.

Twin Peaks

2007-11-22T21:04:00.000Z

Without wishing to encroach on Sir Peter’s domain I have often thought that these two wonderful towers on Queens Road need drawing to peoples attention. Diametrically opposed at either end of the strip they guard the area from unwanted influences. Well, they don’t really, but they do look good and I have to pause for thought to imagine that some poor sod had to do that tiling on the roof, in the style of a French Chateau, without a Health and Safety Policy, or Risk Assessment Document. Both of them look suitable for locking up some disturbed offspring back in Victorian times when that is what one did with the socially unacceptable. Thinking about it, the curtains are always drawn in the Howard Rd. one......

It'll never catch on.

2007-11-21T09:54:00.000Z

A crisp Autumn morning and being out there early, the sun is on the fronts of the shops. The astute will notice a few changes. Where once was the only real bakers shop, (10 years ago, at least) now we have a Subway, replacing what was, until recently Olives Bar. Olives has now moved upstairs where no one can see it. Consequently I doubt whether anyone will frequent it, when there are other bars that you can peer into before committing to entry. Can’t see Subway making anybody rich either. It’s just not Clarendon Parky enough. Further down the road is the Post Office. Those with a long memory will recall it was run by a very grumpy bloke called Giles, who thought he owned the whole road. He retired, but still haunted his replacements Dave and Reane, by barging to the front of the queue. I was in there once when Dave reminded him, with considerable assertion, that he had to queue with everyone else! The Post Office is now run by two very efficient and friendly Indian brothers, though, no doubt, doomed by threatened cuts any any moment.

Hot Gossip in the Butchers.

2007-11-15T13:29:00.001Z

Gossiping, as chaps do, in the butchers this morning, the subject somehow came round to massage parlours, probably following a front page feature in last night’s Leicester Mercury reporting on an armed robbery at two in the city. Clyde, the butcher before Shaun, who now owns it, had talked of one on Queens Road in the 90’s (Not the bird, the decade). It used to be behind Sansomes the haberdashery, that is now the closed Wy Bar. More surprising than this, though, was the shocking revelation that the Police had raided an illegal brothel on Montague Road, next to the hairdressers, just last month! Apparently it was run and staffed by Chinese. How odd the things that happen right under your nose, so to speak, and yet are totally hidden from view. Such is the diversity of culture in Queens Road.

By the way. Shaun sells quite the best fillet steak I have ever had. All the way from Scotland in a big lorry.

Dawn Chorus.

2007-11-14T16:09:00.001Z

Out for a refreshing stroll round the park at 6.00 am this morning and as I returned Queen’s Road was just starting to wake up. A Warburton’s lorry was delivering bread to Coombs/Hampshire's Bakers. This used to be Hampshire's, but following financial difficulties at Coombs the two have merged, so we still have one bakers in Queens Rd. Not so long ago there were three. The big one on the corner of Montague Rd run by Mr. Greasley, Coombs and opposite, this one. Their demise must be due to cheaper competition, but also, and perhaps reassuringly, the expanding use of home bread makers.
There is a remarkable amount of activity this early as traders prepare for the day and it is reassuring that, in the days of huge supermarkets, the family run businesses can still survive, or even thrive.

There it was, gone.

2007-11-12T14:49:00.000Z

Venturing south this lunchtime into the wasteland that is the other side of the lights, I noticed a large gap in the buildings where there used to be Hoyes Soft Drinks factory and a business called SPCK, selling religious books. Presumably staffed by ladies and gents wearing sensible shoes, benign smiles and tut tutting at most things. They would certainly have tut tutted in a big way if they had ever ventured into the small park behind the building. Now exhibited in it’s full glory, is the art of a talented gratify artist, identity unknown. There are quite a few of these little parks dotted around Clarendon Park, but in 27 years of residence I have to confess to never seeing this one before. Which must be why this artist was able to labour away for hours to create these. Now, at last, his art can be enjoyed by all, until they sling up an apartment block and hide it all away for ever.

Not as warm as it looks.

2007-11-09T18:01:00.000Z

Gazing out of the window one could be forgiven for thinking it was a hot summer’s day, but when I popped round to Queens Rd to post some letters there was a definite nip in the air. It is, after all, November and the leaves are falling quicker than International Bank profits. Here, for your amusement is the ‘new’ cafe, deserted, of course. But not just because of the weather. No. It’s THE WRONG SIDE OF THE LIGHTS! No-one, but no-one crosses Clarendon Park Road to head south into the abyss that is the other end of the Queens Road. In the other picture. The cultured end of Queens Road, is Polly’s standing proud, a specialist in that rather dated flouncy cotton clothing. Polly, a stalwart character, is selling up as trade is not brisk enough to keep this and her two other shops running. So, there’s a sale on and you could pick up a bargain in tie die Indian cotton. Light another joss stick and pass me a fat one.

A feeble Autumn start.

2007-11-08T15:28:00.000Z

I was truly shocked when my pal, Tom, an ex Clarendon Parker, now living in Germany, emailled me to say he had just watched the entire 9:48 minutes of the Number 44 bus ride from Charles Street to Queen’s Road on You Tube! If there is truly a thirst for nostalgic items on God’s own Clarendon Park, then I shall make it my duty to keep all ex pats up to date on the too-ings and fro-ings of our busy Queens Road. Every time I pop round there to post a letter, or buy a kit kat, as I just did, I shall take my camera and snap something. As long as I can be arsed I shall bung the best up onto Mr Google’s blog service and amuse all of us. So. Here to kick off with is a general view from outside the Bookies, nee Midland Bank of old and an interior shot of our very well run Newsagents, CP Media Newsagents, formerly County News.