1966 OLD LEEDS

[@dondukov]

Hi Michael, I too was born in Leeds in 1950, still live here and proud of it.If Ive upset you Im sorry.It was not my intention.Its meant as a tribute to my city.Thanks for watching.

[@ThatCarGuy1983]

Grayray60 upset lol what did he say?

[@tonybaloney4195]

Don’t live there now,but brought up there always have great memories of the place.

[@sgstudio317]

I was born in Leeds in 1950. It wasn't a dirty old town then and it isn't a dirty old town now. I'm proud to be a Leeds Loiner, born and bred!

[@davidedge6512]

Of course it was dirty in the 1950s!! EVERYBODY had coal fires back then! Ya silly sod.

[@EllisBurton3339]

Ahhh rose tinted glasses on ..born St Marys Armley ..lived in Seymour Terrace and Westwood st Holbeck.five minutes walk to Elland Road ..moved to the new Westwood Estate in 1965 could not have been more of a contrast ...very very fond memories of those wonderful times ..

[@steviep33]

great shots remind me of my childhood, when we lived in Leeds they were just building The Merrion centre

[@LINDSAYWINN]

thanks for posting....a useful record of a byegone era

[@BILLYnKAREN]

Nice one, thanks for sharing, I was 10 in 66 and remember this. Thanks again.

[@alanrandall49]

Thanks for sharing, I was 16 years old in 1966 living in Beeston and attended Parkside Secondary School from 1960 to 1964, would be good to hear from any old lads who remember me.

[@dondukov]

Hi Alan..Thanks for watching.I was brought up in Hunslet but by 1966 wed been moved to the new estate Moor Grange.Seemed like miles away!!!!Not sure if you go on Leedsface fb page but you may be able to trace people that way

[@ianbentley7276]

I went in my first pub in 1966 in Leeds, which was The Tam O' Shanter, at the bottom of the Headrow, near the Police Station if I remember correctly. There was a room upstairs, with pop videos, in colour. I thought it was amazing, plus there was loads of lovely ladies.

[@ianbentley7276]

correction, it was The Yorkshire Hussars in 66, later the TOS

[@genghissmith4949]

ian Bentley Really glad I found this site. Two relevant points, my first transition to adulthood was the Yorkshire Hussars ( I also had it confused with the Tam O' Shanter!) and I went to St. Michaels College. I look back on those days with ever deepening rose coloured glasses.....

[@schenker59]

Yes it was , yorkshire hussars near milgarth cop shop.

[@stewartevans492]

Wonderful memories. parent's first house; Barack street. Moved to Longroyd Place, Hunslet, I think around 1951. Carol singing in those terraced streets as a kid, desperate for snow to fall and become hard packed. Harry Tiller's shop, where he'd give me a sweet if I sang, and mimed guitar, " Never felt more like singing the blues", Now 67, and living in Italy, but still so many vivid memories of Leeds. ., , f

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

Hi Stewart..Thanks for the like.I lived in Hunslet in the 50s till we were rehoused to the new estates.I had relatives that lived in The Longroyds.Ciao!

[@bravo2966]

Great pics, thanks for sharing them. My mam and Dad were married in 1966, I wasn't born until 1971. Would love to see a 'then and now' video of these locations.

[@seankirby2580]

I particularly enjoyed seeing several shots of St Michael's College, my old school. Very, very grateful to you. Thanks.

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

Thanks Sean.My school also in the 60s.There is St Michaels fb group if youre interested.

[@seankirby2580]

Oh, thank you. I went there in 1966 until 1974. An absolutely first class school. Father Charles Hand was headmaster, with a superb teaching staff including many Jesuit priests. Everyone I knew then seems to have gone on to deliver excellence. Your video is superb. Thanks again. We were very fortunate as I'd never had had a decent education without passing the 11+ (aged 9. They let you jump a year at primary school, in those days). Great writing to you and reading your comments.

[@christianzirid3111]

Is it mount st marys

[@cluds136]

Graham, thanks for these pics. I wish I had them as a teacher trying to explain the effect of the air quality on what are actually fine buildings. Showcased my walk down from the College too. I was there 1960 to 67 and very lucky to have the opportunity. I returned last year and took some pics of the buildings now , and must admit the conversion is excellent. Peter Cluderay

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

Hi Peter your name sounds very familiar ..we must have been there at the same time Glad you liked the video..over the years it seems to have become muddled..it was originally all in order from St Michaels.over the inner ring road etc.There is a StMichels facebook group if youre interested.Regards

[@eve2958809]

this is amazing.........seeing old photos like this addictive

[@thanerussel]

thank you dondukov for posting these photos. This is Leeds as I remember as a boy.

[@garnyan]

Thank you for sharing

[@feehilyslady]

i was born in leeds a year after this, always wanted to know what it looked like back then

[@ruthm3813]

1966 was the year I went to Leeds to begin my nurse training of 3 years. Fond memories, especially the first photo of the front of the LGI. Though as is always the case, photos from back then look more ancient than I remember it actually being🤣.

[@maureenspencer195]

Brilliant, I love this. Very poignant, I would have been 9 then. I had my First Holy Communion at the Sacred Heart, the church at the end. Thanks for posting.

[@Mum60]

This was 'new' Leeds for me when I left to emigrate to South Australia in March, '67 but moved to Perth, WA in '78. Love these pictures. Yes, everything was sooty-looking back then. They did clean some places up using the scaffolding with canvas around and the water and steam method which brought the stonework up clean.

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

+Mum60 Hi Mum 60.These pictures were taken in late 1966..The year I left St michaels College(as it ws then)It was a walk from school down into Leeds centre at a time of great change.Glad they stirred some memories for you....Not quite Perth.Take care.

[@Mum60]

+Maldwyn Lindley I've had three visits back altogether. First one in the summer of '87 after 20yrs, a real eye opener. Leeds had gone to having a mall with the side streets changed into malls too, much better for getting around, and not having to cross the road at the traffic lights in Briggate. All one way traffic once you were in Leeds, but too bad if you'd taken a wrong turn! Pudsey and Farsley where I come from had changed too. Next two visits were summer of '91, more changes both Leeds and Pudsey etc . Not many of the original shops left in Leeds, or the stores. Last visit was in Oct '98 for four weeks. The other visits were for 9 and 8wks respectively.

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

+Maldwyn Lindley Yes most changes are for the better..but maybe one mall too many.The arcades look fantastic...and dont feel guilty about getting lost in the one way system...it happens to me regularly and I never left!

[@Mum60]

+Maldwyn Lindley It was there the first trip back in '87. I'm not a driver myself, but my de facto partner at the time had fun with it. He was a Geordie from Newcastle, who emigrated about the same time as my husband and family. I had a stay up in Newcastle too which was a very nice place which I'd never been to before. He hadn't been to Yorkshire before and we were staying with my parents. I went to places I'd never been before when I lived there - saw a lot more of England then! I think he enjoyed looking at the maps and visiting the countryside places that we did.

[@Mum60]

+Maldwyn Lindley  My younger sister lives in Bramley with her long-time partner. My other younger sister used to  live there also not far from her, but she now lives in Methley which she says is on the other side of Kippax. I've never heard of Methley before, but she says it's a village, which she has sent me a calendar  with photos of the old Methley. Bramley's not far from Pudsey and Farsley. I was born in Farsley in August '46. Was a  nice little village, but a lot of it has got spoilt with higher rise flat units standing out amongst the old stone buildings, and all the modern stuff. All the shops different now in the main Town St, (from'98 )but one or two left on first visit. Used to be a quiet village, but people got cars, so it became noisy and the village seat was taken away where the old folk used to sit to chat! Taken over by teenagers 'hanging -out with their feet on the seat before it was taken away altogether to stop this. Fortunately, as far as I know, the Samuel Marsden Memorial Gardens are still there next to it and are still well kept.

[@L0rdLogan]

I was born in Leeds in 1995, It's funny to me to see the hotel i walk past to and from college at 2:08 is so old

[@yvonnejohnson1004]

It’s not a town, it’s a city I was born and bred there. I’ve got fond memories of growing up there. I’ll be a Meanwood lass forever.

[@sylviapingleton5354]

OMG yes it was ugh!, left for the States 1972, came to visit my friend 2017 yes it's changed for the best but still lots of memories my hometown

[@kincel]

Greta photos. I was at college in Leeds at the time. I also worked for Derek Walker Architects who designed the Catholic church in Burley.

[@mariaellender7911]

Loved this trip down memory lane. Born 1954 Chapeltown then moved to Swarcliffe. Left when I was 18 but still visit when I can.x

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

Thanks Maria..Glad you liked it.You will probably see a differencen each time you visit.

[@BevMattocks]

I remember how jet black everything was.

[@yorkie556]

I would love a copy of your photo of the International Pool under construction. I have a real affection for that building.

[@tinatina1104]

My mother came from Bermuda to live here in the 50 s all for the love of my father

[@martingoldman8393]

I was born in Leeds in 1949, and lived there until 1968, with only vacation visits thereafter. I remember black as being the predominant colour of the buildings in the center, and it was a surprise when some of them were cleaned up. Lots of pics of Queens Hotel, where my mum loved to go for Sunday tea. Your perspective of Leeds as a child very much depended on where you lived, and if you were north of the river, you were very unlikely to have a good reason to go south. Nothing is for ever, and the industrial clothing town was killed off by foreign competition and changing fashions. Now children vie to get into the universities.

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

Thanks for your observations Martin.I was born in 1950 and lived in Hunslet till around 1960 when we 'slum cleared 'to a new housing estate Moor Grange..so the north and south of the river resonates,.

[@ThatCarGuy1983]

Martin Goldman Im from holbeck....South!

[@stephenhodgson3506]

the killing off of Leeds as a cloth town by foreign competition was in hindsight a godsend for Leeds. Because Leeds was the first city in the country to be impacted this way it was able to re-invent itself with no competition from other cities. As a result Leeds was years ahead of its competition and has been able to become a leading financial and legal centre. A position that the other cities will never be able to challenge.

[@paulbarrett22]

great pics what a dirty old town it used to be

[@trippy2johno280]

Still is

[@frogandspanner]

Beginning: LGI, 0:27 St Michael's College, and again at 1:08 - Friends went there, but I hated the look of the place so went to St Thomas Aquinas instead, but didn't escape the Jesuits! And again at 3:01. Is that from the Street (Consort Terrace) where Jimmy Savile grew up? After checking old maps I think it's from a road since gone, between Consort Walk and Consort View. I grew up in Leeds from 1952 to 1968 and remember smog, then the introduction of smokeless zones and anthracite fuel, then the buildings were cleaned. The "LCT" bus stop brought back memories. And the two Ford Cortinas, and is that a Vahxhall Victor FB behind the 3 women?.

[@schenker59]

Now multi-cultural dustbin.😮

[@michaeljones8016]

I lived in Hunslet just off clarence rd until late 50"s we then moved to just of butcher hill moor grange..Now live in norfolk but visit leeds about once a year but god how its changed since I left in 1984

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

Hi Michael..Im surprised I dont know you I also moved from Hunslet to Moor Grange at the end of the 50s.Old Farm Parade just behind the shops!

[@michaeljones8016]

we lived at old oak lawn which was other side of road opposite the shops nr dalesman..We exchanged 64/65 to the house that was next to the liitle shop set back about 200 yds from top of queenswood drive .

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

I knew it well!Unfortunately not the same now! Take care nice to hear from you

[@MrTom07]

St.Michaels`s is my old school, no longer a school but not demolished either . Last being used as a temporary stand in for St.Georges Crypt, a homeless shelter.

[@billy-bobblob6175]

Thanks for the memories, don't mean to be critical but it would of helped if you could of labeled the images. This is the Leeds I grew up in and Nostalgia always feels better looking back ;-) Left Leeds in '83 and returned for the first time in 2007 was pleasantly surprised

[@insideoutface]

Can't believe how stained the town hall and Queens hotel were from all the air pollution back then.

[@paulbarrett22]

filthy back then great pics tho

[@tilidie5272]

id rather be walking around muck and dirt than needles and snapper bags...

[@photopulse321]

The year of my birth (1966) great pictures

[@Johnpatrickleeds9]

my birth too great year.

[@regentv980]

some classic buses on here,do you have any more of classic buses in the 60s please

[@dondukov]

Both are shots of St Michaels College ,St Johns Road Burley(now I think Demolished.Thanks for your interest.

[@yerwot2937]

Not demolished- still standing as of 2020

[@dondukov]

It was the headquarters of the Leeds Permanent Building Society at that time.Thanks for watching.

[@bobnweaver]

Great photos of Leeds from 1966. I first passed through Leeds in 1966 on a bus from Newcastle to Manchester and i remember the bus stopping at a bus station across the road from Central Station. I was wondering if this bus station was on the Wellington Street side of the station or the other side and if it was at the end of the station where the buffers would be or at the other end where the trains left the platform. I would be grateful if you could help with this query. Regards, Jeff.

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

Hi Bob The bus station/Central Station were on Wellington Street which puts them at the Buffer end.Thanks for liking my video..seems along time since I took this!

[@bobnweaver]

Many thanks for your response. I was walking down Wellington St. a few days ago and wondering where it was where that bus would have stopped that July day nearly 50 years ago (on the day of the World Cup Final actually). Best wishes, Jeff.

[@soundseeker63]

I cannot get over how black and soot ridden everything looks! Air quality must have been pretty bad back then. One way in which things have improved I suppose.

[@trippy2johno280]

The gentrified turd has been polished but beneath all the sporadic finery is a down at heel shit hole in the making. take your pick, Cross Green? Harehills? Burmantofts? Lincoln green? Halton Moor? East End park? gipton? Chapeltown? Seacroft? Belle isle? Middleton? little London? armley? bramley? and leeds still has one of the worst air quality in the country. sorry to sound harsh but working class England is a decaying dump & just for good measure they're filling the place up with poor immigrants just to make all the indigenous poor feel even more depressed & in their place. much preferred the old Leeds, just seemed less schizoid infested & more serene back then.

[@michaelohanlon5307]

I noticed St Michael’s College early on and later one of the terraced streets running down to Kirkstall Road, which in early November would be impassable to cars with the street bonfire in the middle of the street. I attended St Micks for the first time in 1958.

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

Hi Michael.Yes these were taken on a walk down from St Michaels to town centre.I was at St Michaels from 1961-67

[@michaelohanlon5307]

@@grahamrainsforth2308 the picture at about 54 seconds I remember walking down on my way to Vicar Lane Bus Station on my way to catch the bus to Harrogate. Wasn’t there a tiny Piklet shop - little more than a window on the right ? Great selection of pictures .

[@MichaelPadden-ob8wu]

Wow was at StMichaels from 50 to 58 and left forLondon I in 60 Went to Australia in 64 and revisited Leeds several times in the ,80's Was sad to see the school run down . Used to walk home to Shepscar each day Loved the 6 a side soccer in the playground and the triangle in the snow.Mike Padden

[@damiandexter1895]

Hi I am making a film about Leeds, and would love to use your photos please.

[@thefrogletsnursery1405]

I thought it was Shane M'Gowans voice. Lovely photographs and everywhere northern had sooty buildings (-and everywhere southern too and the West Midlands. The east midlands escaped most of it, it was more famous for knickers and tights at Wolsey Nylons, bicycles at Raleigh and cigarettes at Players. Nottingham wasn't so much an area full of smog although it did have its slum areas destroyed in the 60's

[@thefrogletsnursery1405]

PS looking at your pics again and he may have been the next county but what a memory of the late great Fred dibnah

[@TomLeedsTheAtheist]

Funny, this OLD LEEDS, me that is, was just a newborn in 1966

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

..wish I was Tom!!..Glad you like it.

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

Cheers Rick..although Ive been around Im still in Leeds...youd still recognise some of it!.Thanks for your comments.

[@elephantsmemory3142]

I was born in 1944 and went to school with what seemed to be half of kids from quarry hill ST Charles just over the road from the flats

[@dondukov]

@eve2958809 Thank you.

[@manniemain]

Great video. What are the buildings at 0.29 and 3.07?

[@frogandspanner]

St Michael's College.

[@insideoutface]

What are they building in the background at 2:50? And is that York Road in the foreground?

[@eileenlillyman156]

Hi, the building in the background would be 'The International Swimming Pool' (LIP). No mistaking the glass conical center Dome skylight! The road being built is a section of the Leeds Inner Ring Road.

[@paulstanton2852]

Great pictures. You must surely have been a pupil at St Michael's - it figures prominently - where I went will 1965 or thereabouts. Remember the Jesuits? "Priests in black gowns, walking their rounds, and binding with briars my joys and desires" ..

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

Hi Paul Yes I was there approx1961-66.Certainly mixed memories of my time there.Glad you like the pics.

[@Axxrat]

Ah Leeds, I was born in Jimmies. I swear if you took black and white pictures of any city in the world they would look dreary and miserable.

[@edwardbarr1533]

The photographer (and perhaps the compiler) seem obsessed with the old ST Michael's College in St John's Road.Was either of them pupils?I recently passed the site on my way from my hotel to sitting in LeedsSadly the late 50s extension had been demolished ---What is to happen to the late Edwardian remainder more flats perhaps?Does Anyone know ?On the whole I have happy memories of the place--the only downside being that some of the fellow pupils were rough one of the drawbacks of scholarship entry I suppose

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

+Edward Barr Obsessed is a bit strong!..but I was a pupil there from 1961-1966 and this walk was from St Michaels down into Leeds city centre at a time of great changes in the city.

[@terencecass7735]

+Graham Rainsforth So we were there together .

[@davidedge6512]

Why no street names on the photos? I’d like to enjoy watching, not taking part in a quiz show.

[@adrianhepton9362]

Why did they ever build the merrion centre?such an ugly building

[@MrBlobbyWobby]

this must of been before colour was invented.

[@davidcolley7714]

And they call it the good old days. Much better now

[@joel2ksweet]

ohara doesn't sound like an english name....

[@jeremylister89]

Few shots of St Michaels College. Run at the time by Jesuit priests.

[@grahamrainsforth2308]

I know I was there!

[@jeremylister89]

@@grahamrainsforth2308 Father Manners aka 'Chompa' ?

[@KorbielowSki]

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS OF LEEDS TAKEN BY ME SEPTEMBER ! "taken by myself" "taken in September" Who's me anyway, you didn't say your name. . Bad title, Old is written in a way that makes one think there is a NEW Leeds, as in New York; that's what happens when you misuse caps lock. . Read more books.