Lost Norwich - Mountergate and Rose Lane

[@theoloyla]

Great video as always. As you know I lived in Thorpe Hamlet in the 50's/60's and have walked it many times. Used to go to the Old Barge pub in King Street mid 60's where the Young Liberals had their meetings and would walk along Mountergate. It was much frequented by ladies of the night and it always struck me that "Mountergate" was a very apt name ;-)

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Ha ha, good one!

[@morganzola100]

Thank you so much for the hard work that you put in to bring this history out of the past and onto our screens. I grew up in Saint Anne's Lane in the 50s moving into The Old Barge Inn, King street in 1960, so these streets were part of my earliest memories. The photo of Synagogue street is where I leaned to ride a bike with my dad holding onto the seat. My mum worked in the shoe factory in Mountergate for a short while. And I remember going to the fish market so we could ride our bikes in circles on smooth tarmac. The Synagogue was before my time but I remember well St John's street. My parents left Norwich for Wiltshire when I was 13, but somehow when I return to visit it still feels like I've come home. But I do feel sad that so much of what I remember has been 'developed' and the Wensum now looks swamped by the high rise apartments.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you so much for your kind comment, and for all these details you've added. They all help to bring the story to life.

[@davegoldsmith4020]

A brilliant Video John, you said I would enjoy it. An area I know very well. My mother in law lived in Music house lane, so Mountergate was our route to the station, no bridge across the river in those days. As I mentioned before my grandson lives in the flats behind the Boulton and Paul wall. His daughter starts school at the bottom of the road after the holidays. An early memory is of what is now the jet garage, on Rose Lane. I was with a mate from RAF Coltishall, we ran out of petrol just as we joined the North Walsham road, we walked all the way back to that garage before we could buy petrol and walk all the way back again, it was late at night.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you so much Dave, for sharing these details. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@kevinsyd2012]

I grew up in Norwich and left at age 18 to go to Uni. Never been back as I have since then lived and worked around the world. As I near retirement I feel a definite pull to return, if only to reminisce and re-live childhood memories. Your videos help be get my Norwich 'fix' in the meantime. Thanks for all you do, John.

[@Tiggysmum]

@kevinsyd2012 U will notice a lot of changes, not all of them for the better, but it’s still a nice place to live.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you Kevin, it's very kind of you to say so!

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

​@@Tiggysmumvery true!

[@johnraby4214]

I left in my early 20's to join the army and have since lived in Bristol. It has changed but is still a lovely city and I miss it a lot!

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

@@johnraby4214 Bristol is nice too, I visited it a couple of times a few years ago.

[@InArcadiaSum]

Very interesting, and illustrative of the genius of local government, developers and architects who somehow always manage to demolish old and interesting buildings that are pleasing to the eye and replace them with generic junk. This is another corner of the city with which I was familiar before and after "redevelopment".

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Sadly I am forced to agree!

[@allancrotch2953]

Another walk down memory lane ,Although in the case of Rose lane Tudor hall /Henrys it was back then more of an intoxicated stagger .Thank you for your dedication sir.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you, yes you're right about Tudor Hall....I vaguely remember my 21st birthday...

[@peterjameson321]

More fascinating history John, as always thank you for your hard work in producing these wonderful videos.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you Peter, it was a particularly fascinating area to look at.

[@bonniescott2733]

I've always wished I could go back in time and just walk around to see how different Norwich is - your videos are the closest I get to that experience! Such great work as always!

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you, that's exactly what I'd like to do, and what I try to achieve as best I can!

[@johnraby4214]

Thanks John, love these videos, keep them coming

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thanks John, I'll try!

[@adrianrutterford762]

Another interesting video. Thank you for your hard work. Fascinating to see how much this area has changed over the years. Now very much a concrete cavern.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thanks Adrian, the changes here have certainly been vast, and it was interesting to track them.

[@ricardo-lq4bq3pp3l]

Thanks for the memories John. My grandmother lived in King St and a passageway from her back door led to Foysons Yard which can be seen at about 6.20 in your video. It was behind the Rose pub and ran down into Rose Lane.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you very much for adding that detail, I'm glad it brought back some memories.

[@martinplatten7421]

Thanks John. Looking forward to cathedral street one day.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thanks for your comment, Martin. I've got lots about the cathedral, but I'm afraid nothing on Cathedral Street.

[@mancroft]

Excellent. Thank you.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you.

[@samsamkin4647]

When I go up close to the Rose Lane Multi-storey car park it reminds me of the Sea of Holes from Yellow Submarine!

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Interesting! I must check that track out!

[@georgemaybury5494]

Thanks John, more memories for me, and another excellent video from you. Take care

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you George, lovely to hear from you. Hope you're well.

[@georgemaybury5494]

@@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich All good thanks, and you? Please keep up the great work.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

@@georgemaybury5494 Good. I'm doing fine, thanks George. Thank you!

[@IDreamOfGaming]

Another fantastic video.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you 👍

[@Polysixchick]

Another lovely video, so much history lost around this area. Both my dad and grandad worked not far from these streets on Prince of Wales Road, my grandad was an electrician at Anglia tv (he put all the lights and score boards in the scenery for Sale of the Century and Gambit) and my dad worked at the old Black & Decker shop as a power tool repair engineer

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Brilliant, thanks for adding these details, they help to add to the story.

[@Polysixchick]

@@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich lots of places gone from there now that I remember such as: Leaders Ice Cream parlour, KFC, Fatsos, the ABC cinema (saw Jurassic Park in there), the dentists and Magic City Amusements

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

@@Polysixchick absolutely! Seemed to be the area for dentists! Mine was Mr Green, I seem to remember.

[@jennywren8937]

Thanks, another good video.❤

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you, glad you liked it 👍

[@The_Brit_Girls]

Wow, so many changes in this area. I know it was quite a complicated video to research and make. Great to see how you pieced it all together. Well done! Fascinating and enjoyable 😊

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you, yes it was pretty complicated to work out. I had to visit and re-visit more than once!

[@cbarton64]

How much has Rose lane changed in recent times. Great work as always John. Thank you 😊

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you, yes some really significant changes in this area.

[@MrJohn768]

Thank you John,another interesting look at our fine city. Well done !! 👍 👍 It was lockdown and I was walking down Montergate. The man coming towards me slipped on a brass demarcation stud and fell heavily to the ground. We just looked at each other and wondered what to do...I couldn't touch him and I guess he wouldn't want me to either, such was the terror of Covid "I think I have broken my foot" he said " would you just mind calling an ambulance and keeping me company until it arrives ? " In this surreal situation we discussed what the treacherous square brass stud was for and why the car park had holes in it. So, John, you were not the first person to ask that question !

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

What a lovely story, thanks so much for sharing. And a thoughtful thing to do in those challenging circumstances. Maybe, if somebody here can answer that question, you can tell him if you should bump into him again.

[@MrJohn768]

​@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich 😮thought I would see if I could find out what was the purpose of the holes...so...the designers Huber wanted the carpark to be a corner jewel in area. When the bustling night life took over then the moving and static lights behind the holes would illuminate and give the impression of sparkling jewels. I then found that it was awarded the Best New Carpark BUT by 2018 Parkopedia was warning it was ' beaten up and covered with glass from the broken windows ' Users commenting that their cars had been damaged/broken in to and warned people not to use it. Can't believe it...this is happening in Norwich ? 😢

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

@@MrJohn768 thanks so much for finding that out. I have to say I'm surprised that it is seen to be unsafe. As far as I've seen it's the safest and best car park in Norwich.

[@MrJohn768]

@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich well...thank goodness it is a good place to use now! I know it was closed during lock down so perhaps that was because it was being repaired. I really hope we can keep up a high standard. I hate to see graffiti but I know the Council are swift to address it when it is reported to them on public walls. Not so easy for people who have graffiti on their private walls - quite expensive to remove I suppose.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

@@MrJohn768 yes graffiti (as opposed to street art) is a real scourge, and it seems, particularly in Norwich. There is a particular product I've heard off called Graff Off, which, quite literally, does what it says on the tin!

[@davidcronan4072]

Coventry had many buildings like the weaver's house shown at 1:58. They were called "top shops" and were first used by ribbon weavers and later by watchmakers, because of the extra daylight offered by the large windows.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you David, interesting how terminology varied across the country, presumably reflecting local needs.

[@Mypastforme]

Great video!

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you, glad you liked it!

[@dangerduo9179]

Crikey, I remember Henry's 😂 that was the mid 90's and was the place to go!!

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

And I remember it as Tudor Hall, the place to go in the 70s/80s. I must be very old!

[@mattw8332]

Intriguing how the 2 storey houses and shops made way for 4+ storey office blocks in the 1960s. 😕 The petrol station has been at this location for at least 6 decades. 😯 The former car park location and car showroom on Mountergate ought to be redeveloped.

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thanks for your comment. On thinking about it, that petrol station must be something of a record breaker!

[@IamaDutch-Kiwi]

Don't fall off the chair John. Here I am after a break. I'm just being honest- trying to keep up with all subscribed channels has been a challenge. I am now making a new watch time schedule. I am interested in these videos- it's just the time thing. Changes happen everywhere but some just have a greater impact than others. I see it here too in Dordrecht. These are great to stil be able to retrace steps (and buildings)! Love the cars too. Have a great day. 👌🇳🇱🙋‍♀🥝

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Anita! Hello, welcome back, lovely to hear from you! Thanks for your comment, and I agree about the cars!

[@sameyers2670]

Thank you, this was interesting. I must pay a visit to Norwich at some point. How many times was Norwich targeted by the Luftwaffe in WW2?

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Thank you. Norwich was initially targeted in 1940 and then regularly between April and June 1942. This may be of interest kzbin.info/www/bejne/rX3Xo2qqa55jkLssi=y-Xz8hhDTWUL6ncN

[@sameyers2670]

@@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich Thank you, I'll watch it later

[@tim01263]

I always assumed the area had been heavily bombed. Probably the worst part of the city now!

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

It has become a bit bland, but it's history is fascinating! I guess one day, this will all be history!

[@jafwilding]

I had a relative who won a car race in Norwich. It was at an old speedway. A long shot, but does anyone know whereabouts it might have been?

[@JohnAtkinsLostNorwich]

Yes it was known as The Firs, and it features in this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/baPKaICibN15qLM