Leicester Super

[Midland Red]

I know that Leicester Super was on Melton Road, but can SKS give a more precise location for this track, please

[TeamBouchard]

I'm sure someone will be able to give the exact location, but, from memory of reading a snippet about it, I think the track was opposite the Fosseway Hotel on Melton Road.

 

The fosseway Hotel is still there, but the field opposite are now covered by a housing estate.

 

I've access to all the old OS Maps for that area but the track was never shown on any, presumably because of its short life.

 

The post code for the Fosseway Hotel is LE4 7SN which might help you to locate it on Googlemaps or something similar. The hotel is not far from the Thurmaston end of Melton Road.

 

Hope that helps ans I'm sure someone wil have more precise details.

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

I'm sure someone will be able to give the exact location, but, from memory of reading a snippet about it, I think the track was opposite the Fosseway Hotel on Melton Road.

 

The fosseway Hotel is still there, but the field opposite are now covered by a housing estate.

 

I've access to all the old OS Maps for that area but the track was never shown on any, presumably because of its short life.

 

The post code for the Fosseway Hotel is LE4 7SN which might help you to locate it on Googlemaps or something similar. The hotel is not far from the Thurmaston end of Melton Road.

 

Hope that helps ans I'm sure someone wil have more precise details.

 

Didn't there used to be a pub here called something like the Speedway Tavern...: remember seeing it from the 'Outer Circle' bus in the city in the late '70s/early '80s..??

[star ghost]

Alan Jones, who wrote the "History of Leicester Speedway" series of 3 books a few years ago would be able to answer this. Unfortunately I have not got his address now, but he used to write for the "Leicester Mercury" newspaper

[Gemini]

Alan is a member on here so I have sent him a P.M.

Hopefully he will then be able to answer the question.

[Alan_Jones]

Gemini sent me a PM but, unfortunately, I'm not that Alan Jones.

[star ghost]

Well, Gemini tried

Maybe a Leicester fan may know the right Alan and get the info from him

[Gemini]

Well, Gemini tried....

 

And I'm still trying. Have sent Alan an email to the last address I had for him so hopefully he will reply. Watch this space.

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

Didn't there used to be a pub here called something like the Speedway Tavern...: remember seeing it from the 'Outer Circle' bus in the city in the late '70s/early '80s..??

 

Just checked in the 'Homes...' book and I was right about the pub... Used to see it on the way home on the bus from meetings at Blackbird Rd. The section of Melton Rd. where the Super track was, was opposite this pub (not easy to locate now as the PH changed its name...) and is now the site of allotments... Also near (I thought, but this only from memory...) a railway bridge..???

[Gemini]

Received a reply from Alan this morning. He is not a member of the forum so as a guest can't post at the moment (I'll work on that!)

 

Hello Janet

 

Nice to hear from you again and it looks like the return of speedway in Leicester is getting nearer.

 

I have read the comments on Speedway Forum and as you say I am not a member. perhaps I should be!

 

However, the track was built on land that formed part of Lodge Farm in the parish of Belgrave. The old farmhouse was converted to a clubhouse and the outbuildings were adopted as a workshop for the mechanics. This may help the person to locate the site who was looking on the Ordnance Survey map.

 

Of course the features of Melton Road has changed somewhat since 1929 when the Super was built. As you can see from the details above, there were no properties, only fields. But to give you a fix, on the way out of Leicester on the right hand side just before the X roads where Thorn Lighting stands there is (or was) a building that was occupied by Iceland (Frozen foods) and the track was situated in the fields behind this building.

 

Hope this answers the question.

 

Regards, Alan

 

[TeamBouchard]

Thanks to Alan’s input – particularly regarding “Lodge Farm” - the location can be confirmed as in my original post.

 

The pub I referred to as “The Fosseway Hotel” in my earlier post, is shown on OS Maps for 1914/1930 as “Edenhurst” which is possibly a – large - private house. On the 1952 edition, the name is changed to “The Speedway Hotel” and it still appears as this in 1962. By the 1971 edition, the name has changed to “The Fosseway Hotel.”

 

The Farm Lodge that Alan refers to is “Thurmaston Lodge” and this occupied a site on the other side of (and set well back from) Melton Road and lay approximately 500 metres North East of the Speedway Hotel.

 

According to the various editions of the map I have checked, the Lodge was demolished sometime between 1962 and 1973. The 1930 edition of the Ordnance Survey shows the Lodge surrounded by many extensive fields but no trace of the actual track location.

 

Incidentally, if you have access to Google Maps on the “net” and the satellite photography, you can see the site of The Lodge. Find the electrical industry building at the junction of Melton Road and Troon Way (East of Melton Road/North of Troon Way) and the site of the Lodge was the wedge shaped piece of open grassed land in the NE corner of the industry site (bordered on its Northern and Eastern boundaries by trees).

 

The former “Speedway Hotel” – now Fosseway Hotel – can be clearly seen on Google Maps again at the junction of Melton Road/Troon Way, but this time South of Troon Way and West of Melton Road.

 

Hope this has been of some help.

 

[Midland Red]

Thanks guys - brilliant replies and clarification of the location

 

Hope this link works

 

http://maps.live.com/#JndoZXJlMT10cm9vbit3...TIxODc0OTk5OTk4

 

Pity there's nothing left to see of the track

 

Looking forward to Leicester's third venue - hope it's as good as Blackbird Road was

 

Thanks again

 

PS

The link only takes you to the crossroads but move NE with birds eye view and the wedge is clearly visible

Edited April 9, 2009 by Midland Red

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

On the 1952 edition, the name is changed to “The Speedway Hotel” and it still appears as this in 1962. By the 1971 edition, the name has changed to “The Fosseway Hotel.”

The former “Speedway Hotel” – now Fosseway Hotel – can be clearly seen on Google Maps again at the junction of Melton Road/Troon Way, but this time South of Troon Way and West of Melton Road.

 

Are we sure that the pub wasn't called the Speedway Hotel from the early '70s..

Coz when I was living in Leicester ('78-'81) I'm CERTAIN I went past this and noted the pub had a Speedway name... It MAY have had perhaps just the Speedway picture on the pub sign but there's no way I'd be remembering seeing this late '70s IF all traces of its incarnation as the 'Speedway Hotel' or 'Tavern'' had gone nearly ten years earlier....

[TeamBouchard]

I can only comment on the information I can see on the OS Maps available to me. I know from working with the OS that there has to be evidence on site regarding road names/house names/pub names etc for them to show it on the published map. However, the local knowledge you have makes the situation quite intriguing! It seems quite bizarre that a track - within a couple of miles of the centre of a large provincial city - should have opened, run and closed with so little evidence about its existence, particularly photographs.

 

I'm from "up the road" in Nottingham, and aside from the excellent recent book on Nottingham/Long Eaton speedways, information on the old Trent Lane track was also hard to source, but that did for a much longer period of time.

In some respects, the fact that you've actually seen the Pub with your own eyes ought to be better evidence than my simply quoting from map editions. Anybody know who the Landlord was in the 60's/70's..............LOL!

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

It seems quite bizarre that a track - within a couple of miles of the centre of a large provincial city - should have opened, run and closed with so little evidence about its existence, particularly photographs.

 

I know what you mean.

There was once a track (dogs & Speedway) just a mile or so from where I now live in Barking (was on Ripple Road in Dagenham...) and yet there is hardly any info. about the place and it simply doesn't register in any of the local histories written around here....

[gbr7037]

Take a look at the Britain from Above website. An Aerofilms flight in 1931 took a series of photos of the then new Sutton Avenue estate under construction a little to the South of the stadium. Frustratingly only one picture includes the Super, and then only in the distance and right in the top corner, but with so little info available its worth a look.

 

Previous post sent due to finger trouble before ready. Just ignore it !

[Midland Red]

Take a look at the Britain from Above website. An Aerofilms flight in 1931 took a series of photos of the then new Sutton Avenue estate under construction a little to the South of the stadium. Frustratingly only one picture includes the Super, and then only in the distance and right in the top corner, but with so little info available its worth a look.

 

Previous post sent due to finger trouble before ready. Just ignore it !

 

Thanks for that! The link is http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw035972?search=leicester%20sutton&ref=2

 

Also top left at http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw035968?search=leicester%20sutton&ref=7

Edited August 17, 2014 by Midland Red

[cityrebel]

I've got an original Leicester super badge in my collection. It was found in a jam jar during a house clearance in the Leicester area. It's amazing how these rare items still turn up after all these years!

[gbr7037]

Thanks MR, the different angle fooled me. Another look at the Britain from Above site turned up a couple of 1939 views looking up the Melton Road which show semi-detached housing being built at the western end of the site, but at an odd angle to the main road. My sister lived in another part of town for years but I can't say I know the city myself. The odd angle and a glance at the map suggests to me Glencoe Avenue, which makes me wonder about the allotment reference you see in connection with Super's afterlife. Comparison with the pic I first noticed allow a direct comparison as field boundaries are identifiable in both views. There is also just a hint of the eastern curve of the track on closer examination. I'd be interested to know what someone who knows the area thinks.

 

Incidentally, the 1931 view appears to show a grandstand on the outside of what I assume was Turn 4, but hardly the 5,000 seater I've read about. Did it fall/burn down - it was built quickly, and of wood - or was that a misprint for 500 ?

[Leicester Lion]

Thanks MR, the different angle fooled me. Another look at the Britain from Above site turned up a couple of 1939 views looking up the Melton Road which show semi-detached housing being built at the western end of the site, but at an odd angle to the main road. My sister lived in another part of town for years but I can't say I know the city myself. The odd angle and a glance at the map suggests to me Glencoe Avenue, which makes me wonder about the allotment reference you see in connection with Super's afterlife. Comparison with the pic I first noticed allow a direct comparison as field boundaries are identifiable in both views. There is also just a hint of the eastern curve of the track on closer examination. I'd be interested to know what someone who knows the area thinks.

 

Incidentally, the 1931 view appears to show a grandstand on the outside of what I assume was Turn 4, but hardly the 5,000 seater I've read about. Did it fall/burn down - it was built quickly, and of wood - or was that a misprint for 500 ?

I live fairly close by. I think the track area was around what are now Braemar Drive, Braemar Close, Strathaven Road etc (I drove along part of Braemar Drive earlier today). This would place the western end of the track opposite what was the Speedway Hotel, now Indigo restaurant. There are allotments alongside and behind Indigo.