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Memory Lane Southend Town Centre

what a great photo of the Queens Hotel..didnt it "burn down" ??? many years ago.
No, it was left derelict by the owners (Developers) for a number of years and then Southend Borough Council gave them planning permission to demolish it completely and build the flats shown above.

Unfortunately this happened all over Southend to some great old buildings.
 
I remember it being a car park for Westcliff Station for a number of years.

I did think it was fire damaged, though.
 
Queens hotel...shame its gone,that was a building,unlike whats built there now...big profit for the firm who built it??
 
Queens hotel...shame its gone,that was a building,unlike whats built there now...big profit for the firm who built it??

Which raises the question of why the Council sold Seaway car park ( behind the sea front ) for £1, when it rakes in hundreds of thousands every year in car park fees?.
Surely the Company who brought it for development, didn't offer the Council a % of it's turnover??.
 
There may have been some "fires" after it closed and left to decay while the developers sorted planning permission, bit like the Esplanade recently.

I dug a little bit and there was a fire there in 1973, but that was way before the decay set in, so I agree that it was left to ruin, rather than fire damaged at the end of it's glory.

Just had it stuck in my mind that it was caused by a fire. Muddled probably with the Pier, I think.

My last visit there was early eighties for a soul night one Friday night. I recall even then in my drunken heydey how much character the building had.

Like many buildings of it's era, it could and should have been saved and preserved.
 
Used to have a disco in the basement as I receall, but 73 was a good year for me as I took the Queens Shilling and had many a good year at the taxpayers expence.
 
BBBL...who thought we would be writing-moaning about Send CC-BC..the Queens..car parks,etc...all those years ago when we had long hair and were running around ROOTS HALL
We ARE old now!!!
 
BBBL...who thought we would be writing-moaning about Send CC-BC..the Queens..car parks,etc...all those years ago when we had long hair and were running around ROOTS HALL
We ARE old now!!!

Speak for yourself Ozzie, age is but a number!. And by the way, I still go running 4 times per week ( fit 'old?' sod! ).
Admit the barnet is getting thinner on top, probably due to all the years watching the Blues ( pulling it out in frustration! ).
 
Not as old as you'd think - 1870 according to this....
http://www.essexviews.uk/photos/Essex Churches/Essex Churches U-Z/slides/Southend-Church-Essex-Methodist-Westcliffe.html

Southend planning officers are recommending refusal to knock down the church hall and convert the church to housing.



Southend-Church-Essex-Methodist-Westcliffe.jpg
 
Funny, what pops up on youtube. Up to date video of Leigh-on-Sea :-

 
Lived in Leigh for 15 years myself. Just off The Broadway.

Done that walk in the first video many a time. If anyone ever wants to test their fitness, do those steps up from The Bell to the High Street! :Thumbs down:
 
Lived in Leigh for 15 years myself. Just off The Broadway.

Done that walk in the first video many a time. If anyone ever wants to test their fitness, do those steps up from The Bell to the High Street! :Thumbs down:
Or the steps up to St Clements Church after a few beers in old Leigh!! Old pubs is a different thread maybe but at the bottom of Leigh Hill by the railway footbridge you had the Ship, the big pub on the corner.. that’s been closed ages and is all boarded up. I believe the landlady had money troubles. The Bell Hotel was opposite but is long gone, turned into apartments. It lay derelict and unused for years and years and was finally demolished after the roof collapsed in .. 2015? A while ago now.

Have had a read of this thread from the beginning.. great pics and memories. There’s a tear in my eye!!
 
I didn't know The Bell had gone. Yes, used to go to The Ship. They had a soul/jazz night upstairs once a month, Good times.

This is one of my favourite threads on here. Started off as a bit of a whim really, but the contributions have made it a very interesting and nostalgic read. Loads of great photos posted.
 
I didn't know The Bell had gone. Yes, used to go to The Ship. They had a soul/jazz night upstairs once a month, Good times.

This is one of my favourite threads on here. Started off as a bit of a whim really, but the contributions have made it a very interesting and nostalgic read. Loads of great photos posted.
Absolutely and sad how the town has changed. I particularly liked the old pics of Victoria Circus, looking up Victoria Avenue. What they did at that end of the High St is appalling really. The Ship is meant to be restored as a hotel but not sure what’s happening, it’s not been touched since it shut suddenly. To be fair it wasn’t the place it was nor was it as busy, shame really.
 
Yes, that Victoria Circus roundabout was a thing of beauty, especially with the Victoria Hotel on the corner, mercilessly bulldozed for that appalling Barclays Bank building.

The video (post #32) is quite special too, but the whole thread is covered in nostalgia.
 
Great to see those vid's - always brings back fond memories. Although I was brought up in Southend, I lived in Leigh in the mid-70's for a short while when I came out of the RAF before emigrating to Kent. Loved the place, rain or shine. Well, there was an exception to that; standing on Leigh railway station in the winter - by Christ the wind used to whip through there and could feel like you were being sand-blasted :Stunned:
 
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