Sports ground mystery

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Sat 18 Feb, 2012 9:25 pm

We have covered this before, but IIRC (which I often don't) we didn't identify the owners/users/originators.Backing onto the Stanmores close to Headingley stadium is a sports ground which today is a car park and soccer pitch (well used) in years gone by it accomodated tennis and bowling (1934 godfrey map).So who created this sports ground for whose use? And today who plays there..... Big virtual havanna for the person to solve this one?

Tasa · Post by **Tasa** » Sat 18 Feb, 2012 10:25 pm

I can't find anything about its current ownership, but this article from 2008 shows that it was then owned by Leeds City Council and used by the Kirkstall Crusaders junior football team, and gives the history of the site, dating back to Taylor's Drug Company, later Elida Gibbs. There were plans to privatise the site at the time of the article.http://www.kirkstallward.net/elida/index.htmI don't smoke so you can save the Havana for someone who comes up with something more recent than 2008!

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Sat 18 Feb, 2012 10:52 pm

I'd imagine its still owned by the council then and is still probably subject to all kinds of bids and backhanders within the council to try and poach it for private development etc. I mentioned in the previous post that I used to live adjacent to the sports ground on Back Stanmore Place and I can testify that the sports ground is surprisingly well used by local teams. If you venture down there most weekends and some evenings you'll witness cars parked along the small side streets and see a variety of different groups of people playing various sports along with spectators and parents occupying the sidelines. Of course due to its location any bit of spare land is prime property development opportunity with investment potential due to the proximity to the universities and you only have to look at the area around Headingley Station to see the amount of modern apartments that have been thrown up in recent years. Perhaps the area has been given something of a reprieve due to the state of the global economy but who knows? As long as there is money to grease palms then the existence of places like this hangs in the balance.

BarFly · Post by **BarFly** » Sat 18 Feb, 2012 11:15 pm

How are sports grounds "managed" by the local authority?I'm used to their management of listed buildings which allegedly involves allegedly turning an alleged blind eye to alleged arson to allegedly bring the property prices down, allegedly, or so it has been speculated.

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Sun 19 Feb, 2012 1:31 pm

My experience is you pay a couple of thosand ayear to get changed in condemned facilities which are eventually sealed and a man paints some lines on a patch of lumpy ground for you. Having ssaid that some ncie pitches have been laid at holt park.

jdbythesea · Post by **jdbythesea** » Sun 19 Feb, 2012 2:19 pm

Cardiarms wrote: My experience is you pay a couple of thosand ayear to get changed in condemned facilities which are eventually sealed and a man paints some lines on a patch of lumpy ground for you. Having ssaid that some ncie pitches have been laid at holt park. I remember playing on the pitch behind the fire station at Cookridge back in the early/mid 70s (the fire station wasn't there in those days of course).That pitch rarely had much grass on it and was very bumpy. It was probably the highest in the city(?) and in the bleak mid-winter it was like being at the North Pole. I think they dug it up eventually. Glad to hear the new pitches are far better.There was also a regularly vandalised shower block behind the old Ralph Thoresby school but if you weren't one of the first in, the water was always either cold or lukewarm. Mind you, come to think of it, weren't all showers like that? JD

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Sun 19 Feb, 2012 6:43 pm

Tasa wrote: I can't find anything about its current ownership, but this article from 2008 shows that it was then owned by Leeds City Council and used by the Kirkstall Crusaders junior football team, and gives the history of the site, dating back to Taylor's Drug Company, later Elida Gibbs. There were plans to privatise the site at the time of the article.http://www.kirkstallward.net/elida/index.htmI don't smoke so you can save the Havana for someone who comes up with something more recent than 2008! Mystery solved Tasa - you are a gem.The drug company building still has the taylors name in stylish brickwork/tiling and the sports ground is just over the road. I assume Elida Gibbs took them over. Before the sports ground there was a grand old house. The odd building opposite Taylors was the gatehouse.Kirkstall Crusaders is a club I know who play at many age levels, and my lads level they play on the Primary school pitch by Becketts Park so I didn't associate them with the mystery ground - it all makes sense now

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Mon 20 Feb, 2012 7:00 pm

Round the back of the old girl's school swimming pool on Victoria Rd there's a fairly well hidden sports ground.http://tinyurl.com/7fsc9xlI expect the whole lot, pool, land etc will form part of the sale if/when the school is sold or is it already.

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Mon 20 Feb, 2012 7:06 pm

Yes, gone for development, despite the campaign to keep them as local playing fields in an area where there are none.

Ossiewaller · Post by **Ossiewaller** » Tue 21 Feb, 2012 3:18 pm

Just had a quick look at this thread and it immediately took me back to an old sports ground i used to frequent as a kid in the 70s/early 80s, which also went for development; the old YMCA ground off Osmondthorpe Lane. I was surprised at the time how many houses they managed to get on that site however those small housing plots seem the norm.Again in the same area, I am pleasently pleased to see that the ground off Skelton Road is still in use. there was a period where it wasn't being used and i thought that that may also go the way of development.