SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Evening all,I was a student at Leeds back in the late 90s. I had heard of Winston's at the time - friends of friends had apparently visited (and no doubt some friends but who probably kept it quiet). I know this place is/was a little dodge (ok basically a knocking shop). Anyway some 14 years later I am trying to write about my student days in Leeds - for the purposes of a good story I am writing about visiting Winston's (even though I never did - honest!).I have tried to Google the place but it seems to have moved? I was hoping a local could clarify for me where it would have been located back circa 1998 (it definitely was closer to the student housing areas than town back then - I'm thinking Kirkstall?). Also small things like how much it cost to get in? Any small details about the place - like did it have a pool table? A bar? TVs, etc. I'm presuming that not every bloke who goes there is 'indulging'. Would be a common stop on lads' nights out, stag nights, etc. This is my first post and going by the content it probably looks like I am trying to troll here - I certainly am not. I just don't want to write about visiting a place when in reality I never did. For the purposes of writing a good story however I'd like to say I had.Thanks in advance for anyone who can help with my query and tell me about a place that certainly belongs to the 'secret' side of Leeds.

It has been known as both "Winstons" & "Churchills" & the only reason I know this place (honest ) is because it used to be the Crescent cinema http://goo.gl/maps/mkLMW

uncle mick wrote: It has been known as both "Winstons" & "Churchills" & the only reason I know this place (honest ) is because it used to be the Crescent cinema http://goo.gl/maps/mkLMW Wow uncle mick that takes me back to the fiftys when it was a cinema.I once fell outside and chipped my front tooth on one of the marble pillars i still have the chipped tooth to this day i did not think about it at the time but once inside i bought an ice cream bit into it and nearly went through the roof thats when i found out i had an open nerve.Happy days.    

There is a good picture of it in this story:http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 6278535Not sure of the date as it doesn't appear in the header.If you use a search engine other than Google, pages still come up for it although the actual website is deactivated but some are still on the net for Churchills.

Thanks for the responses. The links and pic featured in the news story seem to be the 'new' location - back in the late 90s it was apparently on Kirkstall Road and not Dewsbury Road. I'm not that familiar with Leeds any more but that would make sense as Kirkstall Road is very close to Hyde Park (where I lived) and I know that it wasn't that far away. Anyway any more input about that place - e.g. entry cost, if there was a pool table, bar, etc - would be really helpful as it's hard to describe a place you never actually went to. For the purposes of a good story though it would be really helpful to include it. Cheers

You mean the Winstons on West Street, close to the casinohttp://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIde ... SPLAY=FULL

buffaloskinner wrote: You mean the Winstons on West Street, close to the casinohttp://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIde ... SPLAY=FULL Just noticed the name on the front above the glass frontage - NOWT TO DO WIV ME!!!!

About here: http://goo.gl/maps/VbQPpI never went. IIRC the paint job was from to the previous occupier who imported luxury fabrics or something, even had a piece on Look North about it.

That's the place in Buffalo's pic. It was £10 to get in. They had a TV room showing, well do I have to say, pool tables a massive jaccuzi, steam room and showers for after the wassername. There was also a bar but they weren't licenced to sell beer or anything else the 'ladies' sold in there. God knows what went on upstairs!!    

The Chameleon bit on the front was a small independant TV company.