SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

I took this photo today (Sept 15 2012). It shows a spacecraft that had crashed into a store on Briggate and an alien monster that had emerged. Amazingly, at what could have been an extraterrestrial attack, there was no panic. Good to know that in a crisis we continue shopping as normal! The store (which was the electronics 'Currys.digital') has been altered and has just reopened as the 'Republic' clothes store. The display is one of many good and highly visual creations over the years at Leeds stores, though most have been in window displays.

LeoI was doing my 'bored husband stands outside shoe shop as womenfolk buy shoes' this afty up there.There was one of those street artists who was puzzling and amazing folks by appearing to sit down on >nothing< !You may have seen him near Jones shoes.He stands. He sits down. He even crosses his right leg over.I reckon I have sussed it:- Beneath him is a rug on the pavementHe has big shoes/trousers/suit with tails turned up front + backThe rug goes beneath + behindSomethinks metal frame hidden 'chair' goes under rug up left leg and seat beneath him (within big trousers). See pic.    

Leodian wrote: I took this photo today (Sept 15 2012). It shows a spacecraft that had crashed into a store on Briggate and an alien monster that had emerged. Amazingly, at what could have been an extraterrestrial attack, there was no panic. Good to know that in a crisis we continue shopping as normal! The store (which was the electronics 'Currys.digital') has been altered and has just reopened as the 'Republic' clothes store. The display is one of many good and highly visual creations over the years at Leeds stores, though most have been in window displays. Nice pic - the story will probably feature in Wednesdays YEP...

Cheers Jogon and raveydavey. I did not see that street artist, but I shall look out for him. Sounds intriguing.    

Leo Just noticed, to the left of your pic is a narrow building, retail/ground currently Body Shop corner of Briggate/Albion Pl.Did I dream it or did there used to be a Gents Barber Shop downstairs there mid 60's?

Jogon wrote: Leo Just noticed, to the left of your pic is a narrow building, retail/ground currently Body Shop corner of Briggate/Albion Pl.Did I dream it or did there used to be a Gents Barber Shop downstairs there mid 60's? Sorry Jogon but I don't recall what was there then so I cannot help on this one.

Leodian wrote: Jogon wrote: Leo Just noticed, to the left of your pic is a narrow building, retail/ground currently Body Shop corner of Briggate/Albion Pl.Did I dream it or did there used to be a Gents Barber Shop downstairs there mid 60's? Sorry Jogon but I don't recall what was there then so I cannot help on this one. I remember during the sixties that shop premises being occupied by Horne Brothers. Cannot remember that there was anything around there to do with tonsorial enhancement though.However! It's always wise to check before posting so I had a quick google for Horne Bros Briggate and this came up - a poem by Cliff Ashby at http://www.happenstancepress.comInsomniaI cannot sleepNor can I sit still:The night engulfs me.Over my earpieceLunceford plays MargieFrom seventy years agoWhen the futureStill looked lovelyAnd I sported a trilbyAnd a Cary GrantHaircut acquiredFrom Horne Bros, Briggate.I thought myselfIrresistible, whichPalpably I wasn’t.Come 1936, LuncefordWas out of favourAnd my heroesWere Lester YoungAnd the Basie Band.Lady Be GoodWas my first Encounter with Lester.Not that I wantedMy lady to be good.No, that was not whatI hankered afterIn the dead stillOf a windless nightWhen the silent treesLusted for the moonAnd I hadLess noble dreams.So back to the Barbers Shop. Maybe. Maybe not. Whether the trilby and the haircut were both acquired from Horne Brothers is unclear. Whether the narrative is a total fiction is unknown.A bit of research shows that Cliff Ashby was born in Norfolk in 1919 and left school at 14, later moving to Leeds to become a window-dresser.Here is another extract from the Internet...Much of Ashby's poetry presents versions of his autobiographical and observational experience of the Leeds area with a compelling unsentimentality and documentary vividness. A dourly humorous disenchantment contributes to the remarkable levelness of tone common to harrowingly personal poems and scathing reflections on the spiritual bankruptcy of modern existence.Doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs.

That's interesting salt 'n pepper. Perhaps there was a barber/shaving place inside Horne Brothers. As to Cliff Ashby's poetry your "Doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs." made me .    

Following on from my earlier post which unveiled the poetry of Cliff Ashby on this site, I am now totally convinced that there is nothing which is left uncovered on YouTube.There are references in the poem 'Insomnia' to Lunceford playing 'Margie' and to Lester Young's rendition of 'Lady Be Good'.If you are remotely interested and have a minute or two to spare, here they are. And if you're musical taste is bordering on eclectic, you will not be disappointed.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWJZy6t4 ... eqwPX4T4E0    

Leodian wrote: I took this photo today (Sept 15 2012). It shows a spacecraft that had crashed into a store on Briggate and an alien monster that had emerged. Amazingly, at what could have been an extraterrestrial attack, there was no panic. Good to know that in a crisis we continue shopping as normal! The store (which was the electronics 'Currys.digital') has been altered and has just reopened as the 'Republic' clothes store. The display is one of many good and highly visual creations over the years at Leeds stores, though most have been in window displays. Your photo no longer works.