IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Grassington Road, NOTTINGHAM, NG8 3PA

Now owned by Nottingham Girls' High School, this huge playing field was once Players Rec, home of Players Athletic cricket, football and other sports teams. In the days of benevolent employers, all the big Nottingham firms had fine sports grounds, and John Player & Sons was no exception. (The Raleigh ground was at Wollaton and Boots at Lady Bay.)

The Ascot Road end of a footpath through the allotments to New Bridge, Ainsley Estate and Old Radford. Player's Bonded Warehouse, on Wollaton Road, is on the skyline in the centre.

This not especially exciting 2009 photograph is now of some small historical interest as Ascot Works, latterly occupied by Speedo, was demolished in May 2013. This view from the path through the allotments (some of which are behind the hedge) which links Bobbers Mill, Ainsley Estate and Old Radford shows the former factory building (still standing) occupied by Collins Cash & Carry on the left and one of the more recent parts of Ascot Works straight ahead. Alan Murray-Rust's Image] shows Ascot Works from Bobbers Mill Bridge; my Image] and Image] show the site after demolition.

A big area of the Mill Allotment Holders Association's plots stretches from Ascot Road to New Bridge, between Grassington Road and the railway. The railway is over the hedge at the back, and the houses on Poulter Close (built on the site of Radford Colliery) can be seen through the trees on the other side of the railway. These allotments feature in Radford author Alan Sillitoe's short story "The Decline and Fall of Frankie Buller", set in the 1930s.

Now owned by Nottingham Girls' High School, this huge playing field was once Players Rec, home of Players Athletic cricket, football and other sports teams. All the big Nottingham firms had fine sports grounds, and John Player & Sons was no exception. (The Raleigh ground was at Wollaton and Boots at Lady Bay.)

One of three competing railways up the Leen Valley between Nottingham and Mansfield, this was the first to be built and the last to remain. It is now the route of the Robin Hood Line. To the right can be seen part of the Speedo swimwear factory.

A small estate is being built on the site of Ascot Works, near Bobbers Mill Bridge. Behind the camera the cinder path leads through allotments to New Bridge and Ainsley Estate. Image] was taken from a similar spot in 2009.

The nearer buildings are part of the Ascot Works of the Speedo swimwear company. The long building behind is no longer in the textile business but instead houses a large Cash and Carry business

Trains from Worksop and Mansfield are on the last leg of their journey to Nottingham as they pass Bobbers Mill Bridge and the Speedo factory on the right. This line was built, in 1848, to carry coal, but is now used by commuter trains. The overgrown area to the left of the tracks was once part of Radford Colliery. Player's Bonded Warehouse on Wollaton Road is in the distance to the left of the tree in the centre. On this bright early-autumn morning the plume of steam from Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, eight miles south-south-west of here, showed clearly. For another distant view of it taken a couple of hours later, see Image Alan Murray-Rust took Image] here in much greyer November 2007.

The houses to the left, on Meden Gardens and (behind the trees) Poulter Close, are on the site of Radford Colliery, which closed in the 1960s. The railway, now The Robin Hood Line from Nottingham to Mansfield and Worksop, was built by the Midland Railway in 1848. The many-windowed white building in the distance is Players Bonded Warehouse on Wollaton Road.