The wagon repair shop was built in 1897 as part of the Great Central Railways London Extension, which passed through Leicester on a series of impressive viaducts and bridges. The building was situated in the large goods yards south of the city, a site which in later years became famous for being the home of Vic Berry's scrapyard. The GCR through Leicester finally closed in 1969 though by this time the building had long since fallen out of use for its original purpose. By the early 90's the metal fabricators CPH (Thurmaston) were using the building. In 2011 there were plans to demolish the building and replace it with an eight storey block of student flats. On Sept 20th 2011 an order was granted to bring the potential demolition of the Victorian building under council control. On Sept 21st at around 10pm windows started being smashed and removed, and local residents could hear hammers and angle grinders at work. In the morning it could be seen some windows had been removed and crudely bricked up and random paint thrown over the brickwork and some graffiti daubed on the walls! There were plans to turn the building into a drive through restaurant among other things, but these were refused. There is currently work going on at the building, but no idea what they are doing to it!
First a few exterior photos I took in 2001...
First a few exterior photos I took in 2001...
