Revamped Briggate Shop Leeds

Picture of Topshop Briggate Leeds.

Normally I would never feature a chin shop like Topshop on the Leeds Daily Photo but these are not normal times. Our high street shops are under pressure unlike any time before. Over the last few years shops that were household names have folded and gone.

Nearly two years ago I featured the old branch of Topshop that was here when UK Uncut were protesting there. Since that time nothing has changed except I think that perhaps more people have come to realise that with the revelations about Starbucks ethics and tax, we really are not all in it together as our prime minister David Cameron has stated.

I missed Sir Phillip Green when he came to Leeds and was at his new Topshop store here on Briggate. Pity else I could have got a quote from him about his and the companies tax affairs. I took the above Leeds photograph on Briggate early yesterday evening.

I did not realize topshop had gone, Topshop stores across the country closed last year when its parent company, the Arcadia Group, collapsed......

200th Anniversary of Bronte Wedding

Picture of Bronte Marriage Church.

Today is the 200th anniversary of the marriage of the Reverend Patrick Bronte and Maria Branwell who was to become his wife.

Today is the 200th anniversary of the marriage of the Reverend Patrick Bronte and Maria Branwell who was to become his wife.

The wedding took place here in Guiseley Parish Church on 29th December 1812. In the above photo taken by me this morning is the rail at which they took the wedding vows and above the rail a wooden plaque celebrating the marriage here. Also between the rain and the wooden plaque there is a copy of the marriage certificate of Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell.

On marriage to Patrick, Maria was aged 29 and the couple would go on to have 6 children before she died of cancer aged 38 on the 15 September 1821. Their marriage lasted fewer than ten years but within that time the legacy of the four younger children (the eldest two Maria and Elizabeth died before the age of 12) was set in place. Today those four, the three sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne and their brother Branwell live on in the classic works of literature set right here in Yorkshire.

To celebrate this anniversary the bells of the church here at Guiseley were rung this morning with a 2 and 3/4 hour full peal.

Petrea Burchard30 December 2012 at 03:46 The photo and story are wonderful, and the bells are a special treat!

Reply Librarian30 December 2012 at 08:45 Thank you, this was very interesting! While I am not a Bronte "fan" as such, the stories of their lives move me, and I have often stood at the grave at one of the sisters in Scarborough, just before the road leads up to the castle.

Reply Chrissy Brand30 December 2012 at 17:53 Fascinating, tempus fugit.

Reply

Deb30 December 2012 at 18:17 Goodness the bell ringers must have been ready for a cuppa after that! Interesting post Paul I had always assumed they married in Ireland. Looking forward to the panorama. Reply

Public Art Leeds, Yorkshire

Picture of public art in Leeds.

This public art was commissioned by the private Nuffield hospital here in Leeds from the artist Faith Bebbington. The sculpture was installed back in 2002, oddly I never noticed it until quite recently.

Faith based the sculpture on Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing "Human figure in a square in a circle".

The sculpture is outside the hospital on Leighton Street LS1 3EB.

End Of The Line

Picture of the end of the line.

I could not resist this shot of the end of the line. In truth the line continues but it does rather come to an abrupt end.

This is the Abbey Light Railway at Kirkstall Leeds, run by volunteers adjacent to Kirkstall Abbey.