13 - Loughborough Road & Sir Julien Cahn
Another in this series of simple easy micro caches, showing some of the local history of West Bridgford.
West Bridgford Timeline around Loughborough Road
About West Bridgford - Most of the main roads in central West Bridgford are named after wealthy families that dominated the town's early history. There are also, however, new developments that are, in effect, suburbs of the suburb named after different things. For example, the Gamston development has roads named after the Lake District, and Compton Acres has roads named after Dorset and the Purbeck Coast.
There are no 'Streets' in West Bridgford. When the town was being planned in the Victorian period, the roads were originally named as streets: for example, Musters Street and South Street. However, the planners eventually decided that the term 'Street' was too urban, so today the town has Musters Road and South Road. West Bridgford is notably different from the other suburbs of Nottingham in a variety of ways. During the Victorian period, Nottingham was growing rapidly, but development in West Bridgford was restricted, as much of the land was owned by the Musters family.
The houses on Loughborough Road (since demolished - the Gateway area to West Bridgford) were amongst the first to be built as part of the modern West Bridgford. It had continued to be an agricultural village until 1882 when the Lord of the Manor, Mr John Chaworth Musters, leased and later sold land as building plots. From a population of 293 in 1881 the town rapidly expanded to one of 7,018 in 1901.
Census and people living there 1801 – 235 1851 – 258 1901 – 7,018 2001 – 43,395 2011 – 45,509
Photos of Loughborough Road area
1950 The start of Loughborough just over Trent Bridge. Loughborough Road at its junction with Bridgford Road and Turney Bros Factory in the background - 1962
Collington Farm 1945 - Now the entrance to a well known Supermarket - Behind the farm building you can see The Wolds Public House.
Before The exisitng Supermarket. The first super market built here was named GEM - West Bridgford has a place in British retail history as the location of the UK's first major out-of-town shopping development. In 1964, an American company called GEM opened a store on Loughborough Road. However, despite ambitious expansion plans, GEM's British operations were not a success, with only one other store (at Cross Gates, Leeds) being opened. National concessionaires withdrew from the stores and, in 1966, another Supermarket company of Leeds, acquired a controlling interest in the GEM operations. The Loughborough Road site still houses this major Supermarket store, although it was resited and rebuilt some years ago.
Sir Julien Cahn 21 October 1882 Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales -Died 26 September 1944 (aged 61) Nottinghamshire, England Residence Stanford Hall, Nottinghamshire.
Julien grew up in a strict Orthodox household in Nottingham, where his father opened the Nottingham Furnishing Company in 1885. Albert was very active in the Nottingham Jewish community, becoming the president of the Chaucer Street synagogue and Hebrew Philanthropic Society. Cahn married Phyllis Muriel Wolfe on 11 July 1916. They had three children, Patience Cahn (born 1922), Albert Jonas (1924) and Richard Ian (1927). Albert Jonas assumed the baronetcy on his father's death. Cahn took over the family business. Cahn, seeing a new potential market in hire purchase sales, expanded the company to the extent that his Jays and Campbells stores were to be found in most major towns across Britain. By 1943 when he retired and sold out to Great Universal Stores (GUS), he controlled a chain more than 300 stores.
His main love, however, was cricket. He began playing as a teenager, during a time when it was common for business owners to organise teams. At age 19, he created the Nottingham Furniture Company XI with 16 of his father's employees. In 1903, the team expanded to 35 players for its third season, and was renamed the Notts Ramblers. One of the earliest players was W. H. Vaulkhard, who joined the team in 1904; his four sons also took up the sport and played on Cahn's teams. Pat Vaulkhard became a first-class player in his day. He served as president of both the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and Leicestershire County Cricket Club. He eventually built his own pitch at Stanford Hall so he could watch games at home.
From 1929 to 1939, Cahn was the captain of his own team, the Sir Julien Cahn XI, that toured the world. It was one of the most successful private teams, losing only 19 out of 621 cricket matches. Cahn recruited top players from outside England, including Australians Vic Jackson and Jack Walsh.
Stanford Hall theatre where I was lucky to perform with WBDS.
Stanford Hall now - Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) In October 2011 Stanford Hall and its grounds were purchased on behalf of Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster as a potential site for a ‘Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre’ (DNRC). The Duke, who served in the Territorial Army since the age of 20 and was committed to supporting military welfare, led a major donor fund raising campaign to cover the capital costs of the Defence element of the proposed new establishment. On 13 June 2013, Rushcliffe Borough Council "resolved to grant planning permission... for the redevelopment of the Stanford Hall estate as the potential site for the DNRC". On the 10 July 2014 HM Government announced that it had granted approval for the establishment of DNRC at Stanford Hall. Work started on the £300m three year project on 24 August 2015.