That would be about 1975/76?
Not that I ever frequented the place [size=9apart from three or four times[/size

The stripper lunchtime visits, oops, sorry, visit in the singular, honest, would have been 75/76 but they didn't close until the mid to late 1980's (I think), they certainly had some of our rental equipment in the bar when they closed but we daren't go and pick it up



Likewise a certain ex-Leeds Rhinos player did a runner with our gear from his city centre bar around 97/98

Really?
You never mentioned it before.

The filter at work wont let me see the picture, so where are we talking about gents?

[urlhttp://www.leodis.net/imagesLeodis/screen/56/2006221_160756.jpg[/url

The pub nearest my mothers house. Surprisingly, it's in the middle of an estate and apart from the recent addition of an outside smoking area, looks exactly the same some 40 years later.

The Gaiety. It must have closed late 80's i left school in 86, one of my mates ( no really ) used to go there regularly in our early drinking days.

the blurb under the pic ( copyright alert - am i ok copying and pasting this ? ) suggests as late as 1990, but i reckon it was earlier

"Undated. View of the delapidated sign on the frontage of The Gaiety Public House with tattered advertisements for entertainment, dating the photograph to c1996. From 1990, and during this period, it had stood empty, attracting drug users and prostitutes in its derelict state. The foundation stone for this, in its heyday, 'state-of-the-art' public house was laid by Mr. J.W. Cameron of J.W. Cameron & Company Ltd, Brewers of Hartlepool, in April 1972. It opened in December 1972 and there was a two page spread in the Evening Post of 6th December 1972 introducing The Gaiety as an entertainment venue. The new public house was built on the site of the old Gaiety Kinema at the junction of Gathorne Terrace with Roundhay Road. The old cinema was open between 1921 and 1958 but was subsequently demolished. Now The Gaiety public house has also been demolished and the site is occupied by the Archway, a resource centre providing help, advice and counselling to 16-25 year-olds.

other pic says

"Undated. View of The Gaiety Public House with boarded windows and the remnants of old advertising posters which date the photograph to c1996. The Gaiety opened officially on 7th December 1972 on the site of the old Gaiety Kinema at the junction of Gathorne Terrace with Roundhay Road. It was designed R. K. Waites of the York architects firm of Waites & Moorey, and built at a cost of £225,000. The site was divided by Gipton Beck and so the Gaiety was designed with a central archway under which the beck ran in a culvert. The two sides of the building were linked by a bridge which housed one of the 5 bars, The Vaudeville Bar. On the ground floor was The Roundhay Public Bar which could accommodate 350 to 400 people; above was The Carousel Bar with a dance floor, juke box and a 17 metre circular bar; also on the ground floor was The Gaiety Bar and Gaiety Restaurant and above these was The Variety Room which provided live entertainment at weekends and offered room hire for private parties and weddings. The decor of The Gaiety was in keeping with that of the Edwardian era. On opening night , actor Stephen Lewis, 'Blakey' in the T.V. situation comedy, 'On The Buses', pulled the first pint. The manager was Mr. Alan Coultas-Brown. By 1990 The Gaiety had closed its doors for the last time but stood derelict for many years. Leeds City Council demolished it at a cost of £39,000 which included landscaping costs. Now the Archway, a resource centre for 16 - 25 year-olds has been built on the site, set up in 2001 by Leeds City Council with funding from the European Regional Development fund. The services offered include housing support, counselling, advice on education, occupations, drug and mental health issues. There is practical help in the form of laundry and shower facilities.



sounds lovely, i feel i missed out.

Sounds lovelier than the reality, I remember being terrified

Ah, The Gaiety, never went in but what a famous establishment! I reckon they're about right with the dates, as I'm sure it shut before I went to university, which was in 1991.

As for the blurb, it says after it closed it attracted drug users and prostitutes in it's derelict state. How's that different to when it was open?

Precisely



I do know of several police officers who lamented the closure of The Hayfield for the simple reason that on any given night they knew exactly where to find all the wrong 'uns and if a rookie policeman needed to make a drugs bust to tick off in his "How to be a policeman" training manual they could take him there and have that section of the book ticked off in five minutes.

I'd heard about that as well, the rumour was the police contested the licence application on the publican's side for the very reasons you mention!

never had the pleasure [url=http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2007321_163050&DISPLAY=FULLof the Hayfield either[/url , the BF of an aquaintance ingratiated himself to a few of the Hayfield faces to get some dodgy geezers from elsewhere off his back, they stuck him in a safe house for a couple of weeks, without his GF knowing where he was - when they finally allowed him to get in contact with her, they agreed they could meet at said boozer, when she got there he was been protected by various dodgy looking fellas brandishing various firearms.. nice.

I used to live on Spencer Place - remember the Gaiety and the hayfield well. First time I went in the latter, there was a 7 aside football match going in the pool room. And despite all the macho tales from the police, neither establishment was policed in any serious way as far as I was aware - certainly not by the uniform boys, although I'd guess they kept a pretty close eye on the comings and goings.

I once walked through the Man O'War lounge of the Fforde Greene pub, when I say "walked through" I mean "walked through very fast", never has a pub lounge bar been so appropriately named.

Its also on the story [url=http://jerrychicken.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/brasso-and-its-intoxicating-qualities/Brasso and its intoxicating qualities[/url

Mate of mine used to work for a company that fixed the tills in Tetley's pubs around the North. As such, he got to know the managers and saw the weekly vacancies list and was asked if he knew certain pubs. The list gave size of pub, whether it did meals, kiddies playground, that sort of thing. The Fforde Green's entry simply read "If you do not know this pub, do not apply"

Hello neighbour, I used to live behind Chapel Allerton hospital in the mid-1980's.
I only went in the Hayfield a few times and was asked every time "You wahnt a smoke?" whilst crossing the car park to get to go in.
I always assumed that much else was available if you wanted it.
Inside, it looked far, far worse than it was ... and it was bad enough anyway.
I took a mate in there once just to see his reaction.
His eyes were like saucers.
An old bloke next to him, in the middle of a conversation, suddenly put the tip of his walking stick under my mate's chin and told him menacingly not to move a muscle or he'd flick the lever that sprung the blade out.
There were a few seconds of eye-to-eye terror before he cracked into a broad grin and cackled that he was only joking.
Ee, I've had some laughs in there.

From a certain bar tucked away off the Headrow?

hayfields and gaiety!!!!!!!! memories there

also nellies bar was a fave after football.had some good nights in there,esp one with a miners wife from donny

The Hayfield was a dump to be honest. A great place for student types to be 'down' and buy a 'teenth' (usually comprised completely of bitumastic!). The Gaiety was pretty much the same (handy for a long night at Sunny's if that was your thing).

Cantor's did do a good chicken and chips, only tried the Dutch Pot once, didn't feel the need to go back!!!!

Never had any bother in the Fforde Green (although I have to concede that others did!).

Aye.



Not sure how much debt he left behind because we didn't even get listed on the recievers report but one minute he was living here the next minute he was living in NZ

Yeah, a few of my mates worked there. It was a great laugh in there at times. From what they said, he bolted quickly.

the sin bin under the sports shop lillywhites.......

[url=http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2002815_52676028&DISPLAY=FULLHolbeck Baths, where were they then?[/url

and don't say Holbeck.

Holbeck Lane