LRSA City Trail Pt.3 - Yashica minister-D

First day out for the shiny new/old Yashica minister-D, a proper weighty lump of mid-60's Rangefinder. £16 seemed fair enough for an untested piece of Japanese technology, but then it did come without a Case, Lens Cap, Yashica branded Lens Cleaning Cloth and Baseball Cap, or a working battery for the Light Meter. It also came with crumbly Light Seals, so add an extra few quid to put that right. Still a bargain though…

As with all cameras, this one has its own unique quirks and differences, which is why we keep buying them I guess. This one comes with a (presumably working) CdS Light Meter, a nice discreet feature that thankfully isn't coupled to the exposure settings, which is just as well as I have no intention of messing around with obsolete batteries to get the damn thing working.

It’s a solid heavy camera in the hand with a good bright viewfinder and a much shorter rotation for focussing than I've been used to. I rather snootily ignored the EV method of exposure settings on the Cosmic 35, but on this camera the Shutter Speed and Aperture setting are mechanically coupled in such a way that it's actually easier once you get used to it. This set of photos was effectively the test roll for the camera so I'm really pleased they've come out ok.

I got this part of the LRSA City Trail underway with an early-doors pint of Bass in the Cherry Tree, a pub I've been using on and off since the 80's when it was home to the Merry Cherry Folk Club. It's also home to Plaque No.20 so an early beer stop seemed acceptable, and photography under the influence isn’t a crime... yet. As you can see from this photograph, the Cherry has seen little in the way of modernisation in recent years. It has a very lived-in feel that marks it out as being quite special amongst the city's heavily polished alternatives. I attempted a shot of the bar but it didn't have much merit. The photo that is, not the bar, which is a bit scruffy in places but very welcoming...

That a pub like the Cherry Tree has survived at all in this part of the town centre is perhaps remarkable, squeezed as it is between the Highcross Shopping Centre, Vaughan Way ring road, and the 'bomb site' that currently exists around the Bus Station. That this is a Conservation Area obviously helps, this sign in front of the Great Unitarian Chapel being one of several that bravely hold the line against inappropriate development. A gatepost at the front of the Grade II listed Chapel is where we find Plaque No.21, one of several impressive buildings on this side of East Bond Street. The view across the road from the plaque is anything but inspiring though, hence I've concentrated on this modest but highly important sign.

Talking of pub survivors, The Salmon is another that I've been drinking in since the early 80's when it was a very basic Banks's Brewery pub. It's changed a lot since then, the current layout unrecognisable from it's previous multi-roomed, Lino flooring and Formica table top days. It’s a very good pub nevertheless, and nestled up amongst the hanging baskets you’ll find terracotta Plaque No.22. I did manage to get a decent photo inside the pub on this occasion.

Plaque No.23 is an original 1984 example mounted on an interesting Art Deco-ish building on Church Gate. I did take a decent photo of this building but changed my mind and went for the nearby roofline seen below. The lettering should read Langtons, a family run Home Furnishing Store that's just 20 years off celebrating its centenary. Will it make it I wonder, I certainly hope so because this distinctive building represents just about the limit of the city as it would have been in the post-war years, with precious little of any interest being built to replace it in the area.

By the time I'd ambled down Church Gate in search of Plaque No.24 (on the utterly dull exterior of No.53), I admit I was struggling for inspiration. Of all the roads that radiate from the landmark Clock Tower, Church Gate has always seemed the least enticing to me. Whilst it's maintained much of its heritage, if you look up, the shop frontages are relentlessly modern commercial! It's a busy street though, so plenty of opportunities for Street Photography if that's your thing. I took the easy option of a long view toward St Margaret’s, the Medieval church that the street is presumably named after.

Looking up was what I did when I got to Plaque No.25, which can be found a little further along Church Gate. The plaque is on the former Churchgate Tavern and not easy to spot as the walls have been painted in matching terracotta!

Casting around, the most significant and interesting subject would appear to be this red brick building with the date 1711 picked out. This was once the Windmill Inn, and later a Coffee House run by Thomas Cooper. The blue plaque details his involvement with the Leicester Chartist Movement. One of many examples of buildings utterly ruined at ground level, but if you walked around with vertical blinkers on you might be forgiven for thinking you were back in 19th Century Leicester.

And there it is, if not the actual physical centre of Leicester, very much the psychogeographical axis around which the city’s residents revolve. Leicester folk have been ‘meeting at the Clock Tower’ for as long as this striking Grade II memorial has existed. Plaque No.26 is affixed to a small, red liveried bank of no consequence on East Gates. I initially toyed with the idea of photographing the big red 'money' lettering across the front of the bank, maybe with some significant reflections in the windows. But then I spotted this spikey security camera, snooping noiselessly on the busy pedestrian space (and me!), seemingly linked by the geometry of the Haymarket Shopping Centre to the historic Clock Tower. This said something to me, though what it was I couldn't say.

Leicester has its fair share of old Banking buildings like this one, architecturally impressive with no expense spared in the construction, projecting their huge self-importance as much as anything. Most are now listed buildings, and as such many have survived the closure of the actual banking facility to become attractive pubs or restaurants. This one is still a bank though, and a prime subject for Plaque No.27 on the High Street as it radiates from the Clock Tower.

Next: LRSA City Trail Pt.4 - The FED 1