Where Is This? No.40

Published on: 7 Jan, 2013
Updated on: 7 Jan, 2013

By David Rose

Last week’s mystery photo did indeed show the house that stood on the corner of Woodbridge Road and Leas Road, with the St John Ambulance station behind.

Well done to all those who correctly identified it, along with naming the mystery clock as being on the building at the junction of London Road and Epsom Road. Click here to see last week’s post and all the replies at the foot of the page.

Remember this building?

Can you name the building featured this week? I have cropped it a good deal – mainly taking out the sign.

If you need a clue: it was opened in about 1972 and lasted some 20 years.

And do you know where this week’s mystery clock, pictured by Alistair Fulton, can be found in Guildford?

If you know the answers to please leave a reply in the box below. All replies will be posted at about the same time next week, along with a new post with the answers to this week’s photo and mystery date, and the next pair of images.

Responses to Where Is This? No.40

Bernard Parke Reply

January 7, 2013 at 6:55 pm

1)The Building is the old Sports centre in bedford Road.

Princess Anne opened it in the presents of Frank Sparrow the Butcher from Stoughton who was Mayor at the time.

2) The Clock is on the Alms House building in Stoke Road
- Justin Wallace Reply
  
  February 8, 2014 at 3:37 pm
  
  I agree with you but I cannot for the life of me find any other pictures of the former Guildford Sports Centre, where we had a restuarant, diving and swimming pools, weights training room.
  All this technology like Facebook but no memory photos anywhere.
  Why? and where can we find them?
  
  [David Rose replies: It has only been in recent years that many people have had a mobile phone or similar device with a camera as part of it and have snapped pictures of themselves and friends where ever they go. Yes, people have had cameras, but taking pictures inside places such as the former Guildford Sports Centre just wasn’t done. I swam, played five-a-side football and used the bar there – and although I have always been a keen photographer, never once did I think of taking my camera there. Did you? Or anyone else for that matter? It would be good to see some images. As it was borough-council owned, there may be some photos on file at Millmead, or in town guide brochures from the 1970s and 80s, etc, if anyone still has copies.]
David Bott Reply

January 7, 2013 at 8:14 pm

IS this the old Guildford Sports Centre by the river where Odeon now stands?!
David & Ann Bailey Reply

January 8, 2013 at 5:06 pm

Picture is of the old Sports Centre in Bedford Road.

The clock is on Stoke Hospital in Stoke Road.
Chris Townsend Reply

January 8, 2013 at 8:29 pm

The mystery building is Guildford Sports Centre.

The clock is on Stoke Hospital, (Parson’s Almshouses) in Stoke Road, on the corner of Onslow Road.
Stella Goodwin Reply

January 10, 2013 at 12:08 pm

The clock: Stoke Hospital, Stoke Rd, I think.
Ray Springer Reply

January 10, 2013 at 1:42 pm

The clock is on a building in Stoke Road (No.90 I think)opposite Stoke Fields. The building was known as Stoke Hospital and the plaque on the brick gable beneath the clock has the inscription “This hospital was established 1796 by William and Henry Parson of this parish”
Not sure what the building is used for now, still looks in good condition.
Angela Gunning Reply

January 11, 2013 at 1:37 pm

It’s the old sports centre, beside the Bedford Road Car Park, now occupied by the Odeon etc.
brian holt Reply

January 13, 2013 at 7:44 pm

This was the Guildford Sports Centre which was opened in 1972.

I remember it being built on the old Bedford Road Car park site, next to the River Wey.

This was later demolished, to make way for new multiplex Odeon cinema,

The clock is on the old Stoke Road Hospital as it was known when opened in 1796.
Today the building has self contain flats for senior residents
It is in Stoke Road and on the corner of Onslow Road.
Doug Staniforth Reply

January 14, 2013 at 11:29 am

Hi Dave

It’s the Sports Centre, Bedford Road. The clock is Stoke Hospital, Stoke Road. Do you have any “state of the art” music centres?

Regards
Doug and Bill
John Schluter Reply

January 16, 2013 at 11:38 pm

I attended a series of squash lessons there in the late eighties held on Tuesday evenings.

I remember getting changed and trying to avoid hearing the banter of the fellow participants and other members discussing the day’s various sporting goings on, especially so The Ashes.

The day’s highlights (?) were on BBC in the evening and in those days it was relatively easy to avoid hearing the score / result / abject Australian humiliation until then!

Happy days
Paul Lambert Reply

September 1, 2016 at 4:02 pm

I actually worked at this sports centre from two weeks before it opened (to prepare the centre) and then for about a year after.

Yes it was opened by Princess Anne (who spoke to me). I remember putting on lifeguard diving shows, the excellent cafeteria etc. It was state of the art at the time.
David Gill Reply

February 18, 2021 at 12:49 pm

I’d recognise it anywhere – I, too, worked at the old Guildford Sports Centre from 1973-1976. I started as a Sports Assistant and a year later became a Senior Supervisor.

Owned and managed by Guildford Borough Council, it was a large “wet and dry” complex, one of the earliest community sports centres in the country. And it was well used, the swimming pool complex was especially popular with families so much so that we operated a “coloured band” system so that when it got busy a loud alarm would sound informing swimmers which colour bands were to leave the pool.

Like most things, it eventually got old and tired and it was replaced by the “all-singing, all-dancing” Guildford Spectrum. But Guildford Sports Centre was a well-used and popular facility and it had a special place in the community in its day.
Grant McTaggart Reply

September 10, 2023 at 8:56 am

I Worked at the Guildford Sports Centre for 22 years from 1971 until it closed in 1993. I was 15 years old when I started work there. I remember Paul Lambert and so many other staff. They were some of the best years of my life.

I now live in Cornwall and am a commercial beekeeper but will always be a Guildford boy at heart.