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Andy Hutchinson reflects on the decades of Duncan Street in Leeds City Centre.
Transcript
00:00Hi and welcome to the latest edition of Leaves Then and Today with me Andrew Hutchinson.
00:05It's the short Leeds City Centre Street which links two famous B's, Brigate and Ball Lane.
00:11Welcome to Duncan Street.
00:17Duncan Street was originally called Fleet Street which changed during the Napoleonic Wars
00:23when Admiral Adam Duncan achieved a memorable victory over the Dutch fleet at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797.
00:33Generations of parents and school children will remember this building behind me here on Duncan Street.
00:38It was Rawcliffs, the place you bought your school uniform back in the day.
00:43City Centre drinkers will remember this place, the Star and Garter Pub which welcomed loads and loads of people down the decades before it shut in the 1980s with plans to turn it into an amusement arcade.
00:59Duncan Street also has links to Leeds' rich textile heritage.
01:04Behind me was the site of Burton's Tailoring at the corner of Newmarket Street.
01:11Practical jokers caused chaos in January 1976 when they uncovered this sign, leaving police urging motorists to ignore it.
01:29Take a look at these photo memories of Duncan Street down the decades.
01:33A lot of shops open and shut but particularly in the 1980s, Duncan Street suffered with a range of closures.
01:43It's the City Centre Street which is not fashionable but is bursting with personality thanks to a range of shops and pubs which generations of people remember.
01:54You can enjoy a bite to eat or a pub back in the Duncan which is now reopened.

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