Shirebrook

Shirebrook
Derbyshire
The Great Northern, Shirebrook
Location
Location:	53°12’17"N, 1°13’11"W
Data
Population:	9,291  (2001)
Post town:	Mansfield
Postcode:	NG20
Dialling code:	01623
Local Government
Council:	Bolsover
Parliamentary constituency:	Bolsover

Shirebrook is a town in north-eastern Derbyshire on the border with Nottinghamshire. At the 2001 census it had a population of 9,291. The town stands on the B6407, and close to the A632 road, between Mansfield and Bolsover, and on the main railway line.

Local economy

Shirebrook is a small market town with a market square (market days are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays) surrounded by several shops. There is a large Cooperative food store, 3 butchers, carpet shops, 2 card shops, 2 cake shops, 2 tattooists, 2 furniture shops, 2 pet shops, 2 cafes, 3 pubs, a locksmith, a solicitors, 2 DIY stores, multiple takeaways and 3 pharmacists. Shirebrook is home to many small local businesses. Much of the growth and prosperity of the town was built around coal mining. Shirebrook Colliery opened in 1896 and closed in 1993. Like many former 'pit towns' in the area this led to high unemployment and other social problems. The former site of the colliery is currently being redeveloped.

The leisure centre on Park Road was originally delightfully known as the Kissingate Leisure Centre but after being heavily damaged by fire on 7 November 2008 it was repaired, taken over by the town council and renamed Shirebrook Leisure Centre. It has an indoor five-a-side football area and a skate park.

The town is the headquarters of Sports World International, the UK's largest sports clothes retailer.

Railway

Shirebrook once had three railway stations. The last remaining station was on the Midland Railway (later part of the LMS) route from Nottingham to Worksop via Mansfield, and was originally known as Shirebrook West, despite being on the eastern edge of the town. The route lost its passenger services in October 1964, leaving Mansfield as one of the largest towns in the United Kingdom without a station, but the line remained opened as a goods route. On the site of the goods yard a diesel locomotive fuelling depot was opened in the mid 1960s. The station was re-opened in 1998 for the new Robin Hood Line services from Nottingham to Worksop. A wagon repair and manufacturing business have a rail link with the main line.

Shirebrook North station (originally known as "Langwith Junction", until renamed in June 1924), was opened by the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway (later part of the Great Central Railway and subsequently the LNER) in March 1897 and closed in September 1955. By then only one of the four routes converging on it was left- that to Lincoln: the Great Northern Railway's "Leen Valley Extension" line to Pleasley and Sutton-in-Ashfield had closed in September 1931; the LD&ECR line to Beighton via Clowne in September 1939, and that to Chesterfield via Bolsover in December 1951, due to the unsafe condition of Bolsover Tunnel. The filling in of the tunnel began on 10 October 1966, and used waste from Bolsover Colliery. The mouth of the old tunnel can be found on the southern edge of Scarcliffe, emerging just south of Ridgdale Road, Bolsover.

Shirebrook South station was on the Great Northern Railway's "Leen Valley Extension" line mentioned above, opened in November 1901 and closed in September 1931.

Sport

• Football: Shirebrook Town

Outside links

• Local information
• Colliery
• Fire Station
• Shirebrook Town Council
• Shirebrook Miners Welfare Unison Band
• Photos of Shirebrook
• Pictures of Shirebrook and the area on Geograph.co.uk