When I went to Fosse Road North to find The Empire, I was surprised to see a ruined church next door to it.
St Augustine's was closed in 2000 and badly damaged in an arson attack in 2004. Not that Pevsner is particularly polite, describing it as a "Typical late C19 church of brick." It was built between 1900 and 1912.
Today the ruins are overgrown and, like The Empire, threatened with demolition.
One former resident of the area remembers it like this:
Although we lived in the parish of St. Leonards, my father prefered St Augustines and it was the 'family'church. We all went to Sunday school there and I eventually sang in the choir. At 16 I rejected religion totally. Most family wedding,christenings,funerals etc took place at this church. It was never a beautiful place being built of red brick and with wild overgrown gardens could be a bit spooky.Sadly, it is the garage next door that is open on Easter Sunday.
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