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Birmingham car parks and car parking of the past

Vivienne14

Vivienne14

Kentish Brummie Moderator
Staff member
Hard to believe - just 22 parking places ! Would that be 22 places with multiple spaces or just 22 spaces ?!

Screenshot_20231217_211408_Chrome.jpg
Source: British Newspaper Archive
 
By the late 1940s underground and 'skyscraper' (!) car parks were planned. Plans seem to have been made as early as 1937, but WW2 intervened.


Screenshot_20231218_112518_Chrome.jpg
Source : British Newspaper Archive
 
And in the 1950s - bigger cars = need for bigger parking spaces.

Screenshot_20231218_113642_Chrome.jpg
Source : British Newspaper Archive
 
Arrival of the dreaded parking meter in the 1960s, but no help to the ongoing parking problem

Screenshot_20231218_114201_Chrome.jpg
Source : British Newspaper Archive
 
Need for resident parking permits in the 1970s

Screenshot_20231218_121013_Chrome.jpg
Source : British Newspaper Archive
 
I read that our planners and councillors had trips to New York, Washington, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Paris in 1956 to research the feasibility of parking meters.
 
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