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Shops on High Street in the City.
- Thread starter Phil
- Start date
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
Bob
We worked on loads of buildings around the midlands, where the frontages were scaffolded and protected whilst the building itself was demolished. Then they were able to put modern buildings on the site and when the work was completed you would never tell the difference until you went through the front door.
The only buildings that I have personal knowledge of this being done were a block of six Edwardian houses on Alcester Rd, Moseley, just up the road from Louise Lorne Rd.
I've always wondered why this was not done more in Birmingham, because we have certainly lost a lot of beautiful buildings over the years.
Phil
We worked on loads of buildings around the midlands, where the frontages were scaffolded and protected whilst the building itself was demolished. Then they were able to put modern buildings on the site and when the work was completed you would never tell the difference until you went through the front door.
The only buildings that I have personal knowledge of this being done were a block of six Edwardian houses on Alcester Rd, Moseley, just up the road from Louise Lorne Rd.
I've always wondered why this was not done more in Birmingham, because we have certainly lost a lot of beautiful buildings over the years.
Phil
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
These days as The High Street only runs from New St to Dale End, we tend to forget that it used to include to top end of the Bull Ring as Well.
High st started at Moor St and coming back the other way it finished at Bell St. So in fact The Old Market was on the High St.
All these shops on this photo were on High St. From Oswald Baileys to Times Furnishing. I remember all these especially Pimms pet shop and the Bull Ring Café.
Phil
Lost photos replaced, but not necessarily all the same as originals
High st started at Moor St and coming back the other way it finished at Bell St. So in fact The Old Market was on the High St.
All these shops on this photo were on High St. From Oswald Baileys to Times Furnishing. I remember all these especially Pimms pet shop and the Bull Ring Café.
Phil
Lost photos replaced, but not necessarily all the same as originals
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Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
Hi Polly
I suppose they closed in the late 50's when they started to redevelop the Bull Ring. They did have other shops around Birmingham in Hockley, Handsworth and Harborne. But if they dealt in birds and pets there or just stuck to their main business as corn merchants I couldn't say.
Phil
I suppose they closed in the late 50's when they started to redevelop the Bull Ring. They did have other shops around Birmingham in Hockley, Handsworth and Harborne. But if they dealt in birds and pets there or just stuck to their main business as corn merchants I couldn't say.
Phil
E
Elizabeth Redmond
Guest
Hi Polly have they got a shop at Merryhill and they did have one in the Bullring 70s i remember i bought my son a gerbil,definitely a male named Peter and a week or so later Peter had six babies
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fatfingers
master brummie
Just inside the door as you went in from the entrance opposite St Martins. I think they were in the older open air market in the early 60s as well, based in a sort of big green shed. That one definitely sold mice, and I think, had fish outside in a pond, but that could have been another shop in the market... I was only likkle and it was a long time ago...lol
View attachment 49288
Phil, you might like to see the exactly the same spot in 1942 following the air raids. Photo, in accordance with educational, non-commercial practice, from the Imperial War Museum. And to think all in your photo would get torn down again in less than a decade maybe.
Richie.
Phil, you might like to see the exactly the same spot in 1942 following the air raids. Photo, in accordance with educational, non-commercial practice, from the Imperial War Museum. And to think all in your photo would get torn down again in less than a decade maybe.
Richie.
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
The last two photos of the High St that show a resemblance to the High St I can remember. I have others but they are only the same as ones that I have posted from a different angle . After these there are only some of the High St from the 1800's.
These two are from the 1970's the one shows some weary shoppers having a little rest before continuing on. The other I think is at the bottom of that ramp that used to lead to the market above The Hummingbird Club. Its showing some sort of a twinning exhibition that I don't remember.
Phil
One lost photo replaced. Certain it is the same as the original
These two are from the 1970's the one shows some weary shoppers having a little rest before continuing on. The other I think is at the bottom of that ramp that used to lead to the market above The Hummingbird Club. Its showing some sort of a twinning exhibition that I don't remember.
Phil
One lost photo replaced. Certain it is the same as the original
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pollypops
master brummie
Phil, more great photos! That is how I remember the High street too. Marks and Spencers and Van Allen at the side.
Those women do look weary - just how I used to look after being on a shopping trip with my Mum and my sisters. We always used to walk up that ramp to the oasis market - later on Argos was up there too at the back of the market (is it still there?)
Funny thing is at the time I didn't think Birmingham would change much as it always seemed to have all the shops you needed and I couldn't imagine what else they could do with it. Now it seems quite 'quaint' when you look back at it.
Thanks for sharing all these pictures with us - they are fascinating!
Polly
Those women do look weary - just how I used to look after being on a shopping trip with my Mum and my sisters. We always used to walk up that ramp to the oasis market - later on Argos was up there too at the back of the market (is it still there?)
Funny thing is at the time I didn't think Birmingham would change much as it always seemed to have all the shops you needed and I couldn't imagine what else they could do with it. Now it seems quite 'quaint' when you look back at it.
Thanks for sharing all these pictures with us - they are fascinating!
Polly
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
These are the last two photos I have of the High St at the moment, but I think I pretty well covered it all. These are the Original Lloyds Bank and this would have been somewhat opposite where M & S are today. There is also one of a painting of the Swan Hotel. To be honest I'm not exactly sure on the High Street where that was located.
Phil
Lost photos replaced by same as the originals
Phil
Lost photos replaced by same as the originals
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Just one straggler of a photo -for the moment-from a previous thread relating to High Street. Its the opening scene regarding the then News Theatre.
www.britishpathe.com/records.php?id=60930
www.britishpathe.com/records.php?id=60930
thanks richie and phil for the fantasitic pics... phil your last two in perticular i find fascinating as it really is difficult to imagine the city centre looking as it did...
hi polly i remember van allans too...used to shop in there quite often...gosh the memories...argus is still next to oasis but the market stalls have now all gone...i did hear sometime last year that oasis itsself may be closing down....used to go in there to buy me hippy type gear...
lyn
hi polly i remember van allans too...used to shop in there quite often...gosh the memories...argus is still next to oasis but the market stalls have now all gone...i did hear sometime last year that oasis itsself may be closing down....used to go in there to buy me hippy type gear...
lyn
We ought to put a map up on the home page with the roads and streets shaded by the Moderators for each subsequent discussion. Then we can have a street in detail shaded as we go premises by premises.
(It will prevent all these different threads on just the same property. Like some hole-in-the-ground pub in Aston..which one can that be I wonder....?!
(It will prevent all these different threads on just the same property. Like some hole-in-the-ground pub in Aston..which one can that be I wonder....?!
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
Thats a good idea Richie though I don't know if would be workable with all the different changes the High St has gone through in the last hundred years or so. Lyn I didn't think that the Oasis Market went back to the 60's and flower power & the Hippies. I thought it was more 70's & 80's when Boy George worked there.
One of the changes made to the High St that we haven't mentioned was made by a flying visit of some of our EU partners in April 41. These photos are of the junction of High St & New St and these photos show the aftermath of that visit. The morning after the visit, and they show what it looked like after it was cleared up a little, one shows an intermediate use and the reason why it became known as it was, the beginnings of rebuilding it in 1955. And what it looks like today. The Big Top site as it became known was the first shopping centre of it's type built in Birmingham. All these photos are taken from New Street as ones taken from the High St seem to be very rare.
Phil
Lost photos replaced by what I believe were possibly the same photos
One of the changes made to the High St that we haven't mentioned was made by a flying visit of some of our EU partners in April 41. These photos are of the junction of High St & New St and these photos show the aftermath of that visit. The morning after the visit, and they show what it looked like after it was cleared up a little, one shows an intermediate use and the reason why it became known as it was, the beginnings of rebuilding it in 1955. And what it looks like today. The Big Top site as it became known was the first shopping centre of it's type built in Birmingham. All these photos are taken from New Street as ones taken from the High St seem to be very rare.
Phil
Lost photos replaced by what I believe were possibly the same photos
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E
Elizabeth Redmond
Guest
Hello Phil hope you dont mind me joining in love all the photos,Hippy gear has always had a place in fashion certainly since the 50s,
at least, just under different guises, Beatniks,hippy's and now my mind has done the silly thing and forgot,was it grunge i will be back
lol
at least, just under different guises, Beatniks,hippy's and now my mind has done the silly thing and forgot,was it grunge i will be back
lol
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
Elizabeth
You join in where ever you like, that's what the forum is all about. I was always a member of the anti establishment movement from the very early 60's onward. In Birmingham the beatniks as you describe them met in Chamberlain Square and sat around the fountain and used The Las Vegas café. But as time moved on then came the hippies and flower power. They were more or less universal and had many meeting places and they tended to drift away from Chamberlain Square as the area was developed.
But getting back to the point you put forward, I don't think there was any particular market that specialised in hippy, beat or flower power clothes and apparel unless you count Kings Road in Chelsea. I got most of mine from the rag market & jumble sales.
Phil
You join in where ever you like, that's what the forum is all about. I was always a member of the anti establishment movement from the very early 60's onward. In Birmingham the beatniks as you describe them met in Chamberlain Square and sat around the fountain and used The Las Vegas café. But as time moved on then came the hippies and flower power. They were more or less universal and had many meeting places and they tended to drift away from Chamberlain Square as the area was developed.
But getting back to the point you put forward, I don't think there was any particular market that specialised in hippy, beat or flower power clothes and apparel unless you count Kings Road in Chelsea. I got most of mine from the rag market & jumble sales.
Phil
E
Elizabeth Redmond
Guest
Hello Phil i remember so well the *beatniks* sitting on the steps of the Art Gallery and round the fountain,because i was a bit younger i thought they were amazing the girls looked so individual i thought,they were quite happy to chat to me and my friends,and gave us badges with ban the bomb on,i got clothes from the rag market to,and made them.Mike Arny is a bit masculine for my taste lol
db84124
Brummophile
Good morning, Ernie,
As no-one answered my question in Post #6, and thanks to johndavies's excellent link in evergreen's thread "How much would it cost now", I can now tell you that 1d in your pocket in 1894 would have had the buying power of £2.01 in 2008. As the official British government figures for inflation in 2009 was a negative figure for most months but since December of last year the Office for National Statistics talks of an increase each month which is the equivalent of a 3.4 – 4.4% annual increase, I think we could add a further 8p or 9p quite conservatively (small “c”, therefore non political!!). To walk into a penny bazaar of 1894 today, you would need approximately £2.10. David
As no-one answered my question in Post #6, and thanks to johndavies's excellent link in evergreen's thread "How much would it cost now", I can now tell you that 1d in your pocket in 1894 would have had the buying power of £2.01 in 2008. As the official British government figures for inflation in 2009 was a negative figure for most months but since December of last year the Office for National Statistics talks of an increase each month which is the equivalent of a 3.4 – 4.4% annual increase, I think we could add a further 8p or 9p quite conservatively (small “c”, therefore non political!!). To walk into a penny bazaar of 1894 today, you would need approximately £2.10. David
