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Stechford - The Village

Ian FOFB

Ian FOFB

Brummie yes ! Novice no !
The 'then' pictures are taken from old postcards, the 'now' pictures taken from Google Streetview.
The older of the pictures dates from 1915 .

Ian.
 
Just noticed on the now picture the used car sales place has been bricked up and looks like its been turned in to houses. They had been there for years, Deerings I think they were called, they used to have an old morris van or something similar.

Got that wrong just checked Deerings is to the left of where the picture has been taken from and it looks like its still there!
 
I remember my mother telling me her father had a butchers shop in Stetchford it must have been in the mid 1930's. I have never been able to confirm this the shop would have had the name Caldecotts.
 
hi dwilly
you are quite correct in was indeed deerings motors of albert rd as i can recall him very well
the final nail for him was when he got prosecuted for dodgy cars and vans in albert rd and he was published in the evening mail way back in the seventys
tradeing standards prosecuted after a lady bought an un road worthy car from him she took it to the stands office and from that week his bussiness down turned to rack and ruinimng and he got no more sales thats why he moved on and finished owing to his age
best wishes astonion
 
Cheers Astonian but the car place does still exist! Must have had a change of heart of people forgot his past!
 
hi dwilly
i am going back some years for that incidence and i have left brum many years ago i do not know if its still there or not
but the area as changed and so as the local population either they have moved on or passed away i hear the north sdtar is now a members club and not just the ordinaqry pub for peopleas its lost its licence some years ago and he only way it could operate was to make it a members club pub it what we call in the game a pub with chequered history
in other words a troublesom pub for the police it appears alot in brum i could tell you a dozen or more i know it was a good pub and a bustling pub years ago in the old days
have a nice day best wishes astonion
 
It was still a pub when I first moved to Stechford and did have a tipple or two in there over the years walking back from the station, there was and it might still be there, a gentlemens club just outside the station, never went in there but was the typical gentlemens club with high backed leather winged chairs and snooker table, so i'm told.
 
hi dwilly
i think you are getting a little mixed up yes the one by the station as always been a proper gentlemans club only with the interior dezign for the private club
directly across the rd from stecchford rail way station and next to the doctors surgery
the north star pub is down and around on the junction of station rd and albert rd facing mannor rd it was always a pub called the north star
they call these old pubs hich gets its ticket members pubs only its the only way they ever get the drinks licence back and unless the management know of you or aqny other member of the public as an old patron you can not get in it for a drink that club as always been a very private club you are on about its i believe at the end of albert rd continuing around to
the stechford railway station which rolls around and that part is victoria rd and on the very corner next to that long standing gentlemans club is next to the liverpool assurance offices that takes that corner from the railway club best wishes astonion
 
I grew up in Stechford - Francis Road - in the sixties and seventies.
I remember the Albert Road and Richmond Road shops very well. My mother shopped round there nearly every day. Great to see the vintage picture alongside the modern one.
I re-visited there a while back, after many years away, and was sad to see so many changes; Deering's was one of the few places still the same after all this time.
Angela
 
You are bang on Astonian old friend. The Club opposite the Station was always a gentleman's club. Not Masonic, but for the better off toffs in Victoria and Frederick Rd. plus the fuzz used it a lot. The North Star was a new boozer in my youth and is now 'Private'...but looks a bit seedy now.
 
Hi dennis
yes you are bang on about being seedy but i would use another word for it rather seedy
yes the star was a pub but it was in the late eightys it was closed down through trouble and drug riden and of stolen goods
you could purchase at any time from the sixtys it got worse to the eightys
the only thing that never took place was the shooting it never happened to compared with the big pub down the rd by the one way system
the north star was always a rough place to drink in not only fittinf but the clientele as well
best wishes astonion
 
That's why we always used the Richmond or the Blakesley Astonian! Here's a shot of the Stechford Club, used by a lot of coppers, and some older ones of the old Village. Good luck old timer..always nice to hear from you.
 
Francis Road is one of the few roads in that area that is still nice Angela. Hardly changed since the 40s and 50s when I walked down it to school every day...
 
My Sister has lived in Albert Rd for over 60yrs. Two of the large detached houses at the top of Victoria Rd on the left hand are used as a care home, a friend was resident in the home, it was a very nice place. Len.
 
Hi Len mate. Nice place?!! I should cocoa. Your sister must have been minted. That was THE area to live in those days. Rotten posh we called them beautiful old Houses in Victoria and Frederick Roads. You can see similar houses in the First picture here. I probably sang carols to her from all Saints Church Choir in the early 50s...we used to go around various big houses to sing and get a cup of tea or a few sweets...lovely memories. From that experience I vowed I wanted to live in a big Victorian house, and it only took another 30 years to achieve it. Love it.
 
The first house I lived in after getting married, in 1988, was just off Stewarts Road, Winstanley Road, it is a mixture of terrace, semi and i think it the odd detached, it backs onto the park on Fieldhouse Road the other side backs onto houses that were on Bordesley Green East. The people who lived on Winstanley Road were very friendly and some had lived there for years, some had other family that lived on the road. I think Stechford had had its day by the time we moved into the area. It's a real shame as there are some lovely houses around the area, alot of the bigger houses are turned into flats and, as the pictures show, the local shops have seen better days. I thought during the 80's it could have been one of the areas that picked up as it was cheaper housing and good travel links with the railway close by but it never happened,
 
Hi dennis
wow, many thanks den for those cracking pictures i spent a small fortune in that old off licence younow
yes that is the club oppersite the station where all the police used an old friend of mine another gather of the pub oppersite the acocks green police station used to have them in his back room after hours drinking all hours
and if i remember correctly there was an ex copper bought the yardley arms years ago if i am correct
the big pub i was trying to think of in my last thread down the rd was the big mannor house a true grit gun slingers pub
that was a crash helmet ha
 
Dennis Williams said:
Francis Road is one of the few roads in that area that is still nice Angela. Hardly changed since the 40s and 50s when I walked down it to school every day...
Click to expand...

I agree Dennis, Francis Road is still nice. I had forgotten how wide and attractive the road is until I re-visited it a year or two back.
My family moved there in 1962, we used to come and see our house (No. 7) being built and it was so modern and exciting. We moved from an old terrace in Bordesley with just an outside loo so we thought our new house was really posh with a bathroom!
Whereabouts did you live then? What was it like at the Morden Road end before the houses went up in the sixties, do you remember?
Angela
 
Dennis Williams said:
Hi Len mate. Nice place?!! I should cocoa. Your sister must have been minted. That was THE area to live in those days. Rotten posh we called them beautiful old Houses in Victoria and Frederick Roads. You can see similar houses in the First picture here. I probably sang carols to her from all Saints Church Choir in the early 50s...we used to go around various big houses to sing and get a cup of tea or a few sweets...lovely memories. From that experience I vowed I wanted to live in a big Victorian house, and it only took another 30 years to achieve it. Love it.
Click to expand...
Morning Dennis, I Did`nt want to identify where in Albert Rd my Sister lives, will send you an IM. Len.
 
Angela K said:
I agree Dennis, Francis Road is still nice. I had forgotten how wide and attractive the road is until I re-visited it a year or two back.
My family moved there in 1962, we used to come and see our house (No. 7) being built and it was so modern and exciting. We moved from an old terrace in Bordesley with just an outside loo so we thought our new house was really posh with a bathroom!
Whereabouts did you live then? What was it like at the Morden Road end before the houses went up in the sixties, do you remember?
Angela
Click to expand...

I lived a few doors down from the Richmond from 1942-1965, plus spent a lot of time with Nan in Denton Grove. I do remember Morden Rd, Mary Rd and all round there from Carol singing, and I had big mates in Albert Rd and Winstanley Rd. We moved from Stechford in the mid 60s and went to live in Hodge Hill. I moved back to Yardley 30 years ago after the kids started growing up. Been here ever since.

The Morden Road end was the poshest bit. Big older houses, mostly still there, but looking a little sad sometimes with multi occupancy and blocked driveways. No sense of elegance any more, but that's progress I suppose. You just know that if those houses were in inner London though, and right by a big Park, they would be worth millions!
 
mw0njm said:
hi.i used the north star.i am not seedy.at least i dont think i am.
Click to expand...

Never meant you were mw, it is just the Star pub was great for a number of years, like many others, but when drugs started being used, things went a little awry. Fights and territory battles. That's what drove most of us ordinary regulars into the CIU Clubs or, like me, having a few cans at home instead.
 
Astonian said:
Hi dennis
wow, many thanks den for those cracking pictures i spent a small fortune in that old off licence younow
yes that is the club oppersite the station where all the police used an old friend of mine another gather of the pub oppersite the acocks green police station used to have them in his back room after hours drinking all hours
and if i remember correctly there was an ex copper bought the yardley arms years ago if i am correct
the big pub i was trying to think of in my last thread down the rd was the big mannor house a true grit gun slingers pub
that was a crash helmet ha
Click to expand...

The Outdoor in Albert Rd was called Cox's then. Most important part of my life as we used to tour the neighbourhood looking for pop and beer bottles to get the penny back. Then you could nip over the road to the seed store and buy peas for your pea shooter. Deadly. Used to nick already 'returned' bottles from behind the Richmond till we were nabbed. True meaning of recycling?

Never used The Manor House. Too risky for a young innocent lad....looked ok though.
 
Hi dennis
when we was kids we used to that take the empty milk bottles of peoples front step of there house before the milk man came
and nipp into the shop to get the penny returns
in the late sixtys and during the next ten years the worst rd to live was lindon rd which runs around the side of the
coop bakery the tennants was rough and hooligans and they terroised the neibour hood
every house had big familys from young to the older lads even there parents were rough
all of mannor rd formed a petion on these familys in lindon rd and went to the council to get there act cleaned up
in the end the council did publish this in the evening mail about the state of the rd and its tennants they disgraced them all
and then the council said enough is a enough and they staryted to evic them one by one and moved them and dispersed them to all over brum
we lived in mannor rd at the time i used to run a youth team for the kids after school on the park in those days
when of course i was younger but i would not do it now the kids are a different breed
have a nice day den speak again soon astonion
 
Hired The Bulls Head aka The Manor House for my wedding reception circa 1956 a very well run pub at that time, had to go to court with the pub boss to support the application for an 11:pm extension. Len.
 
Astonian said:
Hi dennis
when we was kids we used to that take the empty milk bottles of peoples front step of there house before the milk man came
and nipp into the shop to get the penny returns
in the late sixtys and during the next ten years the worst rd to live was lindon rd which runs around the side of the
coop bakery the tennants was rough and hooligans and they terroised the neibour hood
every house had big familys from young to the older lads even there parents were rough
all of mannor rd formed a petion on these familys in lindon rd and went to the council to get there act cleaned up
in the end the council did publish this in the evening mail about the state of the rd and its tennants they disgraced them all
and then the council said enough is a enough and they staryted to evic them one by one and moved them and dispersed them to all over brum
we lived in mannor rd at the time i used to run a youth team for the kids after school on the park in those days
when of course i was younger but i would not do it now the kids are a different breed
have a nice day den speak again soon astonion
Click to expand...

Ah good man Astonian. Helping the kids speaks volumes about your kindness and neighbourliness. When I was a nipper there were just fields where the Manor Rd flats are now. I think there was an amateur cycle speedway track on the side of the hill before the building started? And I bet you used the Yardley Arms now and again?
 
lencops said:
Hired The Bulls Head aka The Manor House for my wedding reception circa 1956 a very well run pub at that time, had to go to court with the pub boss to support the application for an 11:pm extension. Len.
Click to expand...

In those days no doubt it was a brilliant pub Len. Tremendous building. When it was derelict and vandalised, before it was raised to the ground, you could see the stained glass windows that cost a bomb now just smashed and ruined. I could have cried. Had quite a history before they rebuilt it I gather from Carl Chinn.
 
Photos for Len (Old Bull), Astonian (Manor Road) and Angela (Morden Rd, Francis Rd). Enjoy your memories folks...we'll never see the likes of these wonderful old places again.
 
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