THOMPSON THE BUTCHERS ,OF LICHFIELD ROAD ,ASTON, ARE THERE ANY EX EMPLOYEE,S OF THAT SHOP STILL AROUND , IN PARTICUARLY AGUY WHOM I THINK WAS CALLED PETER THOMPSON WHEN THEY CLOSED THE LICHFIELD ROAD SHOP THEY WENT TO THE HIGH STREET ERDINGTON, AND THEN THEY CLOSED DOWN AGAIN, DOE,S ANY BODY KNOW WHERE THEY WENT // i was a little KID FROM THE AJOINING TERRACE NEXT DOOR , AND I SPENT ALL MY TIME EVERY GIVEN MOMENT SITTING ON THE FLOOR BY THE GATES WATCHING THE PORK PIE,S GOING UP AND DOWN ON THE LIFT TO THE STOCK ROOM , AND I USED TO CALL AND TALK TO THE WORKER,S, ,,I WAS ONLY 6 AND 8 YEARS OLDTHEN BUT TWENTY YEARS LATER I RECONISED PETERIN THE SHOP , ASTONIAN
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Thompsons Butchers Lichfield Rd Aston
- Thread starter Astonian
- Start date
N
nann
Guest
i would like to trace george gull , iwas in the army with him ,we left the sherwood forresters in 1950 many thanks
ron burgess
ron burgess
hi guys
sorry if you find this a bit boring but i was speaking to an astonian person last week about meas and pies made by thompsons the butchers on lichfield rd (not the one at aston cross where it was just sales there) but they was reflecting on the staff that worked there and we both wondered whether or not it would be intresting to find out if peter thompson and any of his family are still with us today alive or have they passed over
Or is there any member of this forum had any connections to thompsons ; ie did your father or mother or brother ever work there ?
Where did mr thompson come from originally? Was he bummie or birmingham man? i know pete did open up a shop for them on the high street erdington many years go in the seventies but then it changed to a ladies hair dressers. What happend to Thompsons [ peter ] and his staff ?does anybody know whether he his still alive today? Is there a sibling related to him who could tell us more?
best wishes astonian
sorry if you find this a bit boring but i was speaking to an astonian person last week about meas and pies made by thompsons the butchers on lichfield rd (not the one at aston cross where it was just sales there) but they was reflecting on the staff that worked there and we both wondered whether or not it would be intresting to find out if peter thompson and any of his family are still with us today alive or have they passed over
Or is there any member of this forum had any connections to thompsons ; ie did your father or mother or brother ever work there ?
Where did mr thompson come from originally? Was he bummie or birmingham man? i know pete did open up a shop for them on the high street erdington many years go in the seventies but then it changed to a ladies hair dressers. What happend to Thompsons [ peter ] and his staff ?does anybody know whether he his still alive today? Is there a sibling related to him who could tell us more?
best wishes astonian
Last edited by a moderator:
cookie273uk
master brummie
Re: thmpsons the butchers of licfield rd aston
The only thing I know about Thompsons is my late wife worked in the office for a few months mid 50's but did not like it and took a job farther down towards Victoria road at Eric Taylors Toy shop serving behind the counter. I was still in the RAF at the time so do not know why she disliked working at Thompsons. Eric
The only thing I know about Thompsons is my late wife worked in the office for a few months mid 50's but did not like it and took a job farther down towards Victoria road at Eric Taylors Toy shop serving behind the counter. I was still in the RAF at the time so do not know why she disliked working at Thompsons. Eric
Hi All,
I worked at Thompsons Butchers, Lichfield Road as a Slaughterman in the late 1960's I had two gaffas Ralph / Rolf? & Peter. I also done stints as a cutter / shopman at Aston Cross, Erdington & Hawthorn Road. Meat was fantastic, used to get bacon, tomato sausages, chitlings, pigs feet, pork pies (the best) and sheeps brains in plastic tubs for grandparents.
Lozellian.
I worked at Thompsons Butchers, Lichfield Road as a Slaughterman in the late 1960's I had two gaffas Ralph / Rolf? & Peter. I also done stints as a cutter / shopman at Aston Cross, Erdington & Hawthorn Road. Meat was fantastic, used to get bacon, tomato sausages, chitlings, pigs feet, pork pies (the best) and sheeps brains in plastic tubs for grandparents.
Lozellian.
Hi Lozellian
IHave been off line for awhile through being ill until today ,i have been abale to get back
I noticed your thread on thompsons of Aston ,and that you have been working for them and that you was in the erdington
shop and that you was on lichfield road slaughtering well i have great memories of the lichfield road shop as i was brought
Up right next to it and our little house was at the back wall of our living room up the terrace next to them
and Aston,s cake and bread shop was at the bottom of the terrace
I Presumed you have read old threads of thompson on the forum and the ones i have put over the years gone bye
I can also see you worked under peter whom i recall fom his younger days and him beinmg at erdinton shop
can you tell me any think about peter did he retire from erdington did they move from shop to shop
after the closing down of the erdington shop what part of brum did he live in
He was a great bloke and very good at his job and a very pleasent guy i came across him when i was six years old
I was that little poor kid sitting on the pavements of those gates on the front where they chased the pigs up the back
off the lorries holding onto the railing of the gates peering through for years day in and day out for years
and whatching the dumb bell lifting up and down from the floor above for supplies of there pork pies
and all the other kinds of meats pigs tails and feet bacon sauages etc and the trays of tripe we was brought up on
most of the lads from the top at the slaughter section would always look down to the gates
And give me a wave or come and talk to me
i know peter remember me when i came to erdington in the sixtys he seen me as an adult
looking in the erdington shop window after all those years i was tottally surprized to see him
i was really surprized he recalled me so i went into the shop and chattered to him
well, i will not waffle on now but just to say how nice it was to read your threads
even now i am following tour threads best wishes Astonian,,,,
IHave been off line for awhile through being ill until today ,i have been abale to get back
I noticed your thread on thompsons of Aston ,and that you have been working for them and that you was in the erdington
shop and that you was on lichfield road slaughtering well i have great memories of the lichfield road shop as i was brought
Up right next to it and our little house was at the back wall of our living room up the terrace next to them
and Aston,s cake and bread shop was at the bottom of the terrace
I Presumed you have read old threads of thompson on the forum and the ones i have put over the years gone bye
I can also see you worked under peter whom i recall fom his younger days and him beinmg at erdinton shop
can you tell me any think about peter did he retire from erdington did they move from shop to shop
after the closing down of the erdington shop what part of brum did he live in
He was a great bloke and very good at his job and a very pleasent guy i came across him when i was six years old
I was that little poor kid sitting on the pavements of those gates on the front where they chased the pigs up the back
off the lorries holding onto the railing of the gates peering through for years day in and day out for years
and whatching the dumb bell lifting up and down from the floor above for supplies of there pork pies
and all the other kinds of meats pigs tails and feet bacon sauages etc and the trays of tripe we was brought up on
most of the lads from the top at the slaughter section would always look down to the gates
And give me a wave or come and talk to me
i know peter remember me when i came to erdington in the sixtys he seen me as an adult
looking in the erdington shop window after all those years i was tottally surprized to see him
i was really surprized he recalled me so i went into the shop and chattered to him
well, i will not waffle on now but just to say how nice it was to read your threads
even now i am following tour threads best wishes Astonian,,,,
Hi Lynn
God bless you, you have made me a very happy man and i feel very estatic right now
my mind as come alive with memories of my childhood and to actualy see the pictures of old mr thompsons shop
and to take me back in time with those front gates where they brought the pigs in for slaghter
i can visulize the lads coming out with there long brown boards to keep them boxed in coming down the ramp of the lorry
and how i used to lean over the boards to pat those pigs coming in pushing and shoving each other
Snorting there heads off and the stench off them and sqealing aloud it was like they knew where there was going
i can recall when mr thompson put the doors on they had plain ones oriniginaly
then they put those doors on with bars which you could bend down and see through the bars
as i did as a nipper only i always squatted on the floor holding the bars wihich was oriniginally black in colour
no plastic covers to the bars in those days as to what you see now there and they was most certainly
brown they was black so when they repainted brown thats when they put plastic stripps on as well
for many years of my growing up i sat on the deck at those gates as i have previously said
on the right hand of the photo of the shop is the entry for getting up the side of there shop
and about half way down that entry was a little wall which when i was a nipper
could climb up onto the window ledge and it had bars on as well i would cling to it
there was no glass in it just open space and i used to watch the men whom used to speak to me at the front
was the slaghter men i think one was alan i cannot be sure about the names now but they would see me peering
at the window and they would flick water up to the window and shout get down but i never did
i would have seven or eight at the time with my mate colin gaskin
I would see the them stab them stunn the pig and hook him up high and stabb there bellys and the blood would
be spurting out and when they put them in tubs of hot water
Any way Lynn i will stop waffling off now , but thanks again for down loading that picture of thompsons
and i hope you do not mind me if i can down load it and get it blown up to a larger picture
Lynn you are a real star indeed and you are doing a great job
i hope you do not mind me saying this ,but thanks to this great forum and its members i have learnt alot
and i have found distance cousins and friends and two great old friends from my kid days
and after years of trying i finaly found the family of my old friend whom you know i have spent years seeking
even on here to no avail but recently i have made contact with the gaskins and his son whom told me
that colin passed away in the sixtys
thanks again Lynn Astonian;;;
God bless you, you have made me a very happy man and i feel very estatic right now
my mind as come alive with memories of my childhood and to actualy see the pictures of old mr thompsons shop
and to take me back in time with those front gates where they brought the pigs in for slaghter
i can visulize the lads coming out with there long brown boards to keep them boxed in coming down the ramp of the lorry
and how i used to lean over the boards to pat those pigs coming in pushing and shoving each other
Snorting there heads off and the stench off them and sqealing aloud it was like they knew where there was going
i can recall when mr thompson put the doors on they had plain ones oriniginaly
then they put those doors on with bars which you could bend down and see through the bars
as i did as a nipper only i always squatted on the floor holding the bars wihich was oriniginally black in colour
no plastic covers to the bars in those days as to what you see now there and they was most certainly
brown they was black so when they repainted brown thats when they put plastic stripps on as well
for many years of my growing up i sat on the deck at those gates as i have previously said
on the right hand of the photo of the shop is the entry for getting up the side of there shop
and about half way down that entry was a little wall which when i was a nipper
could climb up onto the window ledge and it had bars on as well i would cling to it
there was no glass in it just open space and i used to watch the men whom used to speak to me at the front
was the slaghter men i think one was alan i cannot be sure about the names now but they would see me peering
at the window and they would flick water up to the window and shout get down but i never did
i would have seven or eight at the time with my mate colin gaskin
I would see the them stab them stunn the pig and hook him up high and stabb there bellys and the blood would
be spurting out and when they put them in tubs of hot water
Any way Lynn i will stop waffling off now , but thanks again for down loading that picture of thompsons
and i hope you do not mind me if i can down load it and get it blown up to a larger picture
Lynn you are a real star indeed and you are doing a great job
i hope you do not mind me saying this ,but thanks to this great forum and its members i have learnt alot
and i have found distance cousins and friends and two great old friends from my kid days
and after years of trying i finaly found the family of my old friend whom you know i have spent years seeking
even on here to no avail but recently i have made contact with the gaskins and his son whom told me
that colin passed away in the sixtys
thanks again Lynn Astonian;;;
Love the shop sign. It's a very familiar sign to me but not the Lichfield Road Aston shop. Must be the Erdington shop I remember. Viv.
Post #3 throws some light on this for me. It must have been the Hawthorn Road shop I remember as I lived in Kingstanding. Doubtless my mum shopped there. Viv.
Lady Penelope
master brummie
Mom used to walk up from Auntie Dolly's cafe in Bracebridge Street to Thompson's to buy all the sausages for the workers sandwiches. Our local butcher, in Jerry's Lane, sold them too so I would go over on a Saturday morning - 'half a pound of Thompson's sausage, a quarter of boiled ham and a packet of Smedley's frozen peas'. Same thing every Saturday although we had a great variety of meat and veg otherwise.
Hi Astonian,
Thanks for your reply, unfortunately, I don't know what happened to Peter when the shops all finally closed down but, I agree he was a really nice guy and a pleasure to work for and I enjoyed my time there. A great pity employers are not like that these days!
When I worked at Lichfield Road and the Cross I always used to go for a swift pint or three on a Friday night after work at the local pub on the corner of Lichfield Road and Park Lane (I think) near the Aston Cross shop (can't recall the pubs name) with a colleague named Mick (he was a shopman /cutter).
All the best,
Lozellian.
Hi Lozellian
Nice to hear from you again yes pete was a real gentleman through out
i am just working out which pub you actualy went into, when you say on lichfield road corner
and park lane because where thompsons shop was when you came out of the shop
did you walk past your shop along heading towards Ansells brewery and the big clock and the down below ground
public toilets on the little Island or did you emediately across the road facing the shop
because technicaly there was park road along the front of your shop heading towards the brewery
and the park lane is to your left turn out of your shop where the billiard hall standing with the number eight bus out side
and if you crossed the road when leaving the shop crossing over to the other side
was rocky lane which brings me to say that one was the golden cross pub which is the corner of lichfield road
and rocky lane , thats where my father ran that golden cross for years
the one along the front of that parade of shops heading towards the brewery was in fact the corner of
lichfield road and the corner of lower clifton road and park road that was the star which he done all the reliefes of pub
reliefes for all the other pubs around the aston cross and along the aston road north of Aston cross
you may recall the billiard hall on the corner of your shop of thompsons
there was two chippies and a coffee house on all corners of the Aston cross and along the aston road north
which was all owned by my grand parents and his brothers the chippie next to the billiard hall was sold to the little fella
named cyril by my grand father and my old man ran that chippie for him as well
as a news agents in victoria road opersite the victoria police station on victoria road
and they had a crocery hire business as well around on park lane at the rear of them shops and a house and a ware house
and other building today there is the motor way way police centre now
best wishes Astonian,,,,
Nice to hear from you again yes pete was a real gentleman through out
i am just working out which pub you actualy went into, when you say on lichfield road corner
and park lane because where thompsons shop was when you came out of the shop
did you walk past your shop along heading towards Ansells brewery and the big clock and the down below ground
public toilets on the little Island or did you emediately across the road facing the shop
because technicaly there was park road along the front of your shop heading towards the brewery
and the park lane is to your left turn out of your shop where the billiard hall standing with the number eight bus out side
and if you crossed the road when leaving the shop crossing over to the other side
was rocky lane which brings me to say that one was the golden cross pub which is the corner of lichfield road
and rocky lane , thats where my father ran that golden cross for years
the one along the front of that parade of shops heading towards the brewery was in fact the corner of
lichfield road and the corner of lower clifton road and park road that was the star which he done all the reliefes of pub
reliefes for all the other pubs around the aston cross and along the aston road north of Aston cross
you may recall the billiard hall on the corner of your shop of thompsons
there was two chippies and a coffee house on all corners of the Aston cross and along the aston road north
which was all owned by my grand parents and his brothers the chippie next to the billiard hall was sold to the little fella
named cyril by my grand father and my old man ran that chippie for him as well
as a news agents in victoria road opersite the victoria police station on victoria road
and they had a crocery hire business as well around on park lane at the rear of them shops and a house and a ware house
and other building today there is the motor way way police centre now
best wishes Astonian,,,,
Hi Astonian,
From what I remember (bearing in mind it's nearly 50 years ago) ha ha. Mick & I used to come out of the Lichfield Road shop & head towards the Clock & past Thompsons Aston Cross shop past Baines' bakery and the pub concerned was maybe 25 - 50 yards further on on the same side (hope this helps).
Lozellian
From what I remember (bearing in mind it's nearly 50 years ago) ha ha. Mick & I used to come out of the Lichfield Road shop & head towards the Clock & past Thompsons Aston Cross shop past Baines' bakery and the pub concerned was maybe 25 - 50 yards further on on the same side (hope this helps).
Lozellian
Hi Lozellian i know the one its where i said it was and my old grand father ernie jelf from the coffee shops
always went in there at every given time all his life he spent a fortune in there
and he would always wear his bowler hat and draw a stool up to the bar and produce a jar of gurking
from his flush over coat pocket and asked for the goranola cheese the one with al that blue in it
with always a half of bitter beleive me he did end up with a boozer nose
and dad done the reliefe for the gaffer as all the sounding pubs around the aston cross and aston road north he was
a very known man through out the area and the Ansells brewery along with grand father as they was a well known family through out
Aston;; best wishes Astonian;;;;;
always went in there at every given time all his life he spent a fortune in there
and he would always wear his bowler hat and draw a stool up to the bar and produce a jar of gurking
from his flush over coat pocket and asked for the goranola cheese the one with al that blue in it
with always a half of bitter beleive me he did end up with a boozer nose
and dad done the reliefe for the gaffer as all the sounding pubs around the aston cross and aston road north he was
a very known man through out the area and the Ansells brewery along with grand father as they was a well known family through out
Aston;; best wishes Astonian;;;;;
trevor bow
master brummie
On a slightly different tack, I remember when Ansells finally shut up shop - in fact I'll never forget it. I'm the president of Old Griffinians rugby club, formed by former pupils of Bournville Boys' Technical School. Our social secretary at the time thought it would be a great idea to have a trip around the brewery. He'd heard, quite correctly, that if you got up a large enough party, then the trip was free as was all the beer and a meal afterwards.
Being a rugby club he had no trouble getting the numbers, in fact he had to turn half the club away. Unfortunately, on the very day we were due to go, Ansells closed forever. We've now gone down in history as the only rugby club who literally, couldn't organise a p*** up in a brewery ! Trevor.
Hi Trevor,
Oh mate what a kick in the teeth, that's what you call a day out but, what a disappointment I feel gutted for you! I remember going out on a new years eve do in 1970 only for the venue to run dry disaster!!
Lozellian.
There is a thread for another Lichfield Road family butchers (Farmiloes). Hopefully members will record any memories of them here. https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...utchers-lichfield-rd-aston.47765/#post-592898
Viv.
Viv.
K farmiloe
K1010
Thank you for your help
