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Old street pics..

Alan, l think your right about the fire point being at a airraid wardens house, my father was a fire warden and we always had a bucket of sand and water by the entry also a ladder stored on the bars in the entry plus we had a stirrup pump,we lived in copeley street a small cul-de-sac, and l know dad had to use it a few times in copeley street, ..Brenda
 
My grandmother had a fire hydrant just outside her house which in those days was red with FH in white. Now it is a black H on yellow.
 
At one time it was Hutton's brewery, then City brewery and it was taken over by Holder's brewery in 1900. It later was used for various purposes, including an asian food firm.
 
The comment by David regarding the hydrant plate being red would be a throw back to before 1947 when towns "did it their way".

This in turn reminded me of the pillar fire alarms to be found on the streets of Birmingham which were a direct link to the nearest fire station. It was a 'break the glass' system. I wonder if Birmingham still has these? Probably not as it would be one item that was costly to maintain and the telephone system has become available to most people in the last few years.

I have never investigated the matter but I wonder if the street fire alarms were unique to Birmingham; did any other city or large town have them?

Fire hydrants in the UK are generally below ground. The pillar type (we have all seen the fountains of water from American hydrants, when hit by a vehicle, in films) are rare. The only place in Devon that had them, as far as I know, was Barnstaple in North Devon.
 
When I worked in that building c1962-63 only the ground floor and part of the first floor was in use. At that time they manufactured pram components and I worked in the tube bending section where they made pram handles
 

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Was that a firm called chances Phil . When I first started work I was with an oldish fella who used to do preventative maintainance on various factories and one of these was Chances . I don't remember much about the place only that they made prams or pram parts , the place I do remember was the polishing shop . On one visit there one of the polishers had decided to cook kippers in a cupboard where they kept the glue and emery that they stuck on the wheels . The Extraction either didn't work or the filter hadn't been changed for years so his kippers had a coating of glue , emery and dust and he ate them sweet as a nut yuk
 
Berniew


That was the one J R Chance Tube Manipulators. I have to say that the only other department I ever wandered into was the packing department where it was all women. Young lads who entered there did so at their own peril. but I liked to live dangerously
 
Looking at these old shop pictures got me thinking. Does anyone remember a clothing manufacturer,or a clothes shop, or a Tailors calles Seaman? It may not be the correct spelling. Possible could have been in St Martins. They were a Jewish family, very strict. Nico
 
pudding said:
Hi all I have always known it as the vale of eversham brewery, but it appears the last occupant was a flour mill.

here is a link for some interior shots https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forum...lians-flour-mill-birmingham-04-05-2011-a.html

scroll to the end of the page for photos and earlier dates.
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That's an amazing website pudding, there's loads of Brum stuff on there. I've posted a couple of interesting pieces from there on our Cinema Thread, hope you don't mind.
 
Seconded about the 28dayslater website, I have it saved on my favourites.
Abandoned places really fascinate me and they have some great photos on there.
 
brumgum said:
That's an amazing website pudding, there's loads of Brum stuff on there. I've posted a couple of interesting pieces from there on our Cinema Thread, hope you don't mind.
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I don't mind Brungum, as they are not my photos I just posted the link of the site.
 
Nico said:
Looking at these old shop pictures got me thinking. Does anyone remember a clothing manufacturer,or a clothes shop, or a Tailors calles Seaman? It may not be the correct spelling. Possible could have been in St Martins. They were a Jewish family, very strict. Nico
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There was a Jewish tailors/mans shop called Zizzmans .. is that the one you're thinking of?
 
It's the name Seaman that I am interested in Charlie. In the clothing trade I was told. Incidentally we had a Zissmans in Cov. I also have a wild card of one of them possibly owning a confectioners or a fancy goods shop. Or it could have been a market stall. Nico.
 
Oisin,


I think the tailors you and Charlie are thinking about was Zissmans who had shops on Dale End, Bull St and Stratford Rd Sparkhill.
 

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Oisin said:
How many non-jewish tailors are there? :pride: BTW, isn't it Zimmerman you're thinking of?
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I don't know Oisin, one set of known great grand parents were Gentile tallors in Worcester, it is the unknown Jewish ones I am looking for. They had a clothing trade connection. I found a Seaman on a Census Book on the web, living in or working in High St, on a page called Market Hall, Parish of St Martins. I have re-posted this post in Old Birmingham Markets. On reading that it might have been in the Bull Ring. Cov also had Italian tailors - Angelo Rotolo and Nino, Nico
 
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