Old street pics..

[I Am Nico]

They used to be small, the floats didn't they. My mate doesn't beleive me but I remember gas lamps, the horse drawn milk cart, veg cart and flower cart and the scrap cart. But I was interested only in the gee gee pulling it then. Mum used to give the milkman's horse a carrot. He was skewbald. This one looks chestnut to me.

 

[paul stacey]

when a boy, "Waceden Milk" and "Scriven's bread", both were horse drawn, I remember waiting with dad in town near the Town hall, and watching the man with little 'A' ladder and pole, lighting the gas lamps, not so very long ago.paul

 

[I Am Nico]

And me Paul. In Cov. The man who lit the lamps wasn't quite the ticket said dad. I am guessing about 1961. He put his ladder up to each one. They have 2 mock ones now in the old watchmaking quarter and these bend in half, I suppose to change the bulbs now. I don't know what bread it was but there was a Mother's Pride Bakery and lots of little private bakeries. I went to school with the rag and bone man's son. His horse was always well turned out, they were of Gypsy blood but they lived in a house.

 

[I Am Nico]

Oh and the chimney sweep whose name was aptly Mr Cowl. I used to run ot to see the brush come out the chimney top.

 

[carolina]

Felixcat here you are.

 

[Phil]

Nico

Show your friend these, then he will believe you.

 

[I Am Nico]

Lovely photos Phil. I think they may be older than 1961 though. I remember the white type of milk float. They had similar one on Weston Supermare sands made to look like a helicopter pulled by a sturdy horse called Carol. I have a great memory for the past but not for now.My mate lived in an older quarter than me but treckoned they didn't have gas lamps in hs street.

 

[paul stacey]

brilliant photo's #3282.paul

 

[Phil]

FELIXCAT

Peter

If you are still looking in on this thread, I came across this photo the other day it was misfiled, this is probably more what you wanted.

 

[FELIXCAT]

Best ever , right on the nail , you got it , this was the YATES house in part above the shoe shop , with the main part of the house in New bond street .Thank you very very very much Phil.
peter

 

[carolina]

Lovely photos Phil. I think they may be older than 1961 though. I remember the white type of milk float. They had similar one on Weston Supermare sands made to look like a helicopter pulled by a sturdy horse called Carol. I have a great memory for the past but not for now.My mate lived in an older quarter than me but treckoned they didn't have gas lamps in hs street.

HEY Nico I hope you are not taking my name in vain for that donkey??

 

[I Am Nico]

HEY Nico I hope you are not taking my name in vain for that donkey??

Neigh, she was a horse, Carolina, but I can remember some of the donkeys' names. Mandy, Noddy, Bob, Dixie and Daisy.I can't remember where I put my secs though just forked out an arm and a leg for a pair.

 

[Pewster]

Love this picture, makes me think of the Lewis's record store where so many of my childhood purchases were made.

 

[Pewster]

Fantastic Photo. I'm pretty sure this is the row of shops where I got my first job upon leaving school around 1980. If I'm correct, the shop underneath where the man is on the canopy was Kwik Save. The chimney you see is that of the Brighton Arms.



And then next door to that was Tesco, where I got my first job !

 

[Pewster]

Any Idea when this photo was taken ? Just shows how old Bedder's Chippy must be as it was still there last time I drove past ! Although I imagine its open a lot hours these days !

 

[Pewster]

Phil, hope you're still reading this thread, but I've just done the first 70 pages now its time for bed, can't wait to continue this journey tomorrow. Just want to echo what somebody seems to have said on every page I've seen, and say thanks. The photos are brilliant, even for a relative youngster like me !

 

[I Am Nico]

Neigh, she was a horse, Carolina, but I can remember some of the donkeys' names. Mandy, Noddy, Bob, Dixie and Daisy.I can't remember where I put my secs though just forked out an arm and a leg for a pair.

Carolina I meant specs not secs, I can't see for love nor money (nan) I remember having the runs on Enville or Highgate Common and went in this tatty old loo in desperation. I remember the poem on the door, "my xxxx are long I cannot see I have not brought my bra with me, that has stayed with me forever.

 

[I Am Nico]

Love this picture, makes me think of the Lewis's record store where so many of my childhood purchases were made.

Pewster for a mo I thought that was Cov Precinct till I looked at some of the older buildings. Smart Brummie birds/wenches in the foreground but tje lghts look like cotton buds.

 

[brumgum]

Love this picture, makes me think of the Lewis's record store where so many of my childhood purchases were made.

Wasn't Lewis's record store in the Bull Street subway?. The Old Square subway precinct seemed in my opinion to be one of the more successful pedestrian underpasses in the City,this picture makes me almost wish we still had it.

 

[MWS]

What a great picture of the old square. Might just be a bit before my time but we always had to walk through it when coming home from town to catch the 14 at the other end of Corporation St, outside Harry Parkes. And that was a wondrous shop to a boy who loved sport.

 

[Pewster]

Wasn't Lewis's record store in the Bull Street subway?. The Old Square subway precinct seemed in my opinion to be one of the more successful pedestrian underpasses in the City,this picture makes me almost wish we still had it.

You may be right and I'm getting my subways confused ( but these were the days when there were more of this type than the foot long ones with a free drink that todays kids relate to ) as thinking about it, the record shop was at the bottom of a ramp by the corner entrance to the store. This I think would have been next subway up, opposite corner bringing you up to corner of Rackhams ? As MWS said, this is the one with the route up to Harry Parkes, Law Courts, Childrens Hospital etc, the old Gaumont on Colemore Row in the background gives it away. The other thing about this subway is I remember the boozer above it on the same side as the Oasism Argos, Market, was it called the Cabin ?

 

[Pewster]

We are now heading into areas where I never ventured as a youngster as Common Lane and the Met was as far as I normally travelled on the 56. But continuing on toward the Bromford Lane - Stechford Lane junction we pass the end of Alum Rock Rd on our right and another shopping parade (31) before reaching the actual junction (32) where we find the Fox and Goose (33) & (34) a pub that I remember went for quite some time without beer due to industrial action. Across the road for many years stood another favourite entertainment of the working classes the cinema, in this case The Beaufort (35).

These are my favourites of the lot. Living down on the Firs estate, the Beaufort was the first ever Cinema I was taken to as a kid, sometime very late 60's or early 70's. The other Cinema I would have frequented was the Capitol in Alum Rock which was by where my Grandparents lived. As for the Fox and Goose pub, it still stands today, and for me as a 16/17 year old around 1980/81, the back room Disco was the place to be ! The shops around the Fox and Goose were the usual lunchtime venue for myself and a lot of the Hodge Hill pupils, which led to some interesting altercations with some of the lads who also made their way there from the nearby Washwood Heath School.

 

[Pewster]

Another great pic and particularly sad now, as the impressive Car Dealership Garage and Famous Clock is no longer, flattened in the last 12 months.

 

[Pewster]

Another great childhood memory, I'm loving you for these Phil. Once a week, shopping with Nan and Grandad, always got my sweets from here. They lived in Alum Rock, and at Grandads pace it was a good 20 minute adventure drive to get there in his old Morris Minor !

 

[Pewster]

Those of you with a knowledge of maps may well help on this one. But if that is Alum Rock road bearing left ( towards the Pelham ) and Cotterills Lane continuing forward, my granparents lived on a road next right after the junction. In the late 60's , this was Bamford Road, when was this picture taken ? and would that be Bamford Road in this picture that you can just make out emerging ?

 

[Pewster]

And there she is in all her glory, saw Airplane there when it first came out, couldn't stop laughing ! Hawtins record store was across the road, source of many an early purchase !

 

[Pewster]

I will never know and cant even ask them as alas they are no longer here. But I wonder how long this café remained on Dolphin Road after 1952 ! I know I was born in the house at Dolphin Road in 1964. We left around 68/69 but I have no idea how long my parents had lived there ! My only real memory of the area being so young was visiting the barbers amongst the shops on the left of the Warwick Road just before the Greet Pub, but haven't seen a picture with these in them yet.

 

[Phil]

pewster

I think the building is still there today but it's now a house. I suppose the business went in the early 70's when they closed off the Warwick Rd end of St Johns Rd as there would have been no passing business. Here are a few photos of the shops on Warwick Rd in Greet, perhaps not quite what you want but you should recognise them.

 

[Phil]

pewster

Concerning Banford Rd, it would indeed be the road on the right just after the junction of Cotterills Lane and Alum Rock Rd as these two snips from Google maps show.

 

[Pewster]

You mention somewhere, then you find the pic !