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Birmingham (Industrial) Cooperative Society Shops

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stitcher
  • Start date Start date
As I think I said some time back on this thread, Birmingham Industrial Co-operative Society first opened a shop in 1881 at 14 Great Francis Street, but by 1884 bigger premises were needed so they moved a few hundred yards up the street to the corner of Newdegate Street and they named the new premises No1 as can be seen on many photos on this forum.

I have searched and I am unable to find a photo of the original shop as a Co-op shop but I am able to show a couple of images of number 14 in later life, after the Co-op moved it became a post office (see photo). I've also added a photo that locates it better, shortly before demolition in 1966, it's the last shop before the road drops back to accommodate the weighbridge for the coal wharf on Pitney Street.

Nechells Great Francis St Post Office.jpg Nechells Great Francis Street by Snooker Hall 18-April-1966 .jpg
 
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In addition to Stitchers excellent image of a Co-op coal delivery lorry, here are two forms of Co-op bread delivery vans. The first image is of a horse drawn delivery van which delivered the bread until February 1957. After then horses were replaced by 20cwt electric vans, until they were in turn replaced by motor vehicles.

Co-op Horse drawn van.jpg Co-op electric Van.jpg
 
What many people haven't latched on to yet is that the current batch of Co-ops are no longer any different from all the other supermarket giants (except that they're almost always the highest priced).
The idea that they're owned by their members is long gone and they're more than 70% owned by hedge funds and financial institutions.
 
I remember the electric vans and the bread man with his basket. Is it my imagination or were the vans green? We had the bread and milk delivered and also a grocery van (well, big enough to go on and stand by a little counter) which came once a week. I suppose this was in the early 60s or late 50s.
 
I vaguely remember moms coalman had a horse and cart when I was very young. The milkman and baker had horse and carts as did the rag-man and the greengrocer initially. We used to collect all the horse manure we could find and sell it to the allotment holders just off Gospel Lane. I forget how much we charged but it sold by the bucketful, although our dad never paid us for what he had.
 
Stitcher said:
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Stitcher's photo in post #79 is of the Soho Road, Handsworth branch. If you look closely at the shop sign the "B'ham" looks brighter than the other words. That's because it was originally Soho Co-operative Society, opened in 1920. (The top of the building still bears the SCS logo in the photo). In 1925 it was merged with BCS so the "Soho" was painted over with "BHam". Viv.
 
Co-Op.jpg
I remember as clear as a shining light, little sister in the pram pushed by Mom with me and two brothers in tow. It was always the grocers first and then the butchers next door.
 
Phil said:
In addition to Stitchers excellent image of a Co-op coal delivery lorry, here are two forms of Co-op bread delivery vans. The first image is of a horse drawn delivery van which delivered the bread until February 1957. After then horses were replaced by 20cwt electric vans, until they were in turn replaced by motor vehicles.

View attachment 118808 View attachment 118809
Click to expand...
Similar vehicle NVP 144 can be seen in preserved condition at the Transport Museum Wythall.
https://www.wythall.org.uk/elec.asp
 
Co-operative societies in Soho, Handsworth have a long history. Going as far back as the 1830s, Boulton and Watt founded the Handsworth Economical Union and Provision Co. By 1887 a Soho Co-op Society was formed (by the Smethwick Society, but the Smethwick group later ran out of money).

By the 1920s the Soho Society similarly faced commercial difficulties, but it didn't stop them opening this substantial shop on Soho Road in 1920 (Stitcher originally posted this image in post #69 - note the overwritten "BHam" shop sign following SCS/BCS merger whilst the SCS logo remains on top of the shop - this too was later changed to BCS). They even expanded the shop to take up the corner of Alfred Road and Soho Road. Fortunately these buildings are still here today.

First photo 1920s. No date for second photo. Modern images from Google Streetview.

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I remember when in the shop in post 97 with Mom, if she wanted cheese the man would put a large block on the counter and cut a piece off with a wire, it would be within a few coppers of the amount Mom wanted, the tea was put into white pointed bags and the money went across the shop in a small container hanging from a wire.
 
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As part of my youthful quest to see life from varying aspects and awaiting an opportunity to start my career in the pharmaceutical world took employment with a well knows Midland grocery chain (thread on here).
In the brief period of a few months I was with them I soon learned the knack, as Stitcher describes, of cutting cheese, butter and lard to a very precise weight. Cheeses came in a large, heavy round shape covered in wax and hessian. That had to be removed before it was displayed to the shopper.
In the 1950's tea was already cartoned but biscuits (including the magical for kids, broken ones) were loose and in a metal container usually with glass lid. Sugar was weighed (remember the blue bags so loved by art teachers for making into all sorts of weird things :D), many other products were weighed and bagged and uncooked and cooked meats were sliced into weights that the customer required. As a junior I was not allowed to bone sides of bacon or operate the Berkel slicer as it could, when used by an untrained operator, remove fingers or any other part that got in the way of that very sharp cutting disk. :eek:
 
1930s Co Op.png
I have no idea of the location of Castle street, but thought it may interest some members.
 
A photo dated 1971 of the Co-Op on Kingstanding Road north of the circle. The shop looks busy and a pram stands unattended on the pavement. Today the shop is not a Co-Op but there is one in a different building next to it. There are other photos of this shop in post#42.
KingstandingCoOp1971.jpg
 
That must be the Co-op's own lamp trained on the fruit and veg stall. Maybe it was for wintertime when it got darker earlier. Suggests to me that the shop was probably short on space. Viv.
 
Not unusual Vivienne, to extend your shop out onto an area in front - provided, of course it was part of the premises, so to speak and not the municipal pavement - and it still is in many towns.
That was the true idea of self service and what is more you could inspect the goods beforehand, unlike so much of the pre-packed produce of today. I am sure you remember it. ;)
 
That's the opening day ceremony Stitcher. It was 1929. I have another view of the same occasion here. Viv.

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Because we lived in Oakhill Crescent Acocks Green The Village, Fox Hollies, Hall Green and a few others were all within walking distance of the house.
 
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