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Newtown shopping centre

I have just remembered Goulds the tailors which was next door or next but one to Ray's shop, for years Goulds had been on the corner of Newtown Row and Inkerman Street. Other shops I now recall were Poxon or Coxon the butchers, M.E.B. showrooms, a car insurance company, can't recall the name, and up near the Newbury Road entrance was Withers newsagents and tobacconists. These shops were all there when the Centre opened about 1973. so could have closed or changed hands in the later years. The decorating shop was owned by Gordon Slater and his partner John? they used to have a stall in the old market hall next to the Post Office corner of Newtown Row/Asylum Road. I spoke to Gordon only two weeks ago when he came to our Reunion at The Barn.
 
Sylvia I would love to see some of the old photo's, if you wanted you could post me some and I will put them on here for you and post them back. If you want to I can phone you with my address or IM you
 
Hi Patty, I can do that for you if you IM me. I think there are a few of the girls, but will have to check if you are on any of them.
 
Does anyone remember when Arthur Askey opened The Bandwagon? Other shops i remember vaguely were Halfords, Oswald Bailey, Pat,s Cafe, Dewhurst,The Pet Shop ,Fruit A Shoemenders, and when the Precinct first opened their was a shop by Sainsburys that used to sell cooked chickens they were on a rotisserie outside and you could smell them as soon as you entered the Precinct. The Hairdresser,s above Dillons is where i had The feather Cut which i quite liked but had a disasterous perm done in The Market.
 
I wonder if any Summer Laners out there remember retired schoolteacher Mr Byron having the first pitch as you walked into the indoor market?He sold carpet remnants i think.Moss.
 
I have been looking at the photos we have of Newtown Shopping Centre to send to Patty so she could post them here, unfortunately they don't show the centre when it was thriving, nearly all the shops are boarded up and the whole area is decaying, the photos were taken I think for a court case the traders had against the landlords for non-maintenance although the traders were charged quite heavily for the upkeep. I was quite shocked to see them again, I had forgotten how bad it had become. Some of the photos show Foster Bros., Walter Smith Butchers, Shipton Insurance, Swimming Pool, Walford & Cashmore Shoe Shop, Burberrys, Cleanlyne Furnishers, Lord Byrom & Son, The Griffin. So sad and it opened with such hope and enthusiasm.
 
oldpics003.jpg
 
*I remember a secuirty guard was killed in the precinct, but can't remember the year.

I have posted some photos to Patty and she will try and post them on this thread when she gets the hang of the new system.

Ray has lots of tales of his time in Aston and Newtown Shopping Centre, one was when the Centre was declining and a lot of winos hung round, one day in the winter and there was snow and ice around one broke his leg and someone propped him up outside a shop and called an ambulance, when it arrived he was still clutching his bottle and shouted "I don't need you lot, I'm in BUPA".
 
Hi.
I wonder if you can help me? I'm trying to find out the names of any butchers shops that were in the Newtown shopping centre in 1980. I know there was a W H Smith but were there any others you can remember?
Thanks in advance!!

h markon
nice to hear your memos ; i was one of the first residents to move into inkerman house the first block to be built there afew years before you
i lived on the very top floor of the flats and the flat over looked the concourse and the shops and of a night time i used to watch the yobs play up the security officers and they always called the polce and watch the fights and the struggles i lived next to a guy whom was timmins and old guy whom lived on his own ; but i can recall all the shops name and the flat we lived in if you was to look up in the sky at the top of the flats
our flat was slapp bang in the middle i myself would like to think that some one may have a picture of it ;
as i would dearly love to see it also to mention my younger brother lived up on those new houses in what they called barton bank
they are the ones that was facing the main rd where all the shops and the picture house used to stand years ago along with the nat west bank ;
best wishes astonian
 
Thank you , that's what I meant Walter Smith not WH Smith lol
Th reason I'm ask is I'm trying to find my dad, all I know is his name was Joseph / Joe he would have been about 17/18 & he worked in the butchers which is where my mum met ,him, she says she cant (or wont) tell me anything more than that!!
Its a bit of a long shot I know ...
Just wondering if the firm still exists somewhere and they may have old company / staff records...
Thanks again

I can remember there being a Poxons and Walter Smiths.
 
The forum does not allow discussion in open forum where someone is looking for people who still may be alive, so if anyone has any personal information on this person please contact Jasminesmummy by IM. If they have general information about the butchers , or suggestions as to where information may be found, then, of course it may be placed on open forum
 
Yes I done my first shopping experience on my own doing a full shopping list with my mums wheelie shopper in sainsburys I was only 9 but I felt I was a grown woman going into a big shop on my own without anybody with me.I remember the Tesco's on the corner which had a set of stairs just outside the shop that took you to an open air carpark and of course nearly everybody went to Ray's hairdressing salons .His wife use to run the ladies and he ran the mens .my dad went to Ray's for many years when he was situated in bracebridge street we even got some wooden chairs from him when he moved to newtown when he left newtown my dad still took a bus to his new shop which was quite far to get to because he did not want anybody else to cut his hair.I would not mind but he was bald with a bit of hair either side of his head ha ha.
 
I think you are right Mrs. S. Was Collins further up opposite the market area, if I remember correctly there was also a Tesco which I think later became Bobbys.

thanks sylvia ive been trying for ages to remember the name of a supermarket that was in the precinct..it was collins and i think it was more or less opposite the round market

lyn x
 
Newtown SShopping Centre I remember it very well , as I lived in Selston Road which was just off Victoria Road . I used Rays shop for my haircut when it was next to the bank , I also used Bobby's for my bottles of Checker Bitter , when I was fitting a new kitchen . I used The Griffin and The Paddock , Poxon's, Walters Smiths butchers , the record shop in the indoor market plus the decorators shop further down . One of the partners used to live around the corner from me when I lived in Great Barr , I left GB two years ago . I worked with a man who lived and unfortunately died in Inkerman House , I also decorated one of the flats there , There was also a man that when he saw me in The Paddock would give me a couple of tickets for Perry Barr greyhound track for Saturday nights , he also lived in Inkerman house . Also used to get what used to be known as six pennorth from the chip shop but it was more than sixpence . Great days indeed I lived around there 1976-96 when we moved to Great Barr
 
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