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Then & Now

Phil said:
Once upon a time there stood a busy little pub on the corner of Emily Street and Dymoke Street called the Emily Arms. One day the local Council decided it was time they did something about the number of back to back slum housing in the area. So in the mid 1930’s they started demolishing the houses in a five and a half acre area around the pub.

The flats were completed by 1939 and officially opened by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. It wasn’t long before it became evident that these flats were just further slums but on top of each other as opposed to back to back though the Emily Arms still remained a busy little house.

Within 50 years the Council decided that these flats just had to go, and because the Emily Arms got in the way of their new design it was decided to move it across the road to a new building which can be seen on the right-hand side of the “now” image. Unfortunately, new replacement pubs rarely have the same atmosphere as the ones they replace and after a few short years and the obligatory change of name (The Hideaway) for failing pubs it closed and became a community centre.

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Birmingham Gazette, July 1938

C7EC82B7-D903-4BF5-9AEF-705048EF86F2.jpegF6F2CADC-AAFB-47FB-A9F0-16C4787E8CC8.jpegE3E76A87-6A71-40EE-8F05-F1029087B3D9.jpeg
 
oldMohawk said:
Suffolk Street in 1953. Only the large white building in the top centre remains today.
View attachment 154724

The small white car seen in the 1953 view would probably be strange to drive in today's traffic.
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I think the white building is on the corner of Severn Street isn't it? It used to called Severn House, when I worked for the Inland Revenue I did some training there as they occupied some of the floors - this was in the 70's.
The old Jewish synagogue is behind the building in Blucher Street.
 
Mort,

My uncle bought one, put a piece of metal to stop the thing being put into reverse, and then was told he could quite legally drive it on his motorcycle licence, which he did until he eventually passed his car driving test. This was late 1950s.

Maurice :cool:
 
Morturn said:
I did wonder if it was a Bond Minicar. They were a strange little car, you had to lift the bonnet up and kick start the engine. The whole engine swung with the steering and it could turn on the spot.

I supposed they were popular because you could drive one with a motorbike licence.
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I had a Bond Minicar, it had some sort of small electronic box to do with reverse,
one day it stuck in reverse and I had to drive two miles in reverse to get home!
 
bond mini car:grinning:
The majority of cars were convertibles, though later, hardtop models were offered, along with van and estate versions. Minicars were generally available either in standard or deluxe form, though the distinction between the two was largely one of mechanical detail rather than luxury. The cars were powered initially by a single-cylinder two-stroke Villiers engine of 122 cc (7 cu in). In December 1949 this was upgraded to a 197 cc (12 cu in) unit. The engine was further upgraded in 1958, first to a single-cylinder 247 cc and then to a 247 cc twin-cylinder Villiers 4T. These air-cooled engines were developed principally as motorcycle units and therefore had no reverse gear. However, this was a minimal inconvenience, because the engine, gearbox and front wheel were mounted as a single unit and could be turned by the steering wheel up to 90 degrees either side of the straight-ahead position, enabling the car to turn within its own length.

A method of reversing the car was offered on later models via a reversible Dynastart unit. The Dynastart unit, which doubled as both starter motor and dynamo on these models incorporated a built-in reversing solenoid switch. After stopping the engine and operating this switch the Dynastart, and consequently the engine, would rotate in the opposite direction.
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An aerial view from Hockley dated 1950. Bridge St West runs diagonally from bottom left and Farm St from bottom changing direction where Villa St crosses it. A school and a church in the view.
VillaStSchool_1950.jpg
image source 'britainfromabove'

The church and the school sites now have houses on them. The building on the far corner of Villa St/Farm St looks to have been there in 1950.
20210513_091555733_iOS.jpg
 
oldMohawk said:
An aerial view from Hockley dated 1950. Bridge St West runs diagonally from bottom left and Farm St from bottom changing direction where Villa St crosses it. A school and a church in the view.
View attachment 157088
image source 'britainfromabove'

The church and the school sites now have houses on them. The building on the far corner of Villa St/Farm St looks to have been there in 1950.
View attachment 157089
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In my opinion, how much nicer the area looked when the church was there. I used to be on the back of an old Ariel motorbike, tearing my way through Hockley at 35 mph, on my way to Sea Cadets, "T/S: VERNON" at the resevoir., that was in 1952.
 
Gerry Cannell said:
In my opinion, how much nicer the area looked when the church was there. I used to be on the back of an old Ariel motorbike, tearing my way through Hockley at 35 mph, on my way to Sea Cadets, "T/S: VERNON" at the resevoir., that was in 1952.
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I know the feeling Gerry. I used to live in Villa Street, next door to the cafe on the corner of Villa Street & Nursery Road. The area was so much better then, compared to now. If my memory serves me well, wasn't the church St Michael's.
 
Gerry Cannell said:
In my opinion, how much nicer the area looked when the church was there. I used to be on the back of an old Ariel motorbike, tearing my way through Hockley at 35 mph, on my way to Sea Cadets, "T/S: VERNON" at the resevoir., that was in 1952.
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Gerry, I agree the area looked MUCH better when the church was there. I used to ride my bike around there and remember the churc.
 
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