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Then & Now

A quiet day looking down Bull Street towards Corporation Street in 1957. They made the the street lights interesting with fluted decorative posts even if they were using vertical fluorescent type light tubes ... I remember them and at the time thought they looked modern and neat! One of the old 'corner protection' bollards still there by the street light on the Temple Row corner and the old Rackhams.
Bull Street 1957.jpg
from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/street-furniture.42920/post-607273

Today only the former Lewis's building on the left was in the 1957 photo.
BullStnow.png
 
oldMohawk said:
A quiet day looking down Bull Street towards Corporation Street in 1957. They made the the street lights interesting with fluted decorative posts even if they were using vertical fluorescent type light tubes ... I remember them and at the time thought they looked modern and neat! One of the old 'corner protection' bollards still there by the street light on the Temple Row corner and the old Rackhams.
View attachment 169772
from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/street-furniture.42920/post-607273

Today only the former Lewis's building on the left was in the 1957 photo.
View attachment 169773
Click to expand...
I like the earlier pic better!
 
A working tram in Corporation Street stopped just before the Old Square to let passengers board. The date would be before 1950.
No8CorporationSt.jpg

The white cross in the photo below shows approximately where the tram was stopped although the trams had gone before the date when this photo was taken.
corporationSt_oldsquare.jpg

The view today ... :rolleyes:
CorporationSt_Old Square.jpg
 
In my childhood and teenage years this view along New Street was very familiar to me. In the distance is the Times Furnishing building which endured ww2 bombing as buildings around it were bombed to rubble. The Co Op on the far left, a Milk Bar on the right and of course the Odeon Cinema.
New_Street_1951.jpg

The 'Times' building is still there. It survived while everything around it changed. I suppose New Street of today has to be better with trees planted and no traffic allowed ... ;)
NewSt_now.jpg
 
At the Cotteridge tram terminus a conductress stopped the traffic and also a policeman on his bike as she swung the collector pole to the other end of the tram ready for the journey back to the city centre. A man also makes sure that young passengers can safely get to the pavement.
Tram_820_Cotteridge.jpgphoto by D.J.Norton date 24/2/52

Today the old trams are long gone but the shop buildings on the left are still there.
A441Cotteridge.jpg
 
oldMohawk said:
At the Cotteridge tram terminus a conductress stopped the traffic and also a policeman on his bike as she swung the collector pole to the other end of the tram ready for the journey back to the city centre. A man also makes sure that young passengers can safely get to the pavement.
View attachment 170588photo by D.J.Norton date 24/2/52

Today the old trams are long gone but the shop buildings on the left are still there.
View attachment 170590
Click to expand...
The trams and the Outer Circle bus have such fond memories.
Even after the trams were gone my memories are of catching the front wheel of my bike in the tracks and always at Aston Cross for some reason!
 
Richard Dye said:
The trams and the Outer Circle bus have such fond memories.
Even after the trams were gone my memories are of catching the front wheel of my bike in the tracks and always at Aston Cross for some reason!
Click to expand...
I have similar memories - a complete circuit of the city on the front seat of the number 11 Outer Circle bus.

I fell off my bike when my front wheel went in the tracks at Six Ways Birchfield Rd. There is a pic of the tracks and place where I had to sit down to recover in the post link below ... :)
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/birchfield-road-perry-barr.38467/post-733467
 
After an average performance at normal schools with the words 'could have done better' often written on my school reports, I left and started a five year engineering apprenticeship during which I was required to attend a college course of one day and three nights per week. I was at Aston Technical College up to the mid 1960s and with the help of brilliant teachers found out that I was cleverer than I thought I was and ended up with many certificates and diplomas.
So I have fond memories of Aston Technical College seen below in 1910. It was located on the corner of Whitehead Road and Ettington Road.
bcz.jpeg
Today it has been replaced by a modern building - probably nice inside - and is also the local library.
Untitled.jpg
 
Last edited:
oldMohawk said:
After an average performance at normal schools with the words 'could have done better' often written on my school reports, I left and started a five year engineering apprenticeship during which I was required to attend a college course of one day and three nights per week. I started at Aston Technical College in the mid 1960s and with the help of brilliant teachers found out that I was cleverer than I thought I was and ended up with many certificates and diplomas.
So I have fond memories of Aston Technical College seen below in 1910. It was located on the corner of Whitehead Road and Ettington Road.
View attachment 170772
Today it has been replaced by a modern building - probably nice inside - and is also the local library.
View attachment 170773
Click to expand...
oldMohawk, I took some classes there as a part of ONC and my apprenticeship. Maybe 55/56. Physics with Dr Thomas? Always work a cloak and sometimes mortarboard to class! Learned a lot from him!
 
Hi Richard, I been looking back through some old documents and can see I attended Aston Tech in 1959 just after completing National Service in the RAF and continued until 1964. I remember that I really wanted to learn and the teaching staff were excellent and dedicated.
 
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