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Aldridge Road .

Judging by the lamp standard near the garage suggests it is a major road; Walsall Road, Maybe?
 
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you could be right alan or maybe the aldridge road..dont really know which way i am looking to be honest...its that large building on the right thats bugging me

lyn
 
I would guess it's looking towards Aldridge Road, there are too many buildings in sight for it to be Walsall Road.
 
Buntings was on or near the corner of Wellhead Lane and Aldridge Road opposite to the Alexander Stadium (the original one) they were Austin agents, they went broke in the sixties I think.
 
Buntings was on or near the corner of Wellhead Lane and Aldridge Road opposite to the Alexander Stadium (the original one) they were Austin agents, they went broke in the sixties I think.
He sold up and opened up in Totnes with his son, see post 543 above.
Bob
 
Two aerial views of the area ...
The first is dated 1950 and there appears to be a garage in the centre of the pic ... white building with a canopy (maybe added since prewar) in front but set back somewhat from Aldridge Rd. The large house bottom left has enough chimneys to match the building in the right of the original pic .... but other items seem hard to match ... enlarge the pic and scroll ...
Alex1950.jpg
The second dated 1937 is from another direction and resolution is low ...
PerryBarr1937.jpg
from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/christ-church-perry-barr.46014/#post-562538
both images from 'britainfromabove'


 
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From the map c 1950, the house with the chimneys seems to be the vicarage, and the Kellys shows Buntings shortly after the vicarage, with the building marked scale works being W.Downes & Co.

map c1950 area south of alexandra stadium.jpg Kellys 1950. start aldridge road.jpg
 
Today's maps show everything around Alexander stadium (now dog track) has gone since that time. I remember the stadium when it was still used as an athletics stadium. Must have been up until the 1970s ? Not exactly sure when it became a dog track. But wasn't there another track or stadium built in/near Perry Park after that ? Or maybe I imagined that. Viv.
 
Today's maps show everything around Alexander stadium (now dog track) has gone since that time. I remember the stadium when it was still used as an athletics stadium. Must have been up until the 1970s ? Not exactly sure when it became a dog track. But wasn't there another track or stadium built in/near Perry Park after that ? Or maybe I imagined that. Viv.

Post 547 and oldm’s ariel view both show the old dog track and the sports stadium. The dog track moved to where it is situated today, being the sports stadium.

Somewhere there is a picture of the entrance to the old dog track leading down through the car park, and over a bridge on the river Tame.
 
The old dog track entrance ...
A photo of some waste ground and advertisment hoardings on the other side of the Walsall Rd from Christ Church where I waited in very large bus queues during the 1950's when I first started work. The entrance to the old Perry Barr Dog Track can be seen and what looks like a bus shelter which stretched all the way to the track and presumably kept the the punters out of any rain as they queued to get in. The actual track and grandstands were a long way from the road as can be seen in the aerial view in #18.
index.php

image only visible if logged in
 
Jack Allen was the name of the garage in the early 1970's....they repaired Dennis dustbin lorries, they had to move because of the Uni being built.....I do think the view is of Aldridge Road.....
 
For those who don't know about the history of Alexander Stadium, there have been two stadiums. The original was the one we're discussing on Aldridge Road. This first one (now the dog track) was the home of Birchfield Harriers from 1929- 1977. The famous club logo carved in 1929 by William Bloye can still be seen on the stadium wall facing Wellhead Lane. (A personal favourite of mine).




And as I thought, it's second later home is near Perry Barr Park, built especially for the Harriers club in the 1970s and called Birmingham Alexander Stadium. The hazy memory I have of this was my dad talking about it as he worked along Wellhead Lane up until that time.

Viv.



 
I went regularly to the speedway when it first opened after the war, the guy who ran it lived in the first big house in the row shown on the map, opposite the stadium going towards Kingstanding.
 
Very interesting maps, Mike. The 'metal works' at the northern junction of Wellhead Lane and Aldridge Road became the Land Rover Axle Works in I believe the early 1950's. My dad, who worked for Efco Ltd at the time, installed heat-treatment furnaces there, and liked working there as he could walk to and from the factory as we lived nearby in The Broadway.

Off-topic, but when the speedway moved to the site that is now One Stop, we used to sneak in through a tatty fence on Regina Drive. Nobody ever stopped us or even questioned us.

G
 
I watched Brooklyn Tech being built on the corner of Aldridge Road/Beeches Road. It opened in June 1954.
brooklyn_then.jpg

Today it has an additional block and is now named the James Watt College and the junction naturally has more street furniture.
Capture.JPG
 
I worked for four years at Brooklyn Garage opposite the college before I left Brum in 1965.
When I bought my first car in the 1960s I used to fill up at Brooklyn Garage. It was not 'self service' as far as I remember. A photo below dated 1971.
brooklyngarage1971.jpg
 
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