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Army And Navy Surplus Shops

oldbrit

oldbrit

OldBrit in Exile
One store that I remember was the Army and Navy surplus store. I got a duffle coat with the hood and wood pegs there. Anyone remember what street it was on?
 
oldbrit said:
One store that I remember was the Army and Navy surplus store. I got a duffle coat with the hood and wood pegs there. Anyone remember what street it was on?
Click to expand...
Think it may have been in Moor St. Think it was there I bought my duffle coat for 5 quid though that sounds dear to me. It was a genuine one that had been in store from c1943.The material was as thick as what you got in the neck of a bottle and the imprint of the wooden toggles wouldn't come out as they had been stacked on top of each other all that time ( think it was 1957/
Some nasty person took it accidentally of a hook at a jazz club in a Bradford St. Pub and left me his rag of one in exchange
 
oldbrit said:
One store that I remember was the Army and Navy surplus store. I got a duffle coat with the hood and wood pegs there. Anyone remember what street it was on?
Click to expand...

If we are talking about Oswald & Bailey, didn't they start at the junction of Moor Street, then move into temporary premises up Moor Street near Carrs Lane but on the other side of the road and then finally move back to the Bull Ring when it was completed under the Matador.
 
The three locations of Oswald Bailey Ltd in and around the Bull Ring as I remember them. I had a mate who worked in two of them at least. We used to go camping together, he had all the gear.

City Bull Ring High St - Moor St .jpg City Moor Street with Carrs Lane on left.jpg City Bull Ring Shortly Before Demolition (5).JPG
 
oldbrit said:
Back of my very weak mind seems the store I am thinking about was near a movie house?
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What about E Merchant Army & Navy Stores 160 Ladypool Road, Balsall Heath which was next door to the Olympia Cinema?
 
Never knew there was an Oswalds Bailey's by the ramp Phil. Don't remember it at all and used that Bull Ring entrance many times. Viv.
 
Viv

I'm not going swear to this, but I'm pretty sure the shop was there from the opening of the Bull Ring Centre until the day it closed. The thing is being tucked away under the ramp as it was unless you were looking for it you wouldn't notice it.
 
Hi Phil, the one in Ladypool Rd was one of my favorite shops on a couple of occasions I bought a jack knife for 2/6.At one stage our gang thought we terrorized our area when we bought those ex commandos reversible face masks, one side white when were fighting in Norway (in our minds) and black when we were infiltrating Nazi headquarters.
We could not have survived 1947 without our 2/6 snowshoes and a bit later we clubbed together to buy a Nansen sledge and went in search of snow as far away as Sparkhill Park via Moseley. We tried to get it on the bus for the return trip but the Clippy was not up for it. They had an inflated rubber life raft suspended from the ceiling but at 30/- it was overpriced for our pocket money. We also bought those blue metal water bottles and US pistol holsters to carry our Ranger cap pistols, the one's with the plastic steer heads on the handles.
The Olympia Cinema was our local flea pit.
Cheers Tim
 
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