• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Aston Road North

loverly i keep looking. that was my hunting ground. thanks lyn.

always happy to post photos pete they need to be shared..apart from helping to bring back memories for our members they really are very important to the history of birmingham...without them we do not have a lot left..

will get the last 6 or so on probably tomorrow now folks when ive resized
 
Thank you Lyn...great photo's as always, I have some of these photo's in my collection but its always a thrill to see others not seen before....the dates must range from the 1950's to early 1970's.....Thanks again Lyn...
 
hi john most welcome glad you like them...as i said earlier if you hover over them the dates and captions should come up...all 50s and 60s i think expect for the last one which is the 40s..

lyn.
 
WOW! Lyn, a lot to absorb there. One or two duplicates I believe.
Some I am sure I have seen before but obviously in another thread. My favourite would be the 1940 potato rationing one, I lived through the latter part of that time of queues. :scream: It was the time when women were used to buying up to 28lbs. potatoes - or less - for their families. That's how tummies were filled then. :D
The tram tracks suggest 1953, or earlier, the tarred filled ones after mid 1953 when the trams ceased. Later ones show a new road surface. Many show shops with once familiar names, but now long gone. A nice ghost sign in post 61 of Wilford & Co. glass works. Another photo shows the once familiar, within the city's boundaries, pillar fire alarm.
 
Sorry Lyn post #64, pic #4. Don’t have facility on iPad to see info about photo - as far as I know. Viv,
 
WOW! Lyn, a lot to absorb there. One or two duplicates I believe.
Some I am sure I have seen before but obviously in another thread. My favourite would be the 1940 potato rationing one, I lived through the latter part of that time of queues. :scream: It was the time when women were used to buying up to 28lbs. potatoes - or less - for their families. That's how tummies were filled then. :D
The tram tracks suggest 1953, or earlier, the tarred filled ones after mid 1953 when the trams ceased. Later ones show a new road surface. Many show shops with once familiar names, but now long gone. A nice ghost sign in post 61 of Wilford & Co. glass works. Another photo shows the once familiar, within the city's boundaries, pillar fire alarm.

yes sorry if there are any duplos alan...i was just posting them as they appear on my pc ...wanted to get them on quick lol....but you are correct there is a lot to take in...was just telling my son in law about the ones of walter smith butchers as he works for them...

post 73 photo 4...is that an e type in the pic...not sure as the bonnet does not look long enough..mind you that could just be the angle of the photo
 
hi jackie i never tire of looking at the old photos... taken when the area was a hive of activity....so dull bland and soulless now...very sad

lyn
 
post 73 photo 4...is that an e type in the pic...not sure as the bonnet does not look long enough..mind you that could just be the angle of the photo

re. post 73 photo 4, if you mean the car parked on the road,it is an Austin-Healey,judging from the two-tone paint job, an Austin-Healey 3000 .
I remember H.J. Evans car hire,my dad hired an Austin A55 from them.I recall they were investigated by a newspaper (can't remember which one) for fitting speed limiters to the hire cars,which the article said could give the manufacturers a bad name for selling underpowered cars...………...….Mal
 
Evocative,memories of a time past, a shop name here, a shop name there, I know that one, do not remember that one and those fifties and sixties British built cars, but most of all black and white photos, still the most
revealing form of photo and that is not a stark condemnation of all those magnificent colour photos from Ell and co there is a bleakness to a black and white picture, an honesty, they are revealing. Yet some of these were taken in the swinging sixties yet show none of the louchness of that time. Thanks again for reminding us of what it all looked like, not very long ago really

Bob
 
Trying to get my bearings to appreciate the old pictures it seems very little is left of Aston Road North. Here is a split picture of the OS Map published 1945, and the modern 3D google Earth view.

The west side has completely gone and on the east side only a few buildings of note still remaining. Looking north there is a building on the corner of Aston Road North and Aston Brook Street, the pub now called the Jamaica Inn on the corner of Whitehouse Street, and the old Post Office on the corner of Holland Road.



77E29FA2-0BD1-4273-871A-4B41EB2917F8.jpeg
 
Thanks Pedro. I spent ages yesterday faffing about trying to get my bearings and just had to give up. There’s so little left to go on.

That’s very helpful. Viv.
 
Lyn's incredible pictures and Pedrocut's post #89 have inspired me to see what buildings remain in this area. As a child growing up in Parliament Street I spent many hours aged 5 or 6 playing 'tracking' in the streets either side of Aston Road North (the streets seemed safer in those days for young children).

At the 'town end' of Aston Road North houses have survived in Aston Brook Street East and Hubert Street although these are barely recognisable with front doors converted to windows and presumably are now apartments with access and parking to the rear. How did they ever survive the destruction and obliteration of the 60s ?

As mentioned in other posts, few other buildings have survived, I have marked these on a map and attached images. What a sad end to this once 'buzzing' area.
 

Attachments

  • Aston_Road_North.jpg
    Aston_Road_North.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 37
  • Hubert Street_1.jpg
    Hubert Street_1.jpg
    650.1 KB · Views: 35
  • Corner of Aston Brook St_2.jpg
    Corner of Aston Brook St_2.jpg
    458 KB · Views: 32
  • Alfred Place Aston Brook St East_3.jpg
    Alfred Place Aston Brook St East_3.jpg
    975.5 KB · Views: 33
  • Aston Brook Street East_4.jpg
    Aston Brook Street East_4.jpg
    500.4 KB · Views: 32
  • Aston House_5.jpg
    Aston House_5.jpg
    421.1 KB · Views: 34
  • The Albion_6.jpg
    The Albion_6.jpg
    327.8 KB · Views: 36
  • The Post Office_7.jpg
    The Post Office_7.jpg
    319.8 KB · Views: 34
  • Golden Cross_8.jpg
    Golden Cross_8.jpg
    442.5 KB · Views: 34
I think this building, Whitehouse & Co Printers (foundry in the background) is now known as Aston House.

May 1926 Whitehouse and Co. notified their employees that unless they return to work by 8.00 am tomorrow they will be dismissed.

In 1889 it was a chemist (Established 1860) GD Horton MPS

Now home for a number of company offices.
 
Back
Top