fiftiesboy
proper brummie kid
They weren't safe. I don't remember them but my Mother did tell me about a lad from our road who was killed in Perry Barr. He waited for the bus to pass and dashed across the road to be run over by the trailer
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Birchfield Road Perry Barr
- Thread starter debi
- Start date
nice pic phil...now where on that route was it taken ..looks like a pub on the left but it rings no bells with me and i dont think its birchfield road...
lyn
Di.Poppitt
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
The tram lines had a lot to answer for, how many cyclists got their front wheels stuck in them. But on a dark foggy night, or even day when the fog was at its worst, how many of us followed them to get us home when the bus's wern't running.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
Hi Lyn, I thought it was Birchfield Road by Chain Walk. The road was narrow there and the tram track went to single line as shown on the map below. Also, what I think is the pub is shown on the map although marked as a hotel. I could however be wrong and maybe other members can comment.
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oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
I can remember having some scary moments with tram lines when I cycled in Birchfield Rd. With regard to the fog in those days, it was so thick and smoky (smog) bus drivers could not see the kerbs. One foggy night going home from Handsworth Tech, I managed to catch a No 5 tram from Villa Cross to Six Ways but then had to walk from there to Great Barr because no buses were running.
Eric Gibson
master brummie
I remember walking home one Christmas with my parents from my aunt's in Victoria Road to Kingstanding because of the smog, dad said "we'll follow the tram lines" then after a while said "damn that's the Chain Walk." We'd completely missed the Six Ways turn towards Perry Bar.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
A cropped view of the pic dated 1954 in post#438 which I think is on Birchfield Rd. There appears to be a pub like building on the corner of Johnstone Rd and it is marked as a hotel on the map in post#442. I have highlighted two features on the building.
Pic1
A view of Birchfield Rd dated 1962, and a building in the pic appears to have the same two features. A problem with this pic is that the building now has an upper floor compared to the 1954 pic.
Pic2
Another view dated 1966 shows what looks like the same building and one feature looks the same. Unfortunately a bus blocks nearly all of the front of the building.
Pic3
If the building on the corner was a pub I cannot find a name for it or any other information.
Pic1
A view of Birchfield Rd dated 1962, and a building in the pic appears to have the same two features. A problem with this pic is that the building now has an upper floor compared to the 1954 pic.
Pic2
Another view dated 1966 shows what looks like the same building and one feature looks the same. Unfortunately a bus blocks nearly all of the front of the building.
Pic3
If the building on the corner was a pub I cannot find a name for it or any other information.
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Eric Gibson
master brummie
I thought there was a discussion about the Chain Walk on these threads some long time ago.
Pedrocut
Master Barmmie
Are we talking about Chain Walk in Lozells?
Eric Gibson
master brummie
That's the one.
Pedrocut
Master Barmmie
Pedrocut
Master Barmmie
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}
Can’t see any pub mentioned, but a place called The Poplars, Johnstone St, Birchfield is mentioned a few times in sad circumstances. There are also adverts for Metals wanted by Hicks.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
A 1950 view of Birchfield Road by New Inn Road. I remember that building on the corner of Heathfield Road and the garage with the AA sign on the right. Trinity Road Church is the only building in the photo which is still there today. It's steeple can be seen above the tram.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
A tram from the trams thread in an unusually quiet Birchfield Rd Perry Barr in the late 1940's.
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Tram No 367 in Birchfield Rd and it appears to be full of men and a happy looking group hanging off the back platform.
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Nice pic of Birchfield Road from its junction with New Inns Road, Mohawk. I also remember that half-timbered building on the corner of Heathfield Rd, but don't know what it was. On the opposite corner of Birchfield and Heathfield is a sheltered accommodation where my parents lived out their last years. We occasionally attended 'parish garden parties' in the (very nice) grounds of Trinity Vicarage. Seeing what that area is today, I could cry....
G
G
fiftiesboy
proper brummie kid
cracking shot of birchfield road..looking towards aston lane..can make out the old crown and cushion on the left..the birchfield cinema on the right and the library next to it..the church you can see in aston lane is still there and so are the houses to the left of it but the houses to the right of the church have now gone..
fiftiesboy
proper brummie kid
The white building on the corner of Aston Lane would have been the Municipal Bank where sometimes I was trusted by my Mom to take the cash and pay the mortgage. 10/6 a week, how things have changed ! The photo must have been taken from the top of one of the new tower blocks
The yard at the back of Wilkins Chemist was a warehouse for the chemist shops all over Birmingham owned by Mr A D Norton. There were 39 branches to be stocked from here and above the retail shop. An old carpenter named Mr. Medlam also had a workshop in this yard so there was a lot of traffic up and down in the 50s and 60sMr. Norton's chauffeur used to drive the Bentley up Crown Avenue, what a feat that was as there was a stone half pillar on each side. Mr. Lockley was very careful and never marked it. The old man used to arrive in a star boater and blazer with a fag in his mouth and ash dropping off all over the warehouse floor. Wonder it never all went up in flames. It was taken over by R Weston Chemists from Sheffield.
Does anyone remember the shop just before the railway bridge, opposite Dodds ironmongers where it supplied hot Vimto in thick glasses with a straw. ver so dingy inside ?
I have just spent a couple of hours re-reading this post, another bit of the city lost for ever. I went to Canterbury Road School, danced at Enid Goodwins' lived in Stoneleigh Road when we got married and shopped in Brichfield Road. So many very happy memories.
Regards to the land in Wellhead Lane, my father used to talk about Villa playing there, it was their first ground. The land in Witton Lane was called Aston Lower Ground and used for entertainment, but I'm sure you all know
that.
Fabulous memories of Enid Goodwins Dancing School, always seemed to be doing the quick step to Joe Loss and "In the Mood". Names remember are Albert Cotterill and his Brother Bill, Alan Redfern, Derek Stockley, Christine Smith. Is it still in existence or gone for ever like all my memories of good old Perry Barr and Aston.
I am a little adrift here as I seem to remember a Clarks shoe shop one side of Aston Lane and a Barclays Bank on the other corner, Cross the traffic lights up towards the Birchfield Picture House and you come to the Birmingham Municipal Bank with its little black saving boxes, next to theBritish Restaurant that did super suet steak and kidney puddings with chips and gravy.
