• 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

Birchfield Road Perry Barr

Looking at the lady cyclist's hat I'd say this is probably 1910s. (Wondered if it was around WW1?). Also other ladies in the street seem to be wearing earlier 1900s headwear and full-length dresses/coats. By the 1920s this changed with raised hemlines and closer fitting cloche-type hats. Although older generations clung to past fashions of course. Viv.
 
The date has to be prior to 1915, that was when trams received route numbers rather than letters. The tram in the photo (post 543) caries the letter 'P'.
Moreover until 1909/1910 the terminus was in Chain Walk, not as shewn in the photo as there was a dispute, for about two years, with Handsworth UDC when the services started in 1907.
 
photo on post 541 brings back memories to me....i used to work in an office in that tall building and there was a great indian restaurant i think on the 2nd floor...this would have been middle 70s

lyn
 
There was a hardware shop there and I seem to remember Melox dog food. I’ve tried to read the newspaper adverts on the right but can only see words ‘victory’ or ‘victims’ in the Evening Despatch one and ‘mystery’ in the Daily Mail one.
Dodds was the hardware shop, I still have a garden spade my Mother gave me that she bought from there which has Dodds name written on it with the price 2/6d.
 
Lyn, I remember that Indian restaurant quiet well but not its name! It was a regular place for a Saturday eat-out for me and friends back in the 1960's. Perry Barr Precinct was all right when it first opened, but in a quite short space of time companies started moving out, premises were boarded up and it became something of a haven for druggies. Shame, but the way of the world unfortunately.

G
photo on post 541 brings back memories to me....i used to work in an office in that tall building and there was a great indian restaurant i think on the 2nd floor...this would have been middle 70s

lyn
 
Dodds was the hardware shop, I still have a garden spade my Mother gave me that she bought from there which has Dodds name written on it with the price 2/6d.

I remember Dodds very well, my mother had worked nearby and knew the staff - I knew one of the men working there as 'Uncle Rex'
 
Can one of the bus experts explain why 3820 is showing service extra was it not a locally garaged bus?
Bob
Reviewing this thread and referring to post 195 it seems that the photo was taken in late 1969 not long after the PTE take-over which might explain movement of buses from one garage to another. I believe the use of SERVICE EXTRA might support that idea as the bus had not yet been fitted with a Wellhead Lane blinds.
 
A No 6 tram on Birchfield Road Perry Barr near the bus garage apparently waiting to travel on to the terminus which was in the centre of the road opposite the Crown and Cushion pub. Only one tram at a time could be stopped at the terminus and it looks as if all the passengers have got off rather than waiting.
View attachment 111262
The tram appears to be car 17, built in 1903, fitted top covers 1905 or 1907. If it is car 17 it survived until 1949. It is seen in the pre 1946 colours with old style numerals.
 
Another No 6 tram waiting it's turn to get to the terminus by the Crown and Cushion pub. Everyone appears to have got off the tram apart from one women who might be the conductress and presumably the driver might be somewhere in the tram having a sit down. The Municipal Bank can be seen on the corner of the Broadway.
View attachment 111526

Car 8, built 1903/4 also survived until 1949, It is in the pre 1946 style. I doubt that the woman is the conductress - unless she has had a row with the driver :D - she look more like a passenger. The conductress and driver are probably having a cup of tea and maybe a smoke by the Bundy clock. ;)
 
Last edited:
Lyn, I remember that Indian restaurant quiet well but not its name! It was a regular place for a Saturday eat-out for me and friends back in the 1960's. Perry Barr Precinct was all right when it first opened, but in a quite short space of time companies started moving out, premises were boarded up and it became something of a haven for druggies. Shame, but the way of the world unfortunately.

G

hi G i cant recall the name either and i went there enough times:rolleyes:
 
,The original businesses of Lynton Sq/Perry Barr Shopping Centre in 1963. No Indian restaurant at this point in time. Must have moved in later. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
viv the indian restaurant was not in the shopping complex it was in the tower you can see in post 541
 
i have heard on the grapvine that there is to be yet another revamp of one stop but dont know how true this is yet

lyn
 
Looking at Vivienne's list of businesses in Lynton Square, I think quite a few of them were short-lived. I worked for Handsworth Sports at their Soho Road shop 1968 - 1969 and sometimes had to go to the Lynton Square branch. I remember that there were several premises already closed and boarded up, only 5 or 6 years after Lynton Square originally opened. But the Indian restaurant kept going!

G
 
Yes I remember the tower Lyn. A little unusual in the suburbs to have an Indian restaurant in an office block. The tower was built as an office block. The details for the office tower don't mention there being accommodation for a restaurant. The restaurant must have applied to change the office accommodation status on the second floor as well as make all the necessary adaptations.

I wonder if the development was a bit of a white elephant from the start (as Big Gee suggests) and there was a move to 'fill up' the new development - thus allowing a restaurant in an office block. Viv.
 
yes viv it was unusual ..there was also a little cafe come take away where we used to buy our lunches from when i worked in one of the offices...this was in the early 70s though

lyn
 
Now I think about it, a school-friend of mine worked in the tower block, in an insurance office if I recall correctly. He wasn't there long after he left school in 1963, same time as me - his employer moved elsewhere.

Also, when I got married in 1971, Mac Fisheries was by then in Birchfield Road on the corner with Bragg Road - lovely shop, too. (Unless of course they had two shops in the area...)

G
 
A friend of mine, from Kerala South Western India, reminded me that India is a large country and the food is quite different from one region to another. Indian food, for much of the UK he said, was generally for Western palates and the name Indian, as far as food, was concerned was rather like all vacuum cleaners being called 'hoovers'. Many so called Indian restaurants are actually Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Afghan. This is not surprising really because at some time in the past India comprised not only the area now known as India but Pakistan, Bangladesh and parts of Afghanistan.
Unsurprisingly he cooks most of his own food. Very nice, but I do have to steer clear of some highly spiced, throat burning dishes. :eek:
 
Back
Top