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Birmingham Co-op Belmont Row

Virusman26

master brummie
Originally built to be used as the Co-operative furniture factory(there were many co-op buildings around, producing various items on different sites) but the use was later changed to be the manufacture and maintenance site for scales and weights. Some of the items produced at that time are still in the basement, awaiting removal to a museum(well, they SHOULD be!!)

I've been waiting to see this place for a while now, but it's been well secured since the fire that almost destroyed it. Persistence has payed off today, and It's been worth the wait!!!

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The tower was used as a water tower as usual, with service hatches on each level. The metal stairs were damaged in the fires of 2007, and now hold little strength. Bigger balls and no commitments would have seen me climb it, but I hate heights at the best of times! LOL

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The basement was full of treasures.....

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Old AVERY scales
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I shots lots there, but these are the best. Since the fires, the place has been stripped out, and little of the original fittings remain. The building is planned to be used for a new hotel, with the original building being restored to its original state as per this planning permission.......

https://eastsideblog.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/rebuild-of-the-old-co-op-planning-submitted/
 
Edit. The seven photos posted in this post are no longer available.

Well, here's another one that's going the way of so many of our historical buildings. Since my visit here a couple months ago, the entire factory at the rear on the burned down section has now been demolished. Here's how it looked in April this year.....


All of the surrounding buildings were also standing back then. This is how it looks today.......Not much left at all.........






Another one lost.
 
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well neil...more sad photos off you....where will it all end...thanks for putting them on....

lyn
 
No problem Lyn. The entire area is now flat all bar the fire damaged section. I doubt this will be long standing, as companies seem to have gone mad lately. Just look at the Battery and Metal Co. That was listed, demolished, now Sainsbury's can't build on the land. I was talking to a geologist the other day who said the ground is so badly contaminated from the metal working, that the soil will have to be removed, cleaned an replaced on site. It will cost millions to do the entire plot, so I bet now it will never get done!!!!!
Should have saved the place when they had the chance. :(
 
I read the developers are keeping the front of the building and building the apartments on to it, is that not going to happen now?. Len.
 
I can only assume not, Len. After the fire 2 years ago, part of the facade collapsed. It's not been rigged up, so bit by bit it has been slowly falling down. When I was there in April, it looked like the brick work had been kept, for the purpose of re-building it. Looks like it's all going to be pulled down now.
 
think i posted about the ground contamination on the old croc works neil.....i also beleive it was found when lucas gt king st was demolished...

lyn
 
Virusman26, Thank you for your reply, lets hope the saved bricks etc from the facade will be used to rebuild it as it was. Len.
 
think i posted about the ground contamination on the old croc works neil.....i also beleive it was found when lucas gt king st was demolished...

Lyn I think they will have same problem at the Lucas site, Shaftmoor Lane although the developers say they can deal with the problem, time will tell. Len.
 
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Len - It took many years before the old Bakelite site was fully clear of contamination.
 
What was the function of Belmont Row for the co-op, I remember the meat hq is Albert St ...but not this one which was from my memory only across the road.
 
changingman - would it Co-op milk? I know they were Vauxhall - so would Belmont Row be classed as Vauxhall?
 
Re: Birmingham Co-op (Belmont Row) demolition photos

The 1939 Kelly's Directory gives the following two names
Birmingham Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd. (stables)
Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd. (bedstead manufacturers)
I've not come across the BICS before, but the CWS was a nation-wide organisation which purchased materials and manufactured products which were retailed by the local Co-op Societies like Birmingham CS and the Ten Acres & Stirchley CS.
Peter
 
Peter
Linda & Anthony Chew's book "The Coop in Birmingham" states that the Birmingham Industrial Coop Soc. started among the railway workers of Saltley in 1881. The first shop was in Great Francis St, and this was soon replaced with a larger store and later they moved to Central birmingham and the industrial word seems to have been dropped, and it just became Birmingham Coop Society.
mike
 
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