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Birmingham Co-op Belmont Row

I took a few photos of the area before the tarted the area up https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=eastside&w=79249056@N07

Thanks for those photos horsencart of Eastside before they knocked all those buildings down.
(Update - Horsencarts photos since deleted)

I only started taking photos of Eastside after they had knocked most of them down, so it is very interesting for me to see the area as it was.

For those that don't know, this area is where the huge HS2 station is going to go (if and when they ever build HS2).

This HS2 station will be massive, taking up much of the empty space between Curzon St and the existing train line into New St station.

It will also be a very long station, stretching from Moor St station and Moor St Queensway, right down almost to the Ring Road at Lawley Middleway.

This station will totally transform Eastside.
 
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Many thanks I did take a few photos in the late 1980,s (in the days of the steam camera) but sadly they are now of the missing list I would give love to where they are

Thanks for those photos horsencart of Eastside before they knocked all those buildings down.

I only started taking photos of Eastside after they had knocked most of them down, so it is very interesting for me to see the area as it was.

For those that don't know, this area is where the huge HS2 station is going to go (if and when they ever build HS2).

This HS2 station will be massive, taking up much of the empty space between Curzon St and the existing train line into New St station.

It will also be a very long station, stretching from Moor St station and Moor St Queensway, right down almost to the Ring Road at Lawley Middleway.

This station will totally transform Eastside.

p.s. For those that try to click on my Panoramio link above, I have since deleted it.
 
hi mike
just reading about old bowmount row and the old co/op building they stored every think there as we all know yo name it they had stored there twenty foot or more high
i can recall the old curzon street station as well from a niper walking my grand parents dog as they only lived about four hundred yards along the rd no 1 neccannal street
and yards from the dogs home
like chris b said we all thought it was a listed building now its not gonna be is that correct which i think its terrible to see it go ;
but another question i wanted to asked you about the co/op dd they make furtiture of any discription ? , the reason i am asking is i bought a very old chest of draws
an old bed room chest of drawws with a mirror to it that seprates from the actual topp and inside its all orinional with the dove joints made
and inside there is a little ivory looking plate which states the co/op name and address on it in very small print
i got it from an old person many years ago now she had a very old peices of wall paper placed inside the draws so i left them in the draws and it as a very old fashioned key to lock the draws what do you was it made for the co/op by another maker or was it built by the co/op i would appreciate you or anybody else whom may of its
manufacturing best wishes Astonian;;;
 
Hello , does anyone know of anywhere i could find photographs of Belmont Row im looking because on my birth certificate it gives my parents address as 71 Belmont Row
I recall them tell me about it had a lot of factories around the area looking for 1950s/60s .
Many thanks Dave
 
Hi Gibbo

These are the only photos I have of Belmont Row in the 50's & 60's . There is one of St Peters Church Mission. One of the lock house on the bridge, the only building to remain today besides the old bicycle works. There is one of the old bicycle works before the fire and the last on is of the Birmingham Waste depot.
 

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HI Phil;
cracking picturesthere phi for me most certainly have especialy with the birmingham waste one;
As kids in aston the word got around about the waste yard paying for old wasted news papers then within the week there was an army of kids
gong around aston ; espealy lichfield rd from one end to another and the surrounding street knocking on doors of house and up every entry with an houshold door asking for there old news papers and in those days pil as you may recall the news papers was of a large size we woud spend the week door knocking
and on saturday mornng we would charge down and around to the yard gaes early in the morning only to be confronted by neibourin kids from most area of aston all lined up for 5oo yards or so all with push chairs and big prams laided with news papers some would ty and edge infront of you and just to try and get in first of opening
and just inside the gates was the big weighing machine if you was lucky you may have got two half crowns five bob then we woud share it with our mate
first port of call was eric taylors toy shop for afew marbles chosen from his big tray and looking for the gobie so you could win mor marbles eventualy he started to buy
is marbles in etted bags and sold them to us for a taner 6d there would be about ten in the bag yes i recal the yard and that big shed they stored all there paper
just look at today the west midlands waste paper yard what it as turned into a big muliti national bussiness along with the waste bins
and those big blue binns you see around brum ; my brother younger brother whom was an exmilitry came out of the force and went into there firm as a lorry driver
picking up the binns from every where in brum andhe got to the state where these binns was getting into a bad state so he approached thetop manager and suggested theidea of them being restored and labeled to what you se today he had to go around and survey them and they had the other drivers come back and do the pick up of full binnsof pape and logg downthe damaged and burt out binns for repair then he worked out the cost of all the different sizes of the binns
then he found a manufactureing paint company and asked there chemist for a soulion of mixure of paint which is highly toxic and the firm had the different sixe labels printed by the thousounds and he had to buy thegiant tinns of paint along with tools to blast and sand them down from his own expense
i myself did give him a hand at the start by going out with him to tackle the job at first then he got a crew together for is firm
he had the contract for al the binns around the west midlands painting them in his colour you see today with his big labels on
But sadly my brother died about three years ago and his best friend and his son are now have the contract for doing such work there was quite afew attendance on is funeral from the company whom he worked for many years the waste company every time i pass a binn i think of my brother pete and say to myself i was with pete and i contributed to that one we worked together on that one theres is hardly a binn untouched by him and his hard graft some of them binns to sand down and paint could take an hour an half or two hours a binn; thats my memories of the waste company best wishes Astonian;; Astonian;;
 
Belmont Row was "open" to pedestrians, so while there took some photos of inside the Belmont Row Works, as there were metal fences that you could see through!

Sad state. Hope restoration happens soon! Been to long with nothing done. But Eastside Locks appears to be starting on other plots of the site.







 
Hi All,
link below to the C.W.S. archive site, this shows you the extent of the items that the Co-operative.Wholesale.Society. made, the brand name of a lot of items was "Wheatsheaf" I think the the Domec site in Tyseley was a lawnmower / cycle factory originally. The manufactured goods were then purchased by the retail Co-Ops such as Birmingham and so on around the country and then sold to the public / Co-Op members / Shareholders, so that you got your divi' at the end of the trading period.

https://www.archive.coop/collections/coop-wholesale-society
 
Mainly taken for the new Birmingham City University hoardings artwork on Cardigan Street, but the Belmont Row Works will get turned into the Steam House for the University.




Planning chiefs have given the green light to proposals to transform a historic Birmingham factory into a £60 million innovation centre for businesses, artists and academics to collaborate.

Birmingham City Council formally approved Birmingham City University’s plans to regenerate the 120-year-old derelict Belmont Works building into Phase Two of its STEAMhouse initiative.

The proposals were given the go-ahead during a planning committee meeting this morning, paving the way for builders to start preparatory work on restoring the 1899-built structure.

The overhaul will see the restoration of the Grade A listed building on Cardigan Street in Birmingham’s Eastside, which has stood derelict since being gutted by a fire in 2007.

It will now be used to provide access to state-of-the-art technology, workspaces and business advice for people across the region.

Discussing the plans, councillors said it was unfortunate that an ‘amazing’ building had fallen into disrepair following a fire, but it was pleasing that the site would now be used to benefit the region.

The Victorian Belmont Works factory, which was originally built in 1899, served as the headquarters for the historic Eccles Rubber and Cycle Company and has since been used to produce linen clothing, bedsteads and pianos.

The building will be transformed to house STEAMhouse’s new site providing additional facilities and spaces for SMEs.
 
El
When I saw your post , for one happy moment I thought they were going to put a steam engine in it !
 
I think they have another STEAM House in Digbeth in one of those ex car show rooms. Nothing to do with trains.
 
More on STEAM house here

 
Some good news relating to the Belmont Works.

Scaffolding is now being built up on the front of Belmont Works, ahead of its renovation. The £60m project will see a 5-storey extension, providing permanent space for SMEs, as well as BCU's School of Computing

News via It's Your Build Birmingham @buildsweare
Belmont Works.jpg
 
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