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Buildings at risk

The one that immediately springs to mind for me is Central Hall on Corporation Street (is this still decaying?).

Well it is still under scaffolding!

This was 3 years ago and it is still like this!





Then there is this one on Lower Essex Street - Unity House (believe scaffolding has gone up on it)

 
I know we long to save it all but what a monumental task all of this is. If you go through the posted web site there would appear to be enough work to employ all of the unemployed for ever maybe. Another consideration is that many of the structures are empty and un-used; so that if they are all refurbished...what will be done with them from then forward. You can't just leave them. Supposing they are surplus now they would still remain so.
When you look at it all on this scale, it becomes a daunting and impractical situation to retrieve in most instances. I wonder if in these cases the structures could be dismantled with care and the same materials used to produce abodes that are required in situ or not. In the UK and abroad. It seems to me that London Bridge was removed to a location in the US. Kind of like a 'Habitat For Humanity Restore' on a large scale. Perhaps all of the brick and arches don't have to become landfill. The iron railings and marble won't.
 
hi rupert i take your point..always a dreamer me but wouldnt it be great if the city could dismantle instead of demolish all of our lovely buidings suplus to requirements and rebuild them on a site such as the black country museum did over 40 years ago...like i said its only a dream as something like that will never happen in brum..

lyn
 
Surely of all those buildings at risk in Birmingham and there are many. The first one we must sort out is the one that stands in the middle of our Premier Park Cannon Hill. This is the park that is advertised the most, and where most of the outside displays and functions seem to be held and where visitors flock to during the summer months. What do all these visitors who are encouraged to visit our fair city park think when they see the dilapidated wreck that the Golden Lion has become?
 

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Good point Rupert, if only! And as Lyn says, sadly it's dreaming. But we should all still bang on about these buildings to keep them in the public eye. Phil, yes I agree The Golden Lion should be a priority if only on the basis of age, features and as, now, a rare example in Brum. We could go on and on couldn't we?

Thanks Ell for the photos, if you see other possible buildings on your Birmingham travels be good to see them on here. We may not be able to get an ideal solution to their plight, but we can do very our best to get them noticed or, at least, their issues flagged up.

Thanks all for comments. Viv
 
I never thought that I would be reading the words 'a rare example' when addressed to a pub in Brum. There was one on every corner in my day and those associated words highlight the fact that they are little used these days. I suppose TV and cans have taken over this function in spades. Not the same though but maybe preferable for most...sans the cask drawn product or real ale as it is called. In NA there are pubs but not many and cask drawn can be had in many chain restaurants (not what you would consider to be real ale) still humans are adaptable if nothing else.

All of which raises a point. I can`t see the waste of money in repairing the Lion in it's current location.....why do it. It will become derelict in no time. Pubs need to be where the would be users are away from home and maybe associated with a restaurant...so move it to such a location. Do a structurally sustaining rebuild and possibly sympathetic extension in a location of need. Even if moved to a holiday town or place where the lunchtime business crowd can be tapped. A pub once more and restaurant to boot....operational. A project for the instant 1 and 0 sudden billionaires to invest in. For whom the loss of a minor investment, for them, would mean nothing and drawing even would be fine.

Maybe the Golden Lion could be a golden opportunity...who knows. I suppose times have changed but there must be some of us who would still like `a half`and a plate of whelks. Hmm...fish and chips. When travelling around the UK, the pub lunch was perfect. Still have a couple of coasters.
 
Rupert,

The thing is when the Golden Lion was functional it was never used as a pub or café in the park. It was used for a variety of purposes but mainly as a cricket pavilion and tea room. it was also used as a rostrum come stage for presenting various events. There have been whispers that if it is not returned to Deritend that it will be repaired and used as a tea rooms.

It amazes me that £40,000 was found to carry out remedial work to the adjacent bandstand to save much more money being spent later, but no such similar thoughts were considered for this much older and historically important building.
 
phil when were those pics of the golden lion in the park taken..and could you just remind me of its age please..what a sad sight..

lyn
 
I never thought that I would be reading the words 'a rare example' when addressed to a pub in Brum.........

Yes Rupert, still many corner pubs, albeit no longer pubs in many cases. But by 'rare example' I was referring to the building itself being 16th century. Thankfully it's listed, but that's no full proof guarantee of anything these days. Viv.
 
Some past photos:

61-64 Ludgate Hill, Jewellery Quarter (near the footbridge over Great Charles Street Queensway) - the windows have since been boarded up, and painted black



48 Camden Street in the JQ



As mentioned above The Golden Lion - Cannon Hill Park



Belmont Row Works - Eastside Locks (believe everyone knows about this one!)

 
Very good thread Viv, sad to see the "Golden Lion", in such a state Phil , Dad would take me nearly every day in summer to Cannon Hill, hope that it is rectified in near future.Paul
 
ellbrown

The buildings the top of Highgate Rd & Moseley Rd used to be G .S . Smart & Co Fancy Goods manufacturers next door was Parkers they were gun manufacturers. Smarts moved out a good while back and as all the buildings on that section of road are Georgian I believe , I think they must have been listed somehow because they are still standing.

Lyn

I'm not sure that anybody knows the exact age of the Golden Lion except that it dates from around c1500, and it was moved to Cannon Hill Park in 1911 when they widened the road.
 
I have not been to Cannon Hill Park for around 60 years. I loved the park, the Golden Lion, the Bandstand. It always seemed to be Birmingham's best kept park, and it is so sad to see the photos of the Golden Lion is such a neglected state. The large trees in front of the Golden Lion can cause problems with their roots, and looking at the green tinged roof of the pub I suspect that those same trees are causing dampness with their branches, and lack of sunlight on the pub roof. The scaffolding acts insult to injury. What a shame.
 
ellbrown

The buildings the top of Highgate Rd & Moseley Rd used to be G .S . Smart & Co Fancy Goods manufacturers next door was Parkers they were gun manufacturers. Smarts moved out a good while back and as all the buildings on that section of road are Georgian I believe , I think they must have been listed somehow because they are still standing.

I've never been tempted to get off the 50 and take them!

I have not been to Cannon Hill Park for around 60 years.

Cannon Hill is the best park in the city! They regularly change the floral arrangements (every season). And the MAC was done up a few years ago! My photos of it were around 4 to 5 years ago.

The last time I saw it up close was a day before the last Sky Ride last September!

 
ellbrown

On your trips taken on the number 50 bus do you also pass by the Georgian houses opposite Highgate Park on the Moseley Rd, and are they still in the state of disrepair that they were left in four years ago after the property company that owned them went bankrupt. As I haven't been that way in quite a while the only images I can call on are those from Google and they are quite aged now.
 

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They do look like derelict (I think). Similar to Google Street Maps view. (referring to the buildings near Highgate Fire Station)

I have already taken the houses opposite Highgate Park (a few years ago).

This was 3 years ago



I'm not sure if anything has been done to them.
 
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