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co op villa road pics

Astoness

Astoness

TRUE BRUMMIE MODERATOR
Staff member
pretty sure these are new to the forum..hope so...
courtesy of the birmingham co op history society

lyn

 
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co op villa road 4.jpgpic 2..sorry about pic 1 bit too big...can anyone recall these shops..
 
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Pic 1 and pic 3 would be my era, I lived in Lansdowne Road at the time and we did our shopping in Villa Road, late 1940's and 1950's. On pic 3 that must be Dewhursts next door, the other two would be after I left Handsworth being self service, no such thing in our younger days. Oh how it has changed!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for posting them.
 
thanks katie..if our mom was here she would remember these shops as we lived in villa st...

mike if you see this thread i wonder if you could post a map showing where these shops were on the villa road please..just wondering if the buildings may by chance still be standing...

lyn
 
Here you are Lyn, with 71 in green, 75 in red and 85/87 in blue

map_c_1913A_villa_rd_showing_712C_75___85-87.jpg
 
Astoness said:
many thanks mike....all buildings still standing...

lyn
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I can see the house I lived in on your map it was no 8 hall road . There are two houses very closely attached to each other and the gardens ran all the way down to the hampstead rd overlooking Radnor Rd. We used to have water come up in the kitchen many times until the old tiles were re novel and a false floor reveled a round brick well. We also had the bells and handles for the servents.
.
 
NoelleO 64 said:
I can see the house I lived in on your map it was no 8 hall road . There are two houses very closely attached to each other and the gardens ran all the way down to the hampstead rd overlooking Radnor Rd. We used to have water come up in the kitchen many times until the old tiles were re novel and a false floor reveled a round brick well. We also had the bells and handles for the servents.
.
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how fascinating to find an old hidden well..quite a few houses still left there but as you say yours has gone...do you know how old it was ...looking at the map it seems as though it was quite a substantial building

lyn
 
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I don't suppose there's a photo of Biddle's chemist shop on Villa Road Lyn, we have one of the Potter's Hill shop but not the later shop.
 
Eric Gibson said:
I don't suppose there's a photo of Biddle's chemist shop on Villa Road Lyn, we have one of the Potter's Hill shop but not the later shop.
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cant recall seeing one eric but i will check my files later on for you...what year are you looking at ?

lyn
 
I don't really know the year but it was after the Potter's Hill shop was scheduled for clearance they moved to Villa Road a few doors away from the cinema.
I called in on them a few times on my visits to mom's up into the 80s.
 
if it was there in the 80s highly unlikely to find any photos of the shop..most photos of that area were taken before the 80s but never say never

lyn
 
Astoness said:
how fascinating to find an old hidden well..quite a few houses still left there but as you say yours has gone...do you know how old it was ...looking at the map it seems as though it was quite a substantial building

lyn
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Hi lyn as a child I remember 2 palour rooms plus celled, large walk in pantry .1 step down from hallway led to what I think was a prep area next a kitchen with a large brick oven and a dip in the top .there was also a chiming above it and a clean out door .the next room had a glass roof with very old frames holding it togeather.a chain was set in the floor and 2 large coal houses. Up stairs were 4 rooms on the first floor and 2 above that .we rented all the ground floor. The big is Belfast sink I have ever seen , and all sash windows.the fire places were around 6 feet tall with double mantles made of wood and tiles.my mum would spend Sunday morning on her hands and knees polishing the long hallway of red tiles and a soon ding patten. Lived there till we had to move out for all the new estate . There was also a stables just at the start of welford/hall rd my uncle kept ed his cat in there.I often wondered who lived there in its time of grand ure? .
 
Astoness said:
if it was there in the 80s highly unlikely to find any photos of the shop..most photos of that area were taken before the 80s but never say never

lyn
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I should have said between 1965 when I left Brum and the 80s Lyn, I can't remember when they actually moved to the new shop.
 
mikejee said:
Noelle
I take it that your uncle kept his car in it. would be very large and palatial for a cat !
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I think the cat might have visited it.to say hallo to the rats that kept eating the windscreen wiper moter wires on the car.sorry about the editing I am new to this , I don't even have a mobile phone.
 
No worries Noelle. I far prefer not to use mobile phones for online if possible. That damn autocorrect too often wants to alter what I say to what it would like me to say.
 
NoelleO 64 said:
Hi lyn as a child I remember 2 palour rooms plus celled, large walk in pantry .1 step down from hallway led to what I think was a prep area next a kitchen with a large brick oven and a dip in the top .there was also a chiming above it and a clean out door .the next room had a glass roof with very old frames holding it togeather.a chain was set in the floor and 2 large coal houses. Up stairs were 4 rooms on the first floor and 2 above that .we rented all the ground floor. The big is Belfast sink I have ever seen , and all sash windows.the fire places were around 6 feet tall with double mantles made of wood and tiles.my mum would spend Sunday morning on her hands and knees polishing the long hallway of red tiles and a soon ding patten. Lived there till we had to move out for all the new estate . There was also a stables just at the start of welford/hall rd my uncle kept ed his cat in there.I often wondered who lived there in its time of grand ure? .
Click to expand...

thanks for tour of the house noelle..certainly sounds to me as though it was an interesting house..i am just wondering if perhaps mike or any other of our clever members could research no 8 hall road to see who else lived there many years ago...fingers crossed...i dont surpose you have an old photos of it do you

lyn
 

Astoness said:
thanks for tour of the house noelle..certainly sounds to me as though it was an interesting house..i am just wondering if perhaps mike or any other of our clever members could research no 8 hall road to see who else lived there many years ago...fingers crossed...i dont surpose you have an old photos of it do you

lyn
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Sorry lyn , something I often re great on having .the only one I found was of me with a irish hurley stick in the garden of the house and then the back round is of a wall.
 
oh wow jim fancy having a photo of mr mathews and i guess you will follow me around as we come from the same neck of the woods:)

lyn
 
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