Disappearing Things From The Streets Of Brum

[horsencart]

I used to say that there were a number of things that were either in the process of dissapearing or have slowly dissapeared they were Public Houses, Phone Boxes, and Petrol Stations, having thought about it I can now add to that list and it is, Paper Boys/Girls do they still exists? or is it that our paths have never crossed?

 

[sheldontony]

I believe paper boys/girls are disappearing because they now have to be paid through a bank account,officially.

 

[badpenny]

You don't see horse manure any more either!!!

 

[Smudger]

You don't see horse manure any more either!!!

I see plenty horse manure on the beach near me. I`ve seen a dog owner fined for not cleaning up after his dog, but that rule doesn`t seem to apply to horses (& you`d need a rather large poo bag)

Did Father Christmas have to take a elf & safety course.?

 

[Austin K2]

There are little problems with horse poo against what dogs do.
Far too much to paste and copy here.

If you are interested in reading about this, just search for "dog poo versus horse poo" lots of answers there.

 

[rosie]

Many of the public toilets have disappeared! The one by Lightwoods Park was demolished last week in favour of a "superloo". The Harborne ones were demolished some time ago. I remember one in Selly Oak and one at the bottom of Hill Street.
I won't use "superloos" I don't like them and I'm a bit claustrophobic!!
rosie.

 

[Smudger]

With the recent news that public toilets are being demolished on a regular basis & are now few & far between in England, reminds me of the time i got caught short in the centre of Brum. In the wee small hours of the morning, myself & a couple of mates were off to catch the mail or milk train? to Worcester for some fishing. I`d had a couple of sherberts & needed a pee. No sooner had i finished when the old bill stepped out of the shadows & collared me. I showed him my wallet for identification which he opened & seeing a photo of Elvis he said " Oh yes, onne of them are you " Anyway, i was summoned to court & fined 15 shillings. The magistrate said " They may do that sort of thing in France but we don`t do it over here" Pompous prig!! Soon we will all be obliged to carry a milk bottle around with us.

 

[Vivienne14]

Mobile phones have naturally impacted on the use of public 'phone boxes. But I notice some are being put to use as stations housing defibrillator equipment. Some have been turned into mini libraries. So although the original function is disappearng, they're being put to a different use in some parts of the country. Viv.

 

[Astoness]

yes viv thats true...a couple of years back i visited the roman site at wall and outside they have an old telephone box...imagine my surprise when i looked in and there was a load of books with a note please help yourself...

 

[podgery]

You don't see kids playing in the street anymore.

 

[oldMohawk]

I'm not sure whether 'hopscotch' has disappeared from the streets, I suspect it has. In our road we had paving stones so it was easy to mark out. Thinking back the rules could be quite complicated, I seem to remember having to kick the stone to certain squares while hopping.
Some kids playing hopscotch in 1955.

 

[Astoness]

now that takes me back phil..nice piccie

lyn

 

[Vivienne14]

That certainly does Lyn. I like the dog having a good old sniff. Wonder if the girls made him play too? That's the sort of thing we would have done if someone had a pet, they'd become part of the game. We also had paving stones and they marked out the grid for hopscotch perfectly.

Playing out on the streets meant many things. It always started by physically knocking on our friends' doors and asking: "coming out?" This was the only way you could get in touch. My friend and I regularly practised dancing in the street. We'd put on shows on the pavement - without an audience - just the occasional neighbour peering through the curtains at us.

We had grass verges - mowed by ourselves, not the Council. Grass verges have mostly disappeared due, I expect, to high maintenance and dropped kerbs to allow parking in former front gardens. In fact all the houses in our road had gardens surrounded by neatly clipped privet hedges, with a square grass lawn edged by flower beds, usually containing roses. Often there'd be a crazy paving path up to the front door - not seen so much these days - now replaced by brick drives for parking cars on.

I remember a neighbour in the 1960s ripping out the whole of his front garden, and replacing it with concrete then painting it green to look like grass. Shock and horror rippled through the street !


Me and my mates playing in our street - note grass verges and clipped hedges!




Viv.

 

[mikejee]

Viv
Someone in a house near me (which I think is housing association so not their own house) with a small front lawn recently had people in replacing the lawn with Astroturf (or whatever brand name it had )

 

[oldMohawk]

Does anyone who lived in the Perry Barr Birchfield area remember unusual tiles on pavements, all disappeared these days.

Keith Berry noticed these as can be seen in his following photos. They were apparently not easy to walk on in high heels and definitely no good for roller skating.
Heathfield Road 1970s.

Freer Road

A close-up of a tile.


I'm not sure whether any other districts used these tiles. The Heathfield Rd photo shows how uneven they could become.

 

[A Sparks]

I do actually but they are something I would have forgotten without the photograph reminder!
The dentist I went to as a child was in Heathfield Road.

edit to add - are the tiles still there does anyone know?

 

[mikejee]

They are almost like an early equivalent of the tiles that are used today for visually disabled people approaching crossings, though presumably not used for that purpose then

 

[Vivienne14]

The rag-and-bone man. He'd come along in his cart ringing a bell. The cart smelt disgusting. Always imagined it being difficult to make any money from this work as people threw very little away in the past, literally rags (although I know they also collected bones in the past). The stuff people throw out today might have more value, but strangely there aren't any R&B men now, well not that I've seen for years and years. And you have to PAY the local council to collect large items. Although local charities like the British Heart Foundation will collect furniture and it's free. Viv.

 

[pjmburns]

I do actually but they are something I would have forgotten without the photograph reminder!
The dentist I went to as a child was in Heathfield Road.

edit to add - are the tiles still there does anyone know?

A quick look on street view seems to show that the pavements are all tarmac now.
Janice

 

[cookie273uk]

I think the rag and bone man as been replaced by the scrap metal merchant, much more profitable. Eric

 

[Astonian]

Slowly but surely I have notice is the disapeareanceing of public toilets
And what are left should dearly be taken out because they smell
And what as disappeared is the bus drivers Bundy clock as far as I am aware the only remaineing
And is visual is in Kidderminster
Best wishes Astonian,,,,

 

[oldMohawk]

The rag-and-bone man. He'd come along in his cart ringing a bell. The cart smelt disgusting. Always imagined it being difficult to make any money from this work as people threw very little away in the past, literally rags (although I know they also collected bones in the past). The stuff people throw out today might have more value, but strangely there aren't any R&B men now, well not that I've seen for years and years. And you have to PAY the local council to collect large items. Although local charities like the British Heart Foundation will collect furniture and it's free. Viv.

I can't see a nose bag hanging from the cart, so some cheap refuelling. I suppose in a few years time the horse and cart would be replaced by a white van.

Apologies for it not being a Birmingham 'rag-and-bone' man I could not find a decent pic ... but the ones I used to see in Brum looked like the pic ...

 

[podgery]

Hope the gold fish are secure hate them to fall off.

 

[Astonian]

Hi podge
Nice picture any idea where that was taken, I remember like most kids in those days
When the rag man came around we all darted up to the house to asked mom for a whoolie
Jumper so we could get a goldfish ,it was strange when you think about those gold fish
They never seem to have lived for more than three days if you was lucky
And yes the white van man is rife out here in word they are coming down from brum
They was quite regular but our police force the west Mercian are hot on there tails
Every time they see them within the area they get pulled and get a ticket for not being
Licences but I think what the problem is not raggs but metals and most often its
The pedal bikes they are nickings, I do not think the old guys of the trade nicked
Any metals they used to scour the old bombed sites the bomb pecks we used to called them
We used to scour the sites for old push chairs to get the wheeels and make a go kart with them,
And go down ledsam street and surrounding street after the war years
And get those old cast iron window weights on the cord for what used to be down inside the window frames
We got a shilling for each one off old Mr Clarke's of ledsam street Ladywood
We must have most of them, we was only kids at school and poor and we was a gang of four kids
All school friends together in order so we could get a day trip on the old sharabang
To where ever the school was going that day a pound was a lot of money in those days
Best wishes Astonian,,,,

 

[oldMohawk]

Nice picture any idea where that was taken,

It was a pic of a typical 'rag-and-bone-man' taken in 1960s Newcastle at the junction of Freeman Rd and Newton Rd. It can be seen in a Newcastle Library collection on flickr.
The view today ... the white van was just driving past !