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Erdington Market Closing Down.

Morturn

Super Moderator
Staff member
Erdington Market, or Old Erdington Market to define it from the newer Wilton Market is closing its doors for the final time on 30 April 2022.

I grew up in Erdington and have some very fond memories of the market, my mom was a regular visitor. I recall that up until the mid-70’s it was a vibrant place, with stalls overflowing with goods and gifts. The tiny café on the left next to the toys stall was run be the same lady for years. Gerry’s stall was the place in Erdington to get great value shoes.

It is in quite a sad neglected state today, dirty, smelly, no public loos and just generally unloved and uncared for arising from years of under investment and mismanagement.

I know very little of its history and images seem to be quite scarce, so if anyone can add their memoires and photos, we can at least build up a record of a way of life from the past.

Erdingtom-Market-Apr-22_0087.jpg

What I have found out is:

The original outdoor market was held daily on land where 'The Charlie Hall' stands today opposite the site where the Indoor Erdington Market was built 1937. One of the back gardens from the houses in York Road in the background. These houses and gardens were demolished in 1937 when the Sutton New Road was built. This whole area was transformed with the building of the Bypass Road which opened in 1938.

Erdington Market open.jpg

An aerial view from our Archive shows Sutton New Road in October 1938. The New Indoor Market can be seen on Barnabas Road and the land

Edington Airiel View.jpg
 
Remember the market well. I used to live in South Road, Erdington from 1961 to 1970. I often went to the market shopping with my mom. Also used to spend a lot of time hanging out at the library and the swimming bathroom just around the corner. Erdington High Street was a bustling vibrant place in the 60's and 70's but sadly its slowly deteriorated and is very sad now.
 
I remember the old market very well from living in Erdington from 1952-1974. Our Mom (Mum) took us three boys shopping there often on our excursions to Erdington High Street, Woolworths, Littlewoods and a host of other shops.

Mention of these old landmarks, resurrects many fond memories of my childhood days in Erdington.

We'd always go in the front entrance and exit out at the back and take the steps down into the rear entrance of Littlewoods.

We'd visit Jim's Green Grocers next to Erdington Station on the way home and one or both Gisborne's Iron Mongers shops. If we behaved, we'd stop in at the toy shop in Station Road for little Cowboy, Indian or animal figure, then skip back over to stop at the bakery for a treat.

"Young Jim" set up a few years later at Stockland Green just behind the Plaza, opposite Dallas Road. The banter at the stalls was always friendly. He was heavily into Remote Control (RC) airplanes and was one of the first to have and master a helicopter. We had a huge cabinet at home that we gave Jim to store his RC parts and pieces.

For such a tall man, he drove a little Mini Van! He told us that one day while Mom was doing the shopping, that while driving back from Sutton Park where they flew the RC models, that one crashed onto his van and pinned him inside!

In contrast, Wilton Market never really gained the same atmosphere.
 
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I remember the old market very well from living in Erdington from 1952-1974. Our Mom (Mum) took us three boys shopping there often on our excursions to Erdington High Street, Woolworths, Littlewoods and a host of other shops.

We'd always go in the front entrance and exit out at the back and take the steps down into the rear entrance of Littlewoods.

We'd visit Jim's Green Grocers next to Erdington Station on the way home and one or both Gisborne's Iron Mongers shops.

"Young Jim" set up a few years later at Stockland Green just behind the Plaza, opposite Dallas Road. The banter at the stalls was always friendly. In contrast, Wilton Market never gained the same atmosphere.
I popped in to take a look at Erdington Market before it closed down. It was incredibly disappointing to see what was once a vibrant, lively market that was full of friendly traders selling a range of interesting goods was now filthy, dirty, smelly place with a handful of traders trying to sell junk that you would have found in a skip or of questionable origin.

A couple of characters in the market who claimed to be from the management organisation where rude, ill-mannered and lacked any sense of business acumen or skill.

I personally think it’s in the best interest that this place has closed down. Erdington is a village that suffers from poverty and deprivation as this once proud market has now become a blight on its landscape dragging the place down
 
yes it is such a shame mort...i used to love walking up and down the high st and looking around the markets in erdington but alas i dont shop there anymore...

lyn
 
I popped in to take a look at Erdington Market before it closed down. It was incredibly disappointing to see what was once a vibrant, lively market that was full of friendly traders selling a range of interesting goods was now filthy, dirty, smelly place with a handful of traders trying to sell junk that you would have found in a skip or of questionable origin.

A couple of characters in the market who claimed to be from the management organisation where rude, ill-mannered and lacked any sense of business acumen or skill.

I personally think it’s in the best interest that this place has closed down. Erdington is a village that suffers from poverty and deprivation as this once proud market has now become a blight on its landscape dragging the place down
Agreed, it is probably better to remember the old market fondly for it's heyday and the people who brought it to life.

All too often, we are disappointed when looking back through the proverbial "rose-tinted glasses", at things and places that no longer represent their former glory and have fallen from grace.

I recall my Mom usually bought house cleaning needs from the old market.
Funny thing, I still recite her Coop Society number like it was yesterday. "Yesterday" was 65 years ago when I was 5 years old or even younger, walking alongside the pram with my younger brother in it!

We'd stop at the tobacco kiosk outside so she could buy her Senior Service filterless cigarettes, before going inside and I'd hear Mom recite her number so often while standing there, that it got stuck in my head forever. 311062

My last visit to Erdington High Street was in 2004 when I returned to England for my Dad's funeral. I was sadly disappointed in the whole area, how slum-like it had become. The same is true of where I grew up in a modern post war semi-detached 3 bedroom house at 58 Glendon Road.

Dad had kept it beautifully maintained, gardens groomed and hedges trimmed until he passed away in 2004. The house was sold and Google showed the deterioration during the next ownership, where the back garden appeared to be a storage lot for building materials and the front garden had been back-filled with gravel for off street parking.

I did look again some time ago, to see new windows and some changes, hopefully towards restoring its former glory, or at least how I like to remember it as a child, when it was just a handful of years old.

When I was in school, the teachers had told us that with the inner city slums gone, the outlying areas where some of those people were displaced to, would eventually become the new slums. That is not to say that there are not still some beautiful, well-kept properties and homes, but the area in general, did experience what our teacher had forecast. If I had continued living there, the changes for the worse may not have appeared as shocking, as when I visited virtually.

It can be the same anywhere and sad to see. The house directly across from us is one such house. dilapidated, couple divorced, lazy 20ish year old still living at home. The yard is a mess, grass not cut, fence falling down and they just walk over debris where they drop it.

It wasn't like that when an Anglo Irish couple owned the old house years ago. It was well-mantained, had nice curtains, grass trimmed, fenced, flowers in the borders and more that you'd expect from proud owners.

Martin
 
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yes it is such a shame mort...i used to love walking up and down the high st and looking around the markets in erdington but alas i dont shop there anymore...

lyn
Lyn, One Christmas, I joined the Boy Scouts there, in the Salvation Army Hall next to the Army Surplus shop on Erdington High Street, (1st Erdington, 15th Birmingham).

Most of our members were from the Cottage Homes Orphanage on Reservoir Road and very appreciative of those of us who took the time to participate and treat them as our equals, which is the way it should be.

As a child, Erdington in general was nice and clean and inviting compared to the garishly painted building frontages and cheap advertising plastered everywhere, the last time that I visited way back in 2004.

It has been mentioned elsewhere, that "Buildings don't make slums, people do..." and that is surely the absolute truth!

I have many fond memories never to be fogotten, but some of the more recent memories of the past 48 plus years are sad to think about what has happened and why people let things deteriorate.

Martin
 
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It saddens me so much to see and hear of the deterioration of the places I knew as a child. Being born in Abbey Road Erdington and living there for 25 years I remember so much of the area including the High Street and also places like the Soho Road when at school at Handsworth Tech. Had reason to drive along Erdington High Street a few years ago and was glad to make my way home to Brownhills. Also a few months ago we had reason to drive along the Soho Road and I felt the quicker I get out of here the better. So very sad !!!
 
Much the same as others have previously mentioned, the sad demise of Erdington High Street, is a bitter pill for those of us that knew it in the past, to swallow. As a schoolboy, I used to walk through Erdington High Street on Saturday's after playing school football matches and after early mornings spent firstly at Erdington Swimming Baths, which were then followed by the ABC Minors at The Palace cinema. As a young man, I spent many an evening walking back home along the High Street, following evenings spent in Erdington. I recently viewed on YouTube "Walking around Birmingham #57 Erdington High Street", which was filmed last year. That clearly shows the changes that have made it a walk that, few if any would now choose to make. How sad, that "the village" has been allowed to go so far downhill and I suspect Sutton town centre is also fast heading in the same direction. :(
 
Thanks for posting John. Perhaps the only plus, is that there are no visible tent city homeless camps filling the sidewalks like there are in so many cities such as Vancouver.

I enjoyed viewing the video walk, passing stores that were familiar from my childhood through adulthood. Not too much has visually changed since my last visit in 2004, although I don't recall St. Barnabas Church with that awful glass frontage tacked on. Out Boy Scout troop 1st Erdington, 15th Birmingham was associated with St. Barnabas Church. I recall marching with the flag pole in hand, around onto Barnabas Road after we left the church, before disbanding on Sundays.

A friend of mine Peter, was the licensee at the Swan for some years when it was built after the old Swan was demolished. I recall Abbey Motors opposite the Coop Society, with the big BMC rosettes on the windows as a child, before they moved further up the Sutton New Road. I actually worked in the alley next to the dealership in a small vehicle repair shop. I think that it had become Rover by then, with Startins being mainstream British Leyland.

That alley housed KenRoy Welding a high quality autobody repair and fabrication shop, Specialist Supplies motorcycle parts, Jim Robinson motorcycle brakes, a sheet metal stamping shop, Johnny McGoldrick's auto body, Salisbury Vehicle Repairs and a limousine hire garage, plus another few cottage industry businesses.

The alley ended at Orphanage Road, next to Thomas Startins British Leyland dealership, where a friend of mine Ray who lived at number 1 Reservoir Road, worked as a mechanic. I was recently having a conversation with David Whiteley, one of our local GM dealership service managers here in BC, for whom I am the GM trainer. He worked at Startins back then!

Opposite Startins, next to the Conservative club, down the alley was an Irish Working Mens' club run by Amos and Sylvia. I worked there for a short time at night around 1970. I attended the City and Guilds of London apprenticeship at Erdington Technical College, just below the fire station one day each week (Friday), with lunch times spent at the Cross Keys at the corner of Station and Sutton New Roads.

I also worked at Mason Road Garage for a few months, the entrance almost opposite the Erdington Swimming Baths being an alley way that has since led to a car park for many years. My Dad taught me to swim at the Erdington Baths before entering Marsh Hill Boys'. Our school used Nechells Baths and some years later en route from work, a freshly run hot bath at the Nechells Baths or Bordesley Green, was the most relaxing order of the day!

The "New Roebuck" with it's cellar bar appears to be closed and named the "Happy Lemon" in its most recent guise. The "Old Roebuck" was set back from the street, next to the church, opposite Woolworths. "Woolies" may still have been there in 2004, but definitely was in 1993, when I visited with my wife and children.

My mother in law worked as a cleaner at the Palace Cinema for some years before immigrating here in 1969 as the final phase of their family emmigration from England. Then, along came Safeway, now disappearing most everywhere due to the parent company Sobeys restructuring.

I noticed that the "New" Acorn as we called it, is now the Church Tavern, although I only stopped in for a pint at the old Acorn that spanned the corner of Church Road. The heritage sign up between the windows across the street identifies the old Carlton Ballroom, Mothers to many, where we spent time on Friday nights.

While I worked as a mechanic (auto technician) by day, I also drove private hire for Star Taxi (formerly JJJ Cars in Slade Road), first in South Road and then in York Road at the Sutton New Road end. That was opposite the Poppin Restaurant, where I met my first girlfriend Valerie Jones as a young adult. When I immigrated to Canada, Star was still based in York Road.

Barclays Bank at 6 ways is long gone and with it, any hope of recouping money from a small business account shared with my partner, requiring both signatories, because he couldn't be trusted! I assumed that unclaimed funds were eventually assumed for cost recovery, but we did have a few hundred pounds there. Since our paths rarely crossed, we could never coincide a visit to close the account. There was a nice little corner cafe next to the bank round on Gravelly Hill.

I see that Dixons Camera Store is still there and Tesco moved across the island to the corner of Reservoir Road.

It's uncanny that there are a few stalwart business, butchers and others, that remain firmly rooted in their original locations, despite change having affected much of the street.

After viewing that video, I checked out a couple of other links, one going back to the original village to the '60s, which was very familiar.

You know, our little main street in Mission is on the Highway 7 route, known as 1st Avenue, formerly Washington Street, from when it had boardwalks and dirt track. It was made one way in the late '70s and 40 km/hr max speed. Over the years, the frontages became dilapidated, much like downtown mainstreet anywhere in USA is represented. Other local municpalities likewise experienced the same worsening state, until the local downtown business aassociations took charge. The beautification of all, has been quite amazing, with facades freshened, a common heritage theme and sidewalks (pavement) widened, with seating, trees and more.

What seriously detracts from the original style of the High Street in Erdington, are the myriad of gawdy, downright ugly signage and tacked on posters. The streets, sidwalks and buildings need a serious cleanup and to adopt a uniform standard for exterior signage and advertising that is inside the buildings, not plastered everywhere.

Erdington was once a proud little village and it is quite disheartening to see it deteriorate, while those traversing the streets daily, probably don't even notice it happening.

Anyway, despite the sad current appearance of the "village", I have many happy memories of the place that are rekindled when viewing posts or shared external links. Then the rambling begins......!

Martin
 
So sad to hear :- There are so many people out there that still love good old Woolworths .... You may have Photos , You may have Memories . At Woolworths History and Pictures we welcome all your memories and or photos ,,, to see how it operates come and view https://www.facebook.com/groups/260919245017086 it really is a wonderful experience to see what it is all about ... or just talk to us on here about what you remember ...
There are 99 years of Woolworth History from Britain and over 100 from USA ... so looking forward to hearing from you all ...
 
Erdington Market, or Old Erdington Market to define it from the newer Wilton Market is closing its doors for the final time on 30 April 2022.

I grew up in Erdington and have some very fond memories of the market, my mom was a regular visitor. I recall that up until the mid-70’s it was a vibrant place, with stalls overflowing with goods and gifts. The tiny café on the left next to the toys stall was run be the same lady for years. Gerry’s stall was the place in Erdington to get great value shoes.

It is in quite a sad neglected state today, dirty, smelly, no public loos and just generally unloved and uncared for arising from years of under investment and mismanagement.

I know very little of its history and images seem to be quite scarce, so if anyone can add their memoires and photos, we can at least build up a record of a way of life from the past.

View attachment 168774

What I have found out is:

The original outdoor market was held daily on land where 'The Charlie Hall' stands today opposite the site where the Indoor Erdington Market was built 1937. One of the back gardens from the houses in York Road in the background. These houses and gardens were demolished in 1937 when the Sutton New Road was built. This whole area was transformed with the building of the Bypass Road which opened in 1938.

View attachment 168776

An aerial view from our Archive shows Sutton New Road in October 1938. The New Indoor Market can be seen on Barnabas Road and the land

View attachment 168775
Erdington Market, or Old Erdington Market to define it from the newer Wilton Market is closing its doors for the final time on 30 April 2022.

I grew up in Erdington and have some very fond memories of the market, my mom was a regular visitor. I recall that up until the mid-70’s it was a vibrant place, with stalls overflowing with goods and gifts. The tiny café on the left next to the toys stall was run be the same lady for years. Gerry’s stall was the place in Erdington to get great value shoes.

It is in quite a sad neglected state today, dirty, smelly, no public loos and just generally unloved and uncared for arising from years of under investment and mismanagement.

I know very little of its history and images seem to be quite scarce, so if anyone can add their memoires and photos, we can at least build up a record of a way of life from the past.

View attachment 168774

What I have found out is:

The original outdoor market was held daily on land where 'The Charlie Hall' stands today opposite the site where the Indoor Erdington Market was built 1937. One of the back gardens from the houses in York Road in the background. These houses and gardens were demolished in 1937 when the Sutton New Road was built. This whole area was transformed with the building of the Bypass Road which opened in 1938.

View attachment 168776

An aerial view from our Archive shows Sutton New Road in October 1938. The New Indoor Market can be seen on Barnabas Road and the land

View attachment 168775
I remember one Saturday in Erdington market must have been early evening. I sat on my Dad's shoulders and watched a boxing match going on. It must have been roughly between 1946/1947, I know I was very young.
 
I did not know about this market I think it is very convenient and cool I will have to read about it in more detail on the Internet, what and how it works there.
 
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