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Erdington Post Office On The Green

A fine photo. I note a little boy at the tram stop - maybe Mum was just of of the frame there - I note also Jas. Cliff a butcher. I wonder why butchers called themselves 'family'? Maybe to distinguish from wholesale butchers. I can't decipher the studio name on the upstairs windows but I am sure it will be in a directory. I had thought Sutton New Road was built to avoid congestion in the High Street, but no noticeable congestion in the photo; I bet there is today!
 
I think it might say ??? photographer - I stopped looking when I found the first reference and it just gave his namemail and the single word.
 
That's interesting Viv, I'm always puzzled by this block of shops and not sure how many of them went in the development of the by-pass. I know that the gardens may have gone but I have a feeling that some of the shops remained. I will have to have 'a think' about it.

Maybe initially some remained as I remember seeing some photos on the Shoothill site of a couple having being demolished and the rest still standing towards Wilton Street. But of course eventually they all went on that short stretch of the Green. Viv.
 

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Here are some images from Shoothill. The Chemists’s shop (Clements) seems to have hung in there after shops were demolished on either side of it. It was still there in 1938. And the 3rd view from Sutton New Road shows (presumably) the back of the Chemist shop in 1938. The Post Office must have gone between 1937 and 1938. Viv.

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viv i still reckon that the white square above the old post office windows is where the postal workers plaque was originally...actually what we see could be it in situ but cant zoom in enough...its about the right size and colour..

lyn
 
Only trouble Lyn is it would be a bit high to read easily - wouldn't it?

jan thats the only problem but i cant think of any other post office it could have been...basically im clutching at straws:D one day we may find conclusive evidence as to exactly where the plaque was

lyn
 
I think it was that post office but wondered if it was inside - so customers could see it. Waiting for Birmingham papers to come online - there is a gap from 1919 to 1930 and we need 1922.
 
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That has been suggested before Janice, and I would agree that that is likely to be the case. After all most of the war memorials to employees of firms, and schools that I have seen (as opposed to general ones covering an area) were inside. that is why, unfortunately, many have been lost when buildings were demolished
 
would be great if there was something in the papers jan..maybe even a pic..

lyn
 
For what it's worth, this PO was definitely still there until the 1950's. My friend sent me the same picture as in Viv's post #84 and said she remembers going in there with her mom. Were these properties built as shops or dwellings? I'm wondering if the 'square' was the original name of the house?
 
For what it's worth, this PO was definitely still there until the 1950's. My friend sent me the same picture as in Viv's post #84 and said she remembers going in there with her mom. Were these properties built as shops or dwellings? I'm wondering if the 'square' was the original name of the house?

dont know for certain pen but i always tend to think that most properties were first intended for dwellings (i noticed that the shop to the left of the PO has an attic) and later on they were turned into a business with upstairs used as living quarters..as you know the same with a lot of pubs.

lyn
 
The noticeable thing to day is that many of the dwelling houses, where the downstairs rooms became small shops, are now converted back into total dwelling use.
 
I think the first part of my post #93 must be wrong as I found this in Meacham's Jottings of Erdington (written in the 1950's) yesterday:

Isaac James kept the old shop (PO) next to the Swan and then moved to The Old White Lion in 1874 which served as the Post Office. At the turn of the century it moved to the village green where it remained until 1934 when it moved to the newly purpose built building. I know this doesn't help with the plaque but it sets the record a little straighter.

Perhaps the shop was there but not as a PO.
 
thanks pen that is interesting info...i dont think that unless we have visual evidence we will get to the bottom of just where the postal plaque was orginally placed and even if that one was solved we still have the mystery of how over 40 years ago it was found on waste land in ladywood:rolleyes::rolleyes:

lyn
 
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