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Gas Street basin

Smashing! Gas Street Basin was my favourite area of Brum; it's nice to see how much it has been smartened-up since my day.
 
Hi elbow
yes i must add my thank you to you for the cracking pics like wendy and the other members have said
and just like johno said its a new world down there sinnce i was last down there way back in 1949 50
when the orinioal bargees lived in thoser little house in the basin we used to go along there when we was kids and unleased a barge or two and get a ride on the coal bargees and get called and chased bye the people whom lived in those tiny houses that used to be there
and the orinional tunnel was popitched black when walking under to the basin
even thou we was kids you still had to bend your head to walk through it and beleive me it was black you coukld not see your hand in front of you
its a different world now and well done brums council for the change and for the investment into it for making the new world
best wishjes astonion
 
Is the James Brindley pub still there doing their jazz on a Saturday/Sunday lunch time. We have spent many an hour there in the past.
 
I love Gas Street Basin, somewhere nice and peaceful in amongst the hustle and bustle of a large city, it's one of the gems of Birmingham.

Simon
 
Hi Guys,
As you will remember as kids we roamed the cut [ cannal ] and we would often see this old gentleman on our travels
the Tramp, always laying down a sleep along the cannal as kids you always do that sort of thing which i now know in my mature life it was wrong but there was as i said a gang of us but any way this guy spent his life roaming the streets of brum and the cannals so i imagine one or two of you in your time may have seen this guy in the day time roaming and mooching for food in the binns
I have come across this picture tonight and i thought if any body recalls him ,then i thought poor old sole. and i thought to myself if he was around today what would he think of all these new building and of the transition of gas street and the rest of our great water ways of today as it was world of the old cannals and bridges he slept under
 

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Astonian said:
Hi Guys,
As you will remember as kids we roamed the cut [ cannal ] and we would often see this old gentleman on our travels
the Tramp, always laying down a sleep along the cannal as kids you always do that sort of thing which i now know in my mature life it was wrong but there was as i said a gang of us but any way this guy spent his life roaming the streets of brum and the cannals so i imagine one or two of you in your time may have seen this guy in the day time roaming and mooching for food in the binns
I have come across this picture tonight and i thought if any body recalls him ,then i thought poor old sole. and i thought to myself if he was around today what would he think of all these new building and of the transition of gas street and the rest of our great water ways of today as it was world of the old cannals and bridges he slept under
Click to expand...

Great picture!
 
yes i agree peter its a great photo alan....it has been posted before quite some time back but i dont think anyone knew anything about this mystery man

lyn
 
The first image, is not Gas Street basin. It shows the Paradise Street branch as seen from the rear of the Church & School, which once covered the canal there, and fronted Broad Street. The view is to the junction with the canal to the top of Farmers Bridge. The former Brasshouse buildings are on the left and the Brewmasters House on the right. This whole area was transformed through the building of the ICC and Brindley Place.

My personal view is that the name Brindley Place honours James Brindley to an excessive extent. True, he was the engineer for the BCN, and the Paradise Branch was one of alternate termini suggested by Brindley. Samuel Simcox probably did more to complete the canal, as an assistant to Brindley. Thomas Telford improved the canal at this part in the 1820's. In naming the area around the Brasshouse, Brindley Place place has ignored the contribution of Birmingham Industry and as brass founding became a staple industry in the town and the city, which it became, some better recognition is needed for this trade.

The second image is at Gas Street basin and was taken at a time when the Church of the Messiah steeple could be seen above the premises, which faced Broad Street.
 
I write as a true brummie , Gas street basin , oh happy days , I lay claim to making it what it is now, in my youth it was just what it was , I had recourse to visit my brother in London in 1975 , we visited Camden lock many weekends , a vibrant area , I decided I would write a letter to the Evening Mail , extoling the fantastic vibrancy of Camden lock , and beseeching brum city council to do similar with Gas street, the response was overwhelming , Perhaps they should have named a pub after me
 
I remember when they drained Gas Street basin in the mid 80s. I went for a look one afternoon. The gear that was pulled out of there was astonishing, purses, wallets, a safe, video recorders, bikes, motor bikes, you name it , it was in there. An interesting afternoon.
 
I remember when ATV filmed bits of Crossroads at the basin, one of the houses was where one of the characters supposedly lived, I remember his character name was Wilf, the actor used to live in an apartment on Bristol street, I was working in the same block and he used to toddle around hoping people would recognise him.
 
cookie273uk said:
As a watercolourist, canals were one of my favourite subjects, especially Gas Street basin before it was "modernised", have attached one of the many paintings I have done of this spot in the 80's
Click to expand...
Just as many of us remember it, cookie!
 
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