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Great Hampton Street

Jules65

master brummie
I have memories as a child either driving down Gt. Hampton Street or possibly being on a bus, straining to see the Pelican on the top of a building there. Does anyone know what this building was used for? Is it still in existence?
 
HI JULES ,
Thats A Very Good Question ,And I Would Certainly Would Like One Of Our
Experts To Answer That Question , It Looked Like An Intresting Building ,At This Of The Generation Its Only An Asian Ware house But Judging It By Previous Years
It Would Have Been A Large Office Complex I Know That InTime Gone Bye THE Building Next To It Was A Rain coat Manufactor Very Well Known One As Well
And If My Memory Serves Me Right Harold Wilson The Prime Minister Used ToWear One Of There Branded Rain Coats For Decades , And Yes I Used To Stare Up At This Pelican On The Building And Often What Type Of Building Used Be In Its Hey Day
So I Hope One Of Our ExpertsCan Give Us An Answer ,
Have A Nice Day ,Best Wishes ASTONIAN,;;
 
I worked in Gt Hampton St for just a month when I left school at a garage business Herbert Pollitt. Pollitt owned a farm somewhere outside Brum and one of the jobs I had to do every evening was to walk down the road to the Pelican Cafe to collect the bin of waste food for his pigs. Can't help with the original question though. E.
 
A modern picture of the building is at https://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=217155&mode=quick

The attached notes are from the English Heritage book on the jewellery quarter. The Fig 245 referred to is the same picture as that on the site above.

Mike


Pelican_works_2.jpg


Pelican_works_1.jpg
 
Thank you all for your responses. Doesn't the building look grand in the up to date photo. Its still got me wondering though why it has a Pelican on the top of it!
 
that pelican scared the life out of me every time i had to walk past there, someone told me it came to life and swooped on people walking past, yes i believed them and used to run as fast as i could past but looking at it the whole time.
 
the pelican is still there and i think it was swallow raincoats that was in gt hampton street. my aunt used to work for them. wales.
 
hi eric i also worked at H.Pollitts and well remember the pig swill bins he used to have a 1930ish Railton car it had a bonnet about 6ft long lined with rivets it looked just like the high German Command type cars you see in the old wartime movies .He used to roar up the long drive into the garage and jump out look around to see if everyone was working
i didnt stay long i was halfway through painting the underside of a tipper lorry with a bitumastic type paint it took me days for it to wear off my hands i think it was 1950/1
33bus
tom
 
Lyn thanks for mentioning Swallow Raincoats, I was racking my brain trying to remember it.

I have just seen a photograph of this building on Keith Berry's website. One of the comments mentions a company called Pelican Rainware. Is this the reason for there being a Pelican on the top of the building?
 
hi eric i also worked at H.Pollitts and well remember the pig swill bins he used to have a 1930ish Railton car it had a bonnet about 6ft long lined with rivets it looked just like the high German Command type cars you see in the old wartime movies .He used to roar up the long drive into the garage and jump out look around to see if everyone was working
i didnt stay long i was halfway through painting the underside of a tipper lorry with a bitumastic type paint it took me days for it to wear off my hands i think it was 1950/1
33bus
tom
He had two of those Railtons when I was there Tom, one was smashed up where he'd supposedly crashed into a concrete anti tank bollard on a trip to France. While I was there my first job of the day was to clean out the office with a dustpan and brush then ride around town on the Gundle errand bike fetching spares for the workshop. I was there in March 1950 but only stayed a month, I was offered a better job nearer home. E.
 
I used to work at The Gourock Rope Company Gt Hampton St. I can remember it was almost opposite a big furniture shop.Later Iworked at Bakelite, t is was in the building next to the GPO telephone exchange. ( the old one) I worked overlooking the road and listened formonths to the pile drivers going in for the new exchange being built across the road. This would have been about 1959 or 1960 ish.
 
My grandparents lived across the road behind "Loo Blooms" gents tailors, during the '30's, '40's and '50's. Have you seen the photo on the BHF site for Great Hampton Row? It has a good photo of the Gourock Rope Works. willey
 
yes viv..most of the buildings you see are still there...my first job was in vyse street and it never ceases to amaze me just how little interest i took back then..mind you when we are young we just didnt notice..i was always too busy rushing home to have me dinner then jump the no 8 bus to the roller rink..

lyn
 
Well that's good news. Yes we missed a lot didn't we? Not only did I usually spend most of that journey in a haze, more often than not it was too difficult to see through the dripping condensation and dense smoke on the top deck of the bus! Viv.
 
Well that's good news. Yes we missed a lot didn't we? Not only did I usually spend most of that journey in a haze, more often than not it was too difficult to see through the dripping condensation and dense smoke on the top deck of the bus! Viv.


oh happy days ehh viv..
 
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