Steve Harpur
Brummie babby
Hello, We must have passed each other many a time, as I was doing exactly the same thing in the very same place from 1960-63. I worked at William Ford Ltd./James Carr & Son, in St. Mary's Row. Carr's was owned by Mrs. Carr, and managed by Alan Thornton, and I was the general dogsbody. One of my jobs was converting old .303 rifles to 4.10 shotguns, which we then sold for £10. Those old .303's are selling for £600 these days (de-activated).There is no "gun quarter" anymore because all the little back alley buildings that the gun tradesmen worked in are gone.
When I worked part time after school as a kid in 1960, the streets I delivered gun parts to & collected gun parts from were Price Street, Loveday Street, Bath Street, Whittall Street, Weaman Street, and St Marys Row. I also had to do the weekly trip to the Proof House in Banbury Street who tested the barrels. Can't imagine a schoolboy walking around with gun parts today. Rowland Keen Ltd, the people I worked for were located on the corner of Bath St & Shadwell St (now gone) until the re-development of St Chad's Queensway. They then moved to Lincoln Jefferies shop in Steelhouse Lane (now gone). All gone now (except the Proof House) but, still fondly remembered.