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Hill St?

padgo

master brummie
Was it Hill St where the buses to Lickey Hills started from? I remember there was a taxidermist on the corner and while my mom waited in the queue I would go and look in the window at all the different birds eggs for sale. Good job it is banned now. Dave.
 
padgo

It was Navigation St where the buses and trams left from heading for the Lickey's, but it was quite close to the junction of Hill St.
 

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  • City Navigation St 1947.JPG
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  • City Navigation St Taxidermist Shop.JPG
    City Navigation St Taxidermist Shop.JPG
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What year would that photo have been taken Phil, we used to go to the Lickeys a lot when I was young, but I have no recollection of the taxidermist, I'm sure I would have remembered it if I had see that stuffed camel in the doorway.
 
I don't remember the taxidermist either but I remember the Cork Shop in Moor St and there was a furriers by the No 8 bus stop at Five Ways that had a couple of almost life size Chinese Coolies statutes that carried the fur coats.
Thanks for the memories, Tim
 
What year would that photo have been taken Phil, we used to go to the Lickeys a lot when I was young, but I have no recollection of the taxidermist, I'm sure I would have remembered it if I had see that stuffed camel in the doorway.


Yes Sylvia I have to admit that I often caught the tram to the Lickey's and later the bus and I don't remember the taxidermist. As for the date of the photo I would say that it must have been somewhere in the early 20's because of the advert for the Gaiety & Empire Theatres. The Empire was bombed out in 1941. but the Gaiety closed in the early 20's therefore it couldn't have been much later than the early 20's. Though I can tell you that the shop it 'self was there later than that Francis Edward Spicer & Sons Taxidermists were listed in 1937 at 58 Suffolk St, which was the corner of Navigation St. Perhaps someone who has the directories between 1937 & 1950 that I don't have could tell you when the shop closed.
 
It was probably the early 1950s when I used to browse the windows and the shop certainly didn't look like that. Dave.
 
Edward Francis Spicer (1850-1927) was the cousin of Peter Spicer, with whom he was working in Leamington in 1871. In 1872 he left to form his own taxidermy business at 229, Great Colmore Street, Birmingham. Around 1880, he moved to 61, Suffolk Street, then around 1900 to 58, Suffolk Street, at which address the firm remained until about 1960. Edward Spicer was a sergeant in the King's Norton Squadron of the Worcestershire Yeomary. He was an expert with the sword and lance, at which skill he won many prizes in open competitions around the country.

See:

https://www.ayreandco.com/taxidermist-e-f-spicer-67.htm

https://www.ayreandco.com/e-f-spicer-taxidermy-67.htm

There's another photo of this postcard in Old Birmingham Shops, by Eric Armstrong, and it says the card was franked in January 1906.

Paul
 
[FONT=&quot]Hi,

I remember this shop from around 1960, and from memory they sold electrical gadgets and
various 'bits and pieces'. I only remember the shop as I have always been a radio enthusiast,
and they had a number of cheap 'Eagle' communications receivers in the window facing Suffiolk St.

Kind regards

Dave[/FONT]
 
Hello Dave89, It had obviously changed hands by then, the window which I now know to be in Suffolk St was mostly taken up with trays of birds eggs of all different sorts from Gulls down to Wrens in the early 1950s Dave.
 
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