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Jamaica Row

Astoness

TRUE BRUMMIE MODERATOR
Staff member
jamacia row showing the smithfield arms pub....

Replacement image, may vary from original.

image.jpeg
 
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Hi Lyn. Do you know if that's also a pub to the left of the photo? That would be two pubs very close together! Although, thinking about it, perhaps it was quite common in a market area. Viv
 
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Re: jamacia row

Hi Lyn. Do you know if that's also a pub to the left of the photo? That would be two pubs very close together! Although, thinking about it, perhaps it was quite common in a market area. Viv


sorry viv i dont know about that...it could be another pub..a kellys look up by someone would confirm it for us...

lyn
 
Re: jamacia row

They would have been Brooks Vaults & the Smithfield Tavern. Two very well used market houses that in fact used to open on special licence early in the mornings for market workers.

Phil
 
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I expect the turf accountant above W. Daniel & Son would have done a roaring trade too. Thanks Lyn and Phil. Viv.
 
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well done for spotting that other pub viv..not like me to miss one lol..
 
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Had many years experience Lyn of sniffing them out! Wasn't sure it was a pub at first as the doors look a bit odd, but thought the lantern above the doors had a pub look about it. Viv.
 
Re: jamacia row

The photo looks like it is across from St. Martins to me...looking at the slope and frontages. I always thought that this was Jamaica Row but found out from here that the road there was called Spiceal Street at least at one time. Perhaps that changed. Anyway I can't 'for the ilfe of me' remember what that side of the street/row Jamaica, below the church looked like.
 
Re: jamacia row

hi guys ;
the smithfield taveren was taken over and later in life changed the name slightly
and renamed the bull ring tavere which as it got closer to the sixty era ; lost the trade;and only remaining orinionl traders and hawkers whom was stil around up then ue it they was far and in between and yes you had to fight your way in to get a bet on it was like new street station
with people trying to get pass each other there as some good old characters in that market in the gone bye days you got bargains
todays market is complete rubbish and the swearing is unbeleavale
best wishes astonian
 
Hi Astonian

I can't say I ever remember the Smithfield being renamed the Bull Ring Tavern, I think it kept its name until it closed and became a fruiter's. I do however remember the New Talbot at in St Martins Lane at the back of the church changing its name to The Bull Ring Tavern a couple of years after it opened.

Phil
 
Re: jamacia row

hi phil ;
yes it was the old name so it was the talbut before the bul ring
and the smiths before that i ran the pub next to the st marins thats how i know and known it as a kid as well
they was abit of competition between us but we put them out of bussiness
astonian
 
Here are separate photos of each pub, both Brooks & the Smithfield.

Phil
The two lost photos have been replaced by what I am fairly certain were the same as the originals posted

City%20Jamaica%20Rowsmithfield tavern.jpgbrookes vaults.jpg
 
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What an interesting photo Topsyturvy. It's almost like an advertising shot. The woman is very glamourous and seems to look like the market is completely the wrong place for her in her pristine white dress and high-heel shoes. Or is it an apron? Whatever the intention of the photo, it makes an interesting contrast. Viv.
 
Re: jamacia row

The thread name is spelled wrongly is it not. Anyone searching for Jamaica will not find this (Jamacia)
 
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The girl in the photo is I believe Bert Moseleys daughter who had a lot todo with the barrow boys in the Bull Ring.(Bert that is not the daughter)

Geoffrey.
 
Re: jamacia row

I am fairly sure that the lady in white is Iris Moseley, the daughter of the well known Bull Ring 'character' Percy Moseley.

There is a another picture of her with her brother 'Sammy' working on a barrow in the Bull Ring outside Woolworth's in the 1950's taken by Phylis Nicklin, a copy was on this site before it was hacked, but can still be seen on the Pbase site.


Smiler
 
Re: jamacia row

You are correct Smiler it is Iris daughter of Percy not Bert as I stated,those where the days !!

Geoffrey.
 
If I am not mistaken she is skinning a rabbit!!! Look at all the skins on the ground.

So this photo must have been taken just after the war as in the early 50's the rabbit population was infected with a disease called Mixamitosis, to control them as they were ruining the farmers crops.

This made the rabbits come out in terrible sore's and made them unfit for human consumption for many years after!!

My mother who lived 2 doors away from Percy Moseley in Lease Lane off Edgbaston Street told me that throughout the war rabbit's were always available to the market people without having to have a ration card.

Smiler
 
How incredible that on first looking at the photo and thinking it might be a 'staged' promotional shot, I'm now looking at somone skinning a rabbit!! Just proves how great these photos are! Viv.
 
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The text with this picture says "Italian women buying onions on the corner of Jamaica Row. 1901.
 
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A load of straw being weighed by the Birmingham Weights & Measures department on the Smithfield cart machine in Jamaica Row. 1890.
 
My brother started work at W Daniel and Son as a "Booking Clerk" in 1965 and I remember going down on Saturdays to help him bring home his swag, all the fruit and veg "Sambo" his gaffer had "swopped" for poultry and game with the other Traders. When he was old enough to partake of the Amber Nectar we would accompany Sambo and a few others in the Brook Vaults. I wonder if the Political Correct Gang would allow Sambo to be called Sambo even though Sambo was as white as the driven snow and a Brummie born and bred. My brother is still working in the market, still in the Poultry and Game and I am trying to jog his memory for some stories.
jimbo
 
My brother started work at W Daniel and Son as a "Booking Clerk" in 1965 andI remember going down on Saturdays to help him bring home his swag, all the fruit and veg "Sambo" his gaffer had "swopped" for poultry and game with the other Traders. When he was old enough to partake of the Amber Nectar we would accompany Sambo and a few others in the Brook Vaults. I wonder if the Political Correct Gang would allow Sambo to be called Sambo even though Sambo was as white as the driven snow and a Brummie born and bred.  My brother is still working in the market, still in the Poultry and Game and I am trying to jog his memory for some stories.
jimbo
 
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Hi Jimbo
Was W.Daniel & Son situated in Jamaica Row beneath Dick Eales the bookies were your brother worked ? I worked for A.R.Pillar in 5th Avenue for a number of years then for John Denis and ending up at Francis Nicholls,the early years full of fun but as time went on it became more of a drudge with firms cutting down on staff meaning you doing the extra work of those sacked !!!! all in all not a bad job.

Geoffrey.
 
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