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Kings Heath

My cousin lived in Addison - about one third the way down from the High Street.

Her name was Sergeant or Sargent - she and her husband had a son Raymond who now lives in Canada.
 
Robert - Edna used to live on the left hand side and there was a gap in the houses right next to them. I seem to recall that she might have been a conductress on the Birmingham Corp'n busses at some time.
 
Addison Road

Know the house and I think I knew them by sight. Charlie the sweep who lived opposite us possibly knew them better. (They were five or six doors up from him.

Ours was the house with the gap, towards the high street on the opposite side. They would have been virtually opposite the garage owned by Paynes at the time.
 
Yes that was it and my dad was a chimney sweep as well - one of the first to use a portable vacuum rather than a van mounted one or none at all.
 
hi colin
kings heath is certainly not, all charity or building societies its has a good mixture of shops, so i suggest you take another walk down the high street, and observe the shops.

jake
 
I was brought up in Kings Heath in the 40's and my brother was born in Drayton Road in 1948.My parents and Mum's brothers and sisters all got married at All Saints church.I remember Bebbingtons well.Father Christmas used to be up at the top of the store every year and for 6d you could have a dip in his sack(one for boys & one for girls)My Aunt would take me down to Bebbingtons to buy me some clay marbles,everything was in wooden trays,and your money used to get put in one of those brass capsules and would whizz over your head ,off to the cash office.My cousin Janet James,worked at Hobdays in the early 60's and my Aunt and Uncle used to manage the Douro wine shop and lived in the flat above. On Saturday evening I used to get sent to fetch the sports papers.Outside the gate to All Saint's church stood a news seller selling the "Sports Argus "and the "Green Mail".Remember the toilets there as well.They were underground and the smell was always horrible down there.Part of the roof in the toilets was green glass tiles and you could see the feet of people walking over the top.So many memories.
 
Jake:

I used to live at 26 Albert Road - and that road has changed a lot from my time in the 1950s. I remember most of the shops you mention. There used to be a record shop just inside Poplar Road, where I bought my first jazz 78s. A little more recently my late mother worked for two brothers who had an electrical contracting business on the corner of Poplar Road. I believe the business went bust some years ago. My mother also worked as a tote operator at Kings Heath Dog Track. For a time she also worked for the Commercial Travellers Insurance Company which was in either Middleton or Mossfield Road. Happy days!

Maurice
 
I went to Wheelers Lane Sec. Mod. school leaving in 1953, and used to walk up Albert Road from the bus to get into the school.
 
My brother did too, John. I think he would have been there from 1949 to 1954. I think a Mr North [?] was headmaster for part of that time.

EDIT: On second thoughts I probably have the name wrong and that was the head of one of my kid's school in Bournemouth!

Maurice
 
My brother did too, John. I think he would have been there from 1949 to 1954. I think a Mr North [?] was headmaster for part of that time.

EDIT: One second thoughts I probably have the name wrong and that was the head of one of my kid's school in Bournemouth!

Maurice
Hi. Mr. North was the headmaster when I was there, I seem to remember a little shop about halfway up Albert Road that I used to buy a bag of broken crisps for a penny from,
 
Hi John,

So my memory wasn't faulty after all!

The little "hucksters' shop", as we used to call them, was run by a Miss Susannah Greves, who passed away some years ago now. The premises have since been converted back into a house. The row of old terrace houses almost opposite the shop were also demolished and the Council also forcibly provided all the house owners with a new brick front garden wall. There was previously a wooden picket fence in front of number 26 which I had erected. "You will conform!"

The houses were built in the 1870s and I guess they were trying to make them look like 1980s boxes!

Maurice
 
Hello John 70 and Sosphiri

Are sure about the Albert Road Shops? They played and important role in my young days when I could lay my hands on a penny or two to spend on the way to Wheelers Lane Junior school. As I remember, coming up from the Alcester Road there was first shop on the left that sold amongst other things Cadburys seconds (recycled from the Cadbury staff shop).

Then much further up past what looked like old farm buildings amongst the terraces was the shop on the right. Good for lucky bags, sherbet and a variety of suckable and chewey things you could get for 4 a penny. Next on the right was a off licence where you could buy the broken crisps.

The problem was that the supply of crisps was always limited and sporadic. If they didn't have any that meant going back to the shop and risking being late for registration. There was never enough time to go back to the first shop.
 
RobertS:

I lived in Albert Road from 1950 until 1960, and almost opposite that row of terraced houses, at number 26. The house was set back from the general building line and was a cottage built on the site of an old orchard.

Next door at number 28 was Tony Keyte (a builder & plumber trading as O.R. Keyte & Son), then the FARMERs and then the EAGLES. Miss Greves' general shop was number 34 and the outdoor was a little further down on the same side (before Alfred Street) from where I would fetch a jug of ale and 5 Woodbines for my father.

There were no shops on either side at the Alcester Road end. On the right hand side (looking towards the school) were the long gardens of the houses on Alcester Road, and on the left hand side were houses, one of which was occupied by a young lady called Dorothy HOWELLS who was heavily into ballroom dancing.

There was, however, a little shop on the left hand side, much further towards the school and probably about opposite the outdoor, which I never frequented, but nothing at the Alcester Road end.

Maurice
 
You are right Sospiri. I recognise Albert Street from your description. My error, its Middleton Road I was describing. Those broken crisps, often overdone or over greasy, must have been taken by a number of the local shops!
 
I remember the TV and Radio shop well Bernie.My Grandparents lived at 10 Drayton road until they died in the 70's and I used to take Granddad's wireless accumulator to be recharged and pick up one already charged.That would be in the 50's I think.
 
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Hi RobertS,The shop next door to the off licence in Middleton road was owned by my great granparents,their name was Hall and the off licence was run by the Pellings.It had a beautiful glass door with a leaping deer etched into it(Ansell's I think).Granddad Hall's shop used to be a coaching house years ago and there was a yard and a workshop at the back where the horses were re shod.38 Middleton road(shop) is still standing but totally changed and modernised but ,if you look at the front door entrance you can still see the shape of the stable entrance(Horse shoe shaped).
 
RobertS:

Strange that in all the years I lived there, I never walked the length of Middleton Road - never had the need to I suppose. In fact, I can't ever recollect walking up that row of terraced houses off Albert Road. Bit late now as they were all knocked down years ago! Anyway, I'm glad that your recollections are now in perspective.

Maurice
 
I remember the TV and Radio shop well Bernie.My Grandparents lived at 10 Drayton road until they died in the 70's and I used to take Granddad's wireless accumulator to be recharged and pick up one already charged.That would be in the 50's I think.
I wished youi had not mentioned accumulators BB. I was told not to put a naked flame near one when on charge or it would 'Pop' - one Saturday (and wearing a rather nice Harris Tweed Jacket) I put a match near a glass one. Pop indeed; the darned thing burst sending sulphuric acid over my new jacket. Did not dare say what I had done so said it had slipped. Every time the jacket got damp the acid would start to work again - I only discovered that I could neutralise it far to late. One customer who had their accumulator charged was a family called Firkin - I leave the rest to imagination as I like it in here.
 
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