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Lodge Rd Hockley (the Flat)

The shop with the awning looks like that of a butcher. Presumably the large shop with the bamboo? type blinds was a fresh fish and fruiterer shop. The last one by the refuse truck, also Spencers, seems to be closed. Nice to see the Christmas decorations.
 
Radiorails said:
The shop with the awning looks like that of a butcher. Presumably the large shop with the bamboo? type blinds was a fresh fish and fruiterer shop. The last one by the refuse truck, also Spencers, seems to be closed. Nice to see the Christmas decorations.
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Wednesday 13 December 1961 (Half Day Closing?)
 
Hi Folks, as I recall it was quite a large fruit and veg shop on The Flat where I obtained wooden orange boxes from which I built my go-carts, I got into carting at an early age thanks to the exploits of older friends, the early carts were nothing more than a box on wheels but the orange boxes weren't all that easy to come by and I was very lucky to get a free one. There was quite a demand for them for fencing material, crude furniture, firewood, pigeon lofts, sheds - I think the going rate was about 3d, so you see, there was recycling going on even in those days!
(Talking of recycling (Before my time) during the war years people saved their pee and left it in bottles on the doorstep for it to be collected and used in munitions manufacture (WWI?)).

Peg.
 
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Peg, one small note regarding your cart. Outspan citrus fruits were from South Africa, not Spain. Their oranges were lovely large fruits whereas Spanish oranges are generally smaller and often for marmalade.
At one time there was great competition between Jaffa fruits from Israel and Outspan. I am sure many remember the cardboard banners strung across fruiterer and greengrocers shops.
 
I worked in a shop on Camp Hill in the 50's and being a miserable old git now my wife and I have developed an "in" joke as I moaned that all my mates were at work and I couldn't go shopping on a Wednesday etc. so post 160 by dib44 got a bit of a laugh from us.
Cheers Tim
 
Radiorails said:
Peg, one small note regarding your cart. Outspan citrus fruits were from South Africa, not Spain. Their oranges were lovely large fruits whereas Spanish oranges are generally smaller and often for marmalade.
At one time there was great competition between Jaffa fruits from Israel and Outspan. I am sure many remember the cardboard banners strung across fruiterer and greengrocers shops.
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Quite right, Alan, I was a bit Cavalier. I mistakenly thought Outspan was a play on words with orange and Spain, when in fact it's a South African word originating from the Dutch word uitspannen, meaning unyoke, an encampment, a place for grazing or camping on a wagon journey - can't see how that fits in with oranges - may describe the citrus grove where they were grown .

Peg.

P.S. I fear we are going cross-thread, (my wounds have not yet fully healed from the operation to have 2 of my posts removed from the Crown & Cushion Thread.)
 
Hi Folks, did anyone dine at the Milk Bar on the Flat in the 50s? I don't think I did, probably because I only lived 5-10 minutes walk from there; I'm guessing they did a mean faggots and peas. Ignoring an al fresco bag of chips from the Key Hill Chippy, I think my first experience of dining out must have been at the Fish and Chip shop on Hockley Hill, they had a dining room at the rear, I also have a vague recollection of a cafe further up Hockley Hill serving excellent cooked meals at lunchtime, I suppose there were quite a few.
Then there were the school dinners - first Farm Street then Harry Lucas - excellent! (Even though they came in huge aluminium pots).

Peg.
PS I'm afraid the delights of the pig's trotter, jellied eels and tripe have escaped me.
 
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1972-orange-mini-outspan-car-used-to-advertise-south-african-oranges-EC83YP.jpg


outspan South African[ˈaʊtˌspæn]
1. an area on a farm kept available for travellers to rest and refresh animals
2. the act of unharnessing or unyoking
vb[ˌaʊtˈspæn] -spans, -spanning, -spanned – to unharness or unyoke (animals)
inspan[ɪnˈspæn]vb –spans, -spanning, -spanned (tr) Chiefly South African to harness (animals) to (a vehicle); yoke[from Afrikaans, from Middle Dutch inspannen, from spannen to stretch, yoke; see span
(Collins English Dictionary, complete and unabridged version, 2003).

Note the Birmingham registration plate!
 
Here's the thing folks, we had most of what we needed on The Flat in the 50s but there is one thing we didn't have a Burtons, and that meant no snooker hall, so here's the question: my father was a skilled snooker player, so where was the nearest full sized table he may have used? - would have to be within walking distance of The Flat, I don't think the Bull's Head had one.
Nearest Burtons? Surely closer than The City or Soho Road?

Peg.
 
Hi Folks, both my father and grandfather were members of the fishing club at the Bull's Head (Corner Key Hill and Icknield Street) in the early 50s, my grandfather being the more successful in terms of prizes won, he had a pirate-style wooded peg leg, but that doesn't seem to have held him back when scrambling down the riverbank to his peg. As I recall there wasn't a fishing tackle shop on The Flat, I used to accompany my mother to a shop at the top of Key Hill, where it joins Hockley Hill, for a pint of maggots on the Saturday for my father's jolly the next day. (I did accompany my father many times and tried the sport, but I didn't inherit the gene.)

Peg.
 
Hi Folks, I think I'm right in saying, although there are a number of photos showing the shops on The Flat, there isn't a plan showing the actual positions of the shops we all remember (in various degrees - I'm well down the scale in this respect) so I've set myself the task of producing one.
I've started with an oldish plan of Lodge Road and that might be a slight hurdle as it shows many properties - too many it seems for the number of shops I remember, although part of this can be explained by some establishments occupying a number of what may have been properties eg Yarnold's occupied 4, Co-0p 2 and I believe there were sometimes two branches of the same organisation on the road eg Boots, anyway this is where the power of the group comes into play - Your Mission, should you choose to accept, is to assist in producing a plan showing shops that were in place in the 50s - I've made a start, but you will see there are a lot of gaps to be filled in.
My research has helped me to put together a list of shops that have been located on The Flat, but I don't know the dates they were there so they may not fit the plan date (50s) and the list is not exhaustive.
I've numbered the properties on The Plan for ease of reference and the list of shops is attached.
All assistance will be appreciated, even if it helps confirm the place of a single establishment.

Regards,

Peg.

The Flat Plan.jpg

List of shops on The Flat.jpg
 
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that should be fun peg..you could always confirm things as you go along with a kellys directory look up...until then..no cheating folks from memory first:D

lyn
 
Peg Im sure someone on here did a list of the shops in order how they were on The Flat, but I cant find it.
 
carolina said:
Peg Im sure someone on here did a list of the shops in order how they were on The Flat, but I cant find it.
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Hi Carolina, it would be great if it could be found, the plan could be finished in minutes, the best I have found from a general search is a list of shops in alphabetical order, useful but without dates it's difficult to judge their relevance to the plan, e.g. a winkle seller and the Brown Lion Pub (apparently opposite Heaton Street) I have no knowledge of, so they must pre-date the 50s. (or post-date, I suppose).
Thanks for confirming Playfair.

Regards,
Peg.
 
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carolina said:
Peg the pub became the launderette which I can remember going with my mom.
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Carolina, I remember the bag-wash days with anti-affection when I was press-ganged weekly into helping my mom, but we had left Heaton Street by that time, my mom thought she was being thrifty by cramming a few extra pounds of weight into a washer beyond its design limit, not realising sometimes the clothes couldn't move! What about the giant tumble driers? - big enough to hold a party in!
Would this row of shops be correct?
Hole in the Wall-Playfair-Butchers (you've told me the name but I've forgotten)-Noted Fish, Fruit & Veg-Spencer's

Hi Folks, I've put together a row from Yarnolds to Wimbush:
Yarnolds-Sport & Play-W.A.Clements-Milk bar-H.V.Smith-Pentecostal Church-Woolworth's-Wimbush.
That's 8 shops over a distance covered by 24 premises (31-54) on the plan, which indicates in addition to Yarnold's 4 units there must have been some doubles (maybe Woolworth's was one).

If someone could fill in the gap between Wimbush and Centric Cycles (see list on #172) that would complete that side of the road.

Other rows are:
George Mason-Popes-Glarry's, (this is on the Co-op section of the road)
Alan's-Freeman Hardy Willis-Pooles
Can anyone fill in any gaps?

Boots- I believe there were 2 branches, one corner of Heaton St, anyone know the other?

Regards,
Peg.
 
Have you forgotten the off licence on the corner of the flat and the street crossing zebra at the top of heaton street
unless carol is meaning to say the off licence and not meaning the pub as i recall it as the off licence
 
Hi guys sorry peg i with draw that answer as i have just loked back and as carol said duro the off licene is correct
my mistake alan,, astonian,,
 
carolina said:
I wonder if this was the other BootsView attachment 114988
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Great Shot Carolina, can you date it? It can't be the 50s can it? The row on the left should show the Milk Bar, Clements, etc. (No chemist).
I think the chemist might be Franks, Boots would have proudly displayed its well known script sign.
It's a pity not all the signs were as clear as Spencer's.
I note Mapp cooked meats is there, probably gone by the 50s.

Peg.

P.S. I've got a feeling Lyn's got all the answers.
 
Hi Folks, for some reason my anti-virus has taken a dislike to the cookies that Forum Threads are trying to implant, notably (but not only) Heaton Street and Harry Lucas School, which normally never present a problem. This is not the first time this has happened and it usually clears after a few goes - not so this time - anyone else troubled?

Peg.
 
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