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Navigation Inn Erdington

Thanks Mikejee, I thought it was quite war like but assumed a bomb shelter would be more 'out of the way'.

Hello Steve I wouldn,t have thought it was a bomb shelter it had a timber roof with tiles on and it looked older than 2nd world war. Dek
 
Maybe it was modfiied after the war, and the roof removed . I wouldn't have thought just a garden shelter to shelter from the sun and rain would have been named on a map.
 
I remember that building; it had a high pointed tiled roof, just like a witch’s hat. The front was open, so it may have been just a posh garden shelter for the pub
 
There was one similar at the Mile Oak. Think it was a garden shelter.
 
There was one similar at the Mile Oak. Think it was a garden shelter.

That's all it was Mike, a posh shelter, spent a lot of time playing in there and in the gardens on weekends waiting for my father whose local was the Navi.
 
The Navigation Inn looking as though it is above Buffet Island but the building below is Lidl`s supermarket, at Acocks Green.:rolleyes::):D Len.
 
Len

I don't understand what you are saying in your last post, because both the upper and lower photos are of the same site. The Dolphin Pub before and after demolition.

Phil
 
The building was used for people who took their children to the pub so the kids had shelter out of the rain but what its original use was like every one else dont know but it did have seats in there
 
Len

I don't understand what you are saying in your last post, because both the upper and lower photos are of the same site. The Dolphin Pub before and after demolition.

Phil
Sorry Phil, my Senior moment mistake, you are correct it is The Dolphin and the Lidl supermarket, the supermarket shares the site with Farmfoods & a pet food shop. Len.
 
Hi guys
It was nice to see the old Navvie still standing even thou it stands alone
The building looked habit tired but I was wondering why it still there standing
Is it as still busy as the old days or is it a grade listed building as to the reason its still standing
Best wishes Alan,, Astonian,,,,,
 
Frothblower is this the one you want. I know its been a long wait.

Phil
A bit late in joining this thread, but my great uncle, Percy Handsaker, ran The Navigation probably from the 1920s into the 1940s when he died. He trained lion and tiger cubs there for circuses and apparently took them for walks on leads around the surrounding streets. He also bred Dalmatians. His son, Walter, was an expert bareback rider and ran his own bareback riding act from about the age of 13. In about 1927 Walter did his act as part of a big police charity show at the Villa ground.
 
Hi Dams, fancy having such exciting relatives! So, were the animals kept on the premises? I used to work around the corner from the pub and that would have been so much more exciting than Lidl!
 
Does anyone knowb what the odd building in the car park is? It's almost circular, I presume it used to be some kind of storage outhouse.
Yes it was storage in later years, I remember one Xmas putting hundreds of crates of beer in it, but I think originally was built for use to do with the bowling green, maybe a shelter.
 
Got some photos of the Buffet Island Chinese Restaurant while walking up the Bromford Lane towards Erdington.







According to their website, the Chinese Restaurant opened here in 2004, taking over an old derelict public house.
 
View attachment 106461
Thanks for that Phil, I lived just down the road from there as a child. Here's a drawing of what is supposed to be the Navi although Frothy doesn't think it is. I suggested it's a "plan" prior to building and so certain details may have been changed when it came to actually putting it up.:)
A fine old building with many architectural features, some of them appearing to be quite old. The windows, the diamond shapes in the brickwork and the coloured brick chimney stack for instance. Other notable features are the very stout framework for the hanging sign, the horse trough and the square rear tower with little vents/windows. I presume they brewed their own beer there as I see no brewery company name?
There is a fascinating relief on one end gable. At a quick glance it looks like Britannia but I don't thing it is. There is also a legend beneath. I would be interesting to see a photo of it. I have the idea that the plan of the place, on the wall, was for visiting tradesmen and coachmen.
 
Just been searching for photographs or information on The Navigation Inn on Tyburn Road at the junction with Bromford Lane. The architect's drawing of the "Navi" is most likely the original one which stood on Bromford Lane. The map here is from 1905 and shows the pub at its original location with the canal on the right (to the north). The plan on the drawing shows the canal to the right. The "new Navi" was built with its back to the canal on the newly constructed Tyburn Road which isn't there on the 1905 map.

Navigation pub (original) - map 1905 - Bromford Lane runs N-S, Wheelwright Lane forks to the l...jpg
 
Hi Dams, fancy having such exciting relatives! So, were the animals kept on the premises? I used to work around the corner from the pub and that would have been so much more exciting than Lidl!
I'm sorry - only just seen this, three years on! I think that some of the animals must have been kept at the pub as he walked them around the streets for exercise - but I think at that time, the area around the pub was far leafier and open than it is now. Sadly, there is no-one old enough in the family to ask the details. My dad used to tell me that his cousin, Lil Handsaker, used to go away with the circus every summer and I thought he was pulling my leg! If only I had believed him and asked more about it.
 
View attachment 106461
Thanks for that Phil, I lived just down the road from there as a child. Here's a drawing of what is supposed to be the Navi although Frothy doesn't think it is. I suggested it's a "plan" prior to building and so certain details may have been changed when it came to actually putting it up.:)
Hi is there a reference for the image ? Do you have the date and edition of Building News and where the original can be found?
 
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