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Newton Shakespeare, Garrison Lane

Maria Magenta

master brummie
Newton Shakespeare was on the corner of Garrison Lane and Witton Street, opposite the park. I think it closed in the 1970s, and has since been demolished. There are now houses where it used to be. It made things like japanned trays and boxes, picnic sets, cash boxes, cabin trunks, deed boxes - that sort of thing; and I believe that during the war it made things like munitions boxes. The trademark was 'Garrison' in rather flowing script. There are a couple of references to it on the website Grace's Guide.

My father worked there from the 1930s to the end. We used to live almost next door to the factory, in Park Villas, and several of the neighbours also worked at the factory. Dad had about a 30 second journey to work! My mother worked there during the war, as well. Lorries used to go up and down the entry which backed on to our back gardens, and there was a little wooden door in Witton Street which the workforce used to use, inside which lurked Jim, the Irish time-keeper, also one of our neighbours.


 
The 'Old Copper' site mentions picnic kettles. We had one, part of a picnic set that no longer exists. I can still remember the smell of the spirit stove mingling with the taste of tomatoes! We used to go to Henley-in-Arden and Exhall for picnics.
 
I worked in the factory on the corner of Garrison Lane and Witton street opposite the park for a short time in 1976. It was an electroplating business called Barrel Plating. I don't know any history of the company but it is the same location as the Newton Shakespeare factory, It was still there when I left the area in 1981.
 
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