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Williamstreeter said:
Back in my apprenticeship days , while The Birmingham Post and Mail was being built . A sparks I worked with said he was going to get a yankee car , he turned up one Thursday morning in a sky blue Chevrolet Impala with a bot of white on the fins . We used to get paidon a Thursday but had to go to the office on Holloway Head , I can remember from Paradise St onwards to the office bouncing around all over the shop , me hoping it would soon end , the sparks sitting there driving with a broad grin on his face , I didn't know what to say when I got out whether it should be 10-4 or alternatively book em Danno .
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Do you mean the office tower by Snowhill Station ?.
I cant recall the name of the big island there now, but there use to be a hamburger stand right there we would go to and hang out late at night with guys that had custom cars etc.
i worked with a fellow whose pop owned it so we ate free, they lived in Wythall.
 
Regarding Holbrooks, there was newspaper reports at the time that covered the demise, as well as the lack of help they received. Yes the premises did suffer badly from bomb damage and that did not help production. But there was still a market for their product. The website link is of particular use to the time line.

It was on reading the accounts that I came to conclusion that little support was given for what was an important brand.

This is a view of the Stourport Vinegar works. Vinegar, was at one time conveyed by canal boat to the Ashted Works which were placed on Wallis's Arm of the BCN.

840594.jpg
 
mikejee said:
Going slightly off topic, I came across what I would consider blatant fraud in labelling, though no doubt dubious lawyers have been consulted and OKed it. Noticed that Southern Comfort, labelled "The spirit of New Orleans, ESt. 1874, Original" has , in small letters on the back "Produced in Europe for HI-spirits, Kingston upon Thames"
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Mike, while I feel you passion, as long as that "country of origin" note is on the product somewhere it is internationally approved by just about all countries. So the legals have done it again!
 
Robert Ensor (bob) said:
Do you mean the office tower by Snowhill Station ?.
I cant recall the name of the big island there now, but there use to be a hamburger stand right there we would go to and hang out late at night with guys that had custom cars etc.
i worked with a fellow whose pop owned it so we ate free, they lived in Wythall.
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That was a favourite haunt every Friday night after the Locarno hot dog, hamburger, and a steak and kidney pie washed down with a cup of coffee . Yes it was that tower block unfortunately it's flattened now , the Mail paper now is compiled at Fort Dunlop building , Colmore Circus is what the island is called now
 
Hi

Would the office block have been Kennedy Tower, also known as Snow
Hill Plaza, in St Chad's Circus?

Kind regards
Dave
 
Returning briefly to answer the Holbrook piece, the decision to sell the British business was made in the Spring of 1954. Press announcements had to be carefully worded as being a limited company with considerable capital and with assets abroad led to some complicated decisions and negotiations.

There was a large workforce at Ashted Row which included production managers, dispatch managers, shop managers and stores managers, supervisors and the men and women employed there. In fact there was a large female workforce associated with the sauce and pickle departments.

The sale of the Stourport plant to British Vinegars was announced in May 1954 and the rest of the assets was taken over by Sauce Holdings Ltd. Their report published in the Birmingham Daily Post August 12th, 1954 by Henry Chance makes it quite clear that the SOLE reason for what happened was the compulsory purchase of the Ashted site. Had that not happened the business would have carried on. That cause was the compulsory purchase for the Duddeston redevelopment scheme.

The BDP at the end of August carried an unprecedented advertisement by Mr Wren in the situations wanted column for the managers and staff employed at Ashted Row! The change enabled the new company to gain funds in the process and reduce the capital.

But what of the lost jobs and the lost work from what was an international company?

Was the actual land needed for the new scheme, or could the works have stayed, as did the Co-op Flour Mill on the opposite side of the road?

The political make up of Birmingham Council had changed by that time, and it is quite possible that those in the council then had less understanding (or concern) of the damage to industry, when presented with a vision for transforming parts of industrial Birmingham. This was also the time of the sweeping away of the historical gun quarter to make way for the new Snow Hill roads, Lloyd House and that tower block referred to above.

In creating the new roads and premises around this part of Duddeston Birmingham did create something new, with concrete bridges, pedestrian subways and blocks of flats. But that was only a transient thing as many have been swept away again through revised town planning. What was good for the 1950's was not good for the 21st Century.
 
Over the years any Company that made a decent profit every year was gobbled up by some big world Company from abroad.In the early90s I started work making office furniture for Harvey's.I started at 8 we got called to a meeting at 9 to be told that the Co had been taken over by an American Co and there would defiantly be no Redundancies.Within 12 months the factory had closed and the furniture was being made in Europe.
 
Edifi said:
Over the years any Company that made a decent profit every year was gobbled up by some big world Company from abroad.In the early90s I started work making office furniture for Harvey's.I started at 8 we got called to a meeting at 9 to be told that the Co had been taken over by an American Co and there would defiantly be no Redundancies.Within 12 months the factory had closed and the furniture was being made in Europe.
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Edifi as soon as they say there will be no redundancies , or the football manager says he has the complete trust of the board
you automatically know you are in the death throes . Why they try and gloss it over I don't know
 
Dave89 said:
Hi William,

Many thanks for that, I remember it well and the digital clock high up on the wall.
Happy days!

Kind regards
Dave
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Had many a good day on that job as it was being built in the 60's , especially when the staff moved from Cannon St . I'd never seen so many women in one place . Happy days indeed
 
My Aunty worked for the Post & Mail for many years .Her Dept was dealing with Spot The Ball,finding the winner
 
When I asked her many years ago she said it was secret and could not tell me.

When I was a postman, in the Mail they announced one week that a certain lady a Mrs So & So of a certain address in Wylde Green had won the jackpot.I delivered to that address for 2 years and didn't know a Mrs So & So.
 
Williamstreeter said:
That was a favourite haunt every Friday night after the Locarno hot dog, hamburger, and a steak and kidney pie washed down with a cup of coffee . Yes it was that tower block unfortunately it's flattened now , the Mail paper now is compiled at Fort Dunlop building , Colmore Circus is what the island is called now
Click to expand...
Not anymore. They moved back to Birmingham town centre.
 
Your 'place the ball' story reminded me of my dad putting a hundred crosses on the picture and still not hitting the spot.

I had better luck with the Readers Digest's spot the ball, they only allowed one cross and I hit the ball dead centre.

The prize was a new VW Golf or £16,000 cash, I took the cash.

They sent a man to take my photo and copies of the picture and the template used to check it.

I have them all in my filing cabinet.

The money's all spent. :)
 
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