OLD BIRMINGHAM PHOTOS FROM STEVEBHx

[mikejee]

Having see Bobs post #1,968, so keeping an eye on the page and post numbers here is a few more for you to enjoy.
First up a wall 30-31 Bradford Street, some interesting shadows of buildings and is that a water tank suspended high up?
Nice line of cars apart from the Allegro Estate, apparently would have been very different if accountants had not got involved and stopped them using what they wanted. ( James May Peoples Cars)

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Steve
The label on this is wrong, as below is a photo of 31 Bradford St, taken by me around 1970. I did wonder whether it was the side of the building, bugt there appears to be a road in front in the photo and there is not a road running beside it

 

[sospiri]

Fair bit of gear there, Pedro

Maurice

 

[SteveBhx]

Steve
The label on this is wrong, as below is a photo of 31 Bradford St, taken by me around 1970. I did wonder whether it was the side of the building, bugt there appears to be a road in front in the photo and there is not a road running beside it

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I will sort the picture out and check the back I think the wording is right but wrong if you know what I mean. Thanks Mike - how do you all work so quick with this information takes me an age just to post the images !!

 

[Astoness]

Another bit of history - I am happy to be corrected but is this a fly press - so metal pressing ? Love everything about this picture, wires, light switches, lack of safety gear. As always with these slides -no details or dates.

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cracking photo steve would love to know where it was taken but it really could be anywhere...

lyn

 

[mikejee]

Finally for tonight - I will let you take it over the 100 pages ! I feel I recognise the view but cannot recall where - Geber and Dunn does that help ? Nice selection of enamel signs on the right, and some cast railings too. Only a few vehicles but the silvery blue on on the right looks interesting. Gas light , three storey properties and an interesting building on the extreme right with arched doorway and window and a bit of green railing.

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The 1961-1965 Kellys lists Geber & Dunn at 105/111 Ryland st. They are not listed in the 1958 or 1966 Kellys. The 1955 map is shown below. I assume that the firm occupied no 105 and 111, not 105-111. Even so it does not seem to compare very well with the photo. The later 1960s map shows development at the end as on photo, but again does not seem identical

 

[Pedrocut]

cracking photo steve would love to know where it was taken but it really could be anywhere...

lyn

I am sure I have seen this picture before !

 

[Astoness]

I am sure I have seen this picture before !

looks familiar to me too pedro..my first instinct was newmans coffin factory in fleet st..ive had 2 tours of it..same windows same floor but again probably typical of many such factories..if the location springs to mind will post info

lyn

 

[pjmburns]

Steve
The label on this is wrong, as below is a photo of 31 Bradford St, taken by me around 1970. I did wonder whether it was the side of the building, bugt there appears to be a road in front in the photo and there is not a road running beside it

The building is still there but by 1978 there was a road at the side - Barford Street



Round the corner in Barford Street the view looks like this. Is that the same building in Steve's photo? Perhaps with part of the wall lowered so there is now a gap?

 

[mikejee]

You've got it Janice. Had not considered a new road might have been made

 

[Johnfromstaffs]

#1980

It’s a Humber Hawk Mk VI or VIA estate car, 1954 - 57, there does not seem to have been a Super Snipe estate car, you might have thought that the extra power from the 4.2 litre six cylinder engine would have been useful.

UVP is a Birmingham CBC commercial registration, March to May 1957.

 

[Dave Riley]

Finally for tonight - I will let you take it over the 100 pages ! I feel I recognise the view but cannot recall where - Geber and Dunn does that help ? Nice selection of enamel signs on the right, and some cast railings too. Only a few vehicles but the silvery blue on on the right looks interesting. Gas light , three storey properties and an interesting building on the extreme right with arched doorway and window and a bit of green railing.

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Post 1,980 is definitely Ryland Street Ladywood, this attached photo show a modern view with quite a few changes to the street. St. Johns School in St. Vincent Street can be seen in the distance.

 

[Johnfromstaffs]

I wonder how many visitors to Brum sat, with their A to Z on their lap, in Barford Street, trying to find a premises in Bradford Street?

 

[A Sparks]

Next up we have 273- 291 Soho Road in 1975, a fine selection of local shops, although Libbys records has bit the dust, not sure there was much call for the Classical records. Its a fine picture for people watching - the two gents in front of the singer shop and the man with the white shoes in front of Handsworth repair service. Note also the shape of the roof on the record shop.View attachment 157930

I loved Libbys record shop - I used to buy records from there when I worked on Soho Road in the mid/late 60's.
In actual fact they were not so much a classical music shop, they had the latest music and were especially popular with the West Indian community as they had a good stock of reggae, blue beat and ska etc.
The people who ran the shop were very knowledgeable and helpful and would always order a record for you if they hadn't got it in stock.

 

[Susan shaw]

Here is a photo of Marsh And Baxter’s, Dale End.

Thanks so much for the pic Trebor, fabulous. It looks a lot smaller than how I remember it... Perhaps because I was only young or memories fade. Nonetheless, great to see it. Like you I used to walk there to do shopping for mom and nan. You had a little further to walk than me, Curzon Street was just below Gopsal Street and Cardigan Street. Happy days and thanks again. Sue

 

[Johnfromstaffs]

#1978

Certainly a fly press from a scan of what comes up if you Google it. I can’t quite get what the operator is doing, though. Maybe he is changing the tool, or doing some maintenance like oiling or adjusting shims ready for a day’s pressing out small parts or badges or in the jewellery quarter. I remember going to Taylor, Law in Stourbridge in the 1960s and seeing this sort of equipment making their hard boiled egg slicer. We’ve got one in the kitchen drawer right now. It’s a bit different from the presses in use where I worked, a five station Weingarten making clutch covers, or the steam heated presses producing beer barrels for the type of beer that gives you the burps. When they started the Weingarten the office block across the drive used to shake in sympathy.

I had great admiration for the tool designers who could visualise and create designs for the tooling needed for big pressed parts, and for the skill of the toolmakers. For me, a thousand years‘ apprenticeship wouldn’t have been enough!

All gone, unfortunately.

 

[Pedrocut]

Another bit of history - I am happy to be corrected but is this a fly press - so metal pressing ? Love everything about this picture, wires, light switches, lack of safety gear. As always with these slides -no details or dates.

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Tried the picture in TinEye but no luck..

“TinEye searched over 47.7 billion images but didn't find any matches for your search image.”

 

[devonjim]

Tried the picture in TinEye but no luck..

“TinEye searched over 47.7 billion images but didn't find any matches for your search image.”

Certainly a fly press, set many a one in 1950's-60's. I will even plead guilty to concealing one of the weights within the rucksack of an apprentice who was off for the weekend after work on some hill climbing expedition.

 

[Johnfromstaffs]

That’s a great bit of apprentice trickery! Shades of the brass magnet, or a long stand at the stores window. I wonder if he caught on?

What do you reckon the chap in the picture was doing? He doesn’t seem to be making anything with his left hand apparently holding the business end off the workpiece.

 

[devonjim]

That’s a great bit of apprentice trickery! Shades of the brass magnet, or a long stand at the stores window. I wonder if he caught on?

What do you reckon the chap in the picture was doing? He doesn’t seem to be making anything with his left hand apparently holding the business end off the workpiece.

First of all, we always called this type of machine "a hand press" rather than "a fly press". The chap in the picture appears to be using his left hand to wind the press up, the mechanism is already quite high, witness the two inch or so gap below the "stop" and the body of the press.
By the way I believe my apprentice colleague left the "weight" on the top of a Welsh mountain where it could be to this day.

 

[mikejee]

For any members wanting to view and see these and their larger heavier cousins working, they can be seen working at Newmans coffin museum

 

[Astoness]

mike on post 1987 i said i thought steves photo had a look of newmans coffin factory so was i correct or are you just giving an example that similar machines can be seen there

lyn

 

[mikejee]

No Lyn. Just giving an example where people could see them. I've a number of rooms looking very similar to that thst I took of places in vine st, some if them including presses like that and with Windows like that

 

[Astoness]

No Lyn. Just giving an example where people could see them. I've a number of rooms looking very similar to that thst I took of places in vine st, some if them including presses like that and with Windows like that

thanks mike and i agree with you...steves photo could be taken anywhere really i also noticed the cobbled floor in your photo and steves were the same but again i would think that was also typical...really enjoyed my tours of newmans your photo 2 shows the drop forges which are also up and running..very hard on the legs..feet and knees and not without certain dangers

lyn

 

[pjmburns]

A bit further north than you are used to 31 Holland Street Sutton Coldfield, 1974, which is the side street - this is Birmingham Road I think. This shot has appeared online with my name credit but I was never sure how !! - fine selection of local shops - not sure of the gable end on Gills though. Gills used to have a model railway in the window, I know because my father in law made it and its in my loft !! - he did a similar one for the model shop in the old shopping centre in Perry Barr.

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Sorry for delay.

 

[pjmburns]

This is Lichfield Road in 1980, bit of a change looking under the bridge, and the road itself is totally different

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Think this is the right place with the Swan and Mitre on the left.

 

[cba]

Sorry for delay.

I used to work in Gills as a Saturday girl in 1966/7.
I loved it. I met my best friend Jeannette Guy there we are still best friends. If anyone else remembers it here are a few names. Mrs Parry, Pete Slassor, Gerald, Mrs Oliver, Mr Gill and his son, Roger, Miss Gill, Andrea. I am sure there are others I will remember. Perhaps this should link with the shops thread?
I was Carol Davies.

 

[Trebor]

Thanks so much for the pic Trebor, fabulous. It looks a lot smaller than how I remember it... Perhaps because I was only young or memories fade. Nonetheless, great to see it. Like you I used to walk there to do shopping for mom and nan. You had a little further to walk than me, Curzon Street was just below Gopsal Street and Cardigan Street. Happy days and thanks again. Sue

Thanks for that Susan, I myself lived in Howe Street.

 

[pjmburns]

Finally the top of Cherry Street showing what has gone on both sides of the road. Fine selection of fashions where short seems to be in. Note the gent just coming back with his purchase from Rackham's. In the distance is a wallpaper shop and a fine enamel road sign above the door. The observant may have noticed a sign for Monday 2nd October 1972 , so we know the year - any idea of the event?

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A lot of changes but think the Starbucks in the photo below is the shop called "Cherry ...papers" in the original photo. The windows look right.

 

[pjmburns]

For this picture we have to thank Uncle Ernest, someone else who had dozens of slides and negatives and a couple that were interesting. Another view of the redevelopment of Birmingham, a bit earlier than the previous view , plenty of cranes and a few old building that survived at that time on the right. I presume this is his car in the foreground - again another snowy winters day.

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This is as close as I could get on Streetview as the road now slopes down.

 

[Astoness]

A lot of changes but think the Starbucks in the photo below is the shop called "Cherry ...papers" in the original photo. The windows look right.

thanks jan hardly recognise cherry st now

lyn