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Old street pics..

Hi Alan,

Here is the scene you describe, complete with the policeman on point duty in his white coat.
 

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  • City Dale End from High St, 1955[1].JPG
    City Dale End from High St, 1955[1].JPG
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Going back earlier than Alan mentions I have seen a photo of the junction and from it you could see that the trams from Dale End into Martineau Street and the trams from High Street into Albert Street used to pass each other and the policeman on the wrong sides of the road.
 
The Dale End picture evoke memories of 1963. I believe I have recorded this before but in case I did not I will now mention it.

I visited Birmingham that year to introduce my wife and young baby boy to relatives that lived in and near the city. I arranged to meet a cousin in Dale End one lunchtime. Around the spot, on the left of the picture - where passengers are boarding the bus - I parked my vehicle and was waiting outside a cafeteria. My wife was a short few paces uphill from me and I had our baby in a carry cot on wheels - the vogue at the time when travelling.

Two men emerged, fighting, from that cafeteria. I was almost knocked off my feet by them and lost my grip on the pram handles as a result. A couple of ladies, slightly downhill fortunately caught the carry cot. A Police cadet witnessed this and came over to attempt to part the fighters. shortly a police motorcyclist arrived and they were dealt with.

What, eventually, was slight damage to my vehicle was done and the police informed them that if I prosecuted then they would have to travel to Devon for the case to be heard. That did not go down well so they decided to offer me a cash amount, which I accepted, as settlement.

The fight was about, it seemed, that the Irish gentleman took exception to the Cypriot cafeteria manager for being stern with his wife/girlfriend or whatever.
 
Hi Alan,

Here is the scene you describe, complete with the policeman on point duty in his white coat.


Great pic Phil...and for what it's worth...I concur with Phil...in my memory (I'm 72 now), when I came into Town on the bus (53 or 54) to cross town for work or play, Albert Street was one way traffic only...up....the buses turned and stopped in Carrs Lane round the corner.... and apropos of that great spot and because I can...here's a few I have in the vaults....

Red Lion New Meeting St  High St Pub.jpg Red Lion New Meeting St 1958.jpg Red Lion Waverley Hotel Albert St 1962.jpg
 
Interesting photos Dennis. My grandparents, Albert and Emma Tuck, ran the Waverley Hotel in the 1920's.

Judy
 
Now in this photo, it seems to be a one way system in the other direction. I think it changed many times over the years, all I remember with any clarity was the hot potato man on the junction of Albert St & New Meeting St. I was a regular for a penny bag whilst waiting for the number 50, remember the little cone shaped paper bags.
 

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  • City Albert St  Dale End.jpg
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I do remember the closed in shelter tram stops that ran all the way down Albert Street, outside the Beehive. I think? the trams ran down the hill then. Eddie
 
Now in this photo, it seems to be a one way system in the other direction. I think it changed many times over the years, all I remember with any clarity was the hot potato man on the junction of Albert St & New Meeting St. I was a regular for a penny bag whilst waiting for the number 50, remember the little cone shaped paper bags.

This was the photo I was referring to inn my post 3998

City Albert St  Dale End.jpg
 
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Hi David and Phil den
Many thanks for producing that magnif, picture just how I remember it our dad and his brother Joe took us there
Regular to she the cartoons of Micky and Minnie mouse and we got the thirty nine bus at the bottom of park rd
And use to whatch the beer bottles going around and seeing men picking out certain bottles they had some railing out side
As there was a big dropped below ground between us and the windows
On the subject of there under ground tunnel which spread all virtually around the whole complex where the coop men made the bar tells
I was wondering whether or not is there any member of the public or should I say ever experience the war years and had to go there during the raids of Aston
Any of our members whom may be still with us did you ever experience going down the under ground
As kids we walked up upper Portland st to school and on the ground there was grating every couple of yards and little windows
With bars on with no glass we would get down on our knees and shout to these men making the barrels
It must have been a thousand feet down it was looking at match stick men they could never hear us thou
Many thanks again guys
Best wishes and a merry Christmas and a happy new and healthy new year and may it be a prosperous one
Astonian,,,,,,,, Alan,,,,,,,,
 
Maybe this is the wrong spot for this....but found this picture of the old Beggrs Bush yesterday, and copied some of the text from the excellent Midlands Pubs Site, link included below...hope they don't mind........used it a few times many moons ago, when my mate's dad kept the Mount, just roud the corner...anyway, The Beggar's Bush stands on the boundary with Sutton Coldfield. As such, it was at a point where Erdington, once part of Staffordshire, met the county of Warwickshire.

This Edwardian photograph shows an earlier Beggars Bush public house in New Oscott from 1905. It is thought to be the third pub to stand on the site. Note the hawthorn bush that once stood outside the building. Such was its significance, it was protected by iron railings. However, when the road was widened, the local authorities thought the car was more important than cultural landmarks. Consequently, the bush was removed and a fresh layer of tarmac took its place.

A signboard on the pub's wall near the main entrance quotes: "The original Beggar's Bush coaching inn dates back to 1841. The building as it stands now was created in 1927. The pub takes its name from a 17th century legend. The 'bush' was actually an old hawthorn tree. It stood at the centre of a crossroads marking the Warwickshire/Stafford border. On a cold winter's night a beggar rested underneath the bush, and there he came to the end of his life. The bush was situated on the border of Erdington and Sutton Coldfield parishes but neither wanted to take responsibility for the burial. After many disagreements, they decided to split the cost and the beggar was laid to rest. The bush has long since disappeared, dug up in the 1930's to alter Chester Road. But to this day the legend is still remembered in the name of this public house."

It is a good story but... there are, or have been, a number of pubs around the country with the name of the Beggar's Bush. It is also interesting to note that this pub, formerly the Bush Inn, was not always known as the Beggar's Bush. It came and went in the 19th century but was reinstated in trade directories from 1908 when George Harding was the licensee.

Also of interest is that the apostrophe is at the end - this is quite important when discussing the name of the building.
Parish boundaries were popular meeting places for the poor for they could be 'out of reach' of those who had jurisdiction. The term Beggars' Bush is attributed to Adam Foulweather who used the phrase in an almanac published in 1591. This discusses people ‘who shall never tarry with master, but trudge from post to pillar, till they take up beggars' bush for their lodging.' However, begging on the edge of a parish boundary was not without risk for, in Elizabethan times, a law was passed whereby any ‘rogue, vagabond, or sturdy beggar' found begging should be ‘stripped naked from the middle upwards and openly whipped until his or her body be bloody, and then passed to his or her birthplace or last residence.'

Whilst it is true that parishes contested the cost of caring for the poor, resulting in disputes at boundary points, it is unlikely that the fee for burying one humble soul would cause such a dispute. Another element of the John Barras signboard is the claim that this was on old coaching inn - in the Edwardian photograph above the building certainly doesn't appear to be large enough to accommodate coaches. Still, like I say, it's a good tale.

A beggars' bush was marked on early maps but the location was to the south-east of the present building and near to the location of where The Yenton would later be constructed furteh down the Road. Later maps do mark Beggars' Bush close to the site of the Bush Inn. When compiling his "Notes of Staffordshire Place Names" in 1902, William Henry Duigman recorded that "there is a large hawthorn bush here which stands on the boundary of Sutton Coldfield and Perry Barr, and of the counties of Stafford and Warwick; also on the old road from London to Chester. I know nothing of its history, but the name is common.”

The old pub was certainly known as the Beggar's Bush in 1896 when John Foden was the publican. He was succeeded by George Harding, a man who kept the pub when the first photograph was taken. Born in 1838 in Birmingham, he kept the Bush Inn with his son George, along with his German-born daughter-in-law Kate. The family employed a number of servants including an ostler but this was probably for single horse travellers rather than large coaches or waggons.

At the turn of the 20th century, the Bush Inn was recorded in the civil parish of Sutton Coldfield and in the urban district of Boldmere.

George Harding had been in the licensed trade for many years. Along with his wife Henrietta, he had once kept the Rolling Mill Inn on Thimble Mill Lane whilst also working as a brassfounder. By 1891 the widower was running the Justice Inn on Great Russell Street.

In 1912 the Beggar's Bush was run by William Hook. His nearest competitor was Mrs Esther Dolby who kept a beer house called the New Oscott Tavern. There was also The Greyhound in New Oscott which in 1912 was run by William John May.

The Beggar's Bush was later operated by Ansell's Brewery Ltd. The Aston brewery almost certainly rebuilt this property. The pub can be seen here not long after it was constructed and looking great.








Beggars Bush New Oscott.jpg Beggars Bush Maps copy.jpg Beggars Bush Pub now copy.jpg


https://www.midlandspubs.co.uk/birmingham/erdington/beggars-bush.htm
 
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And two more nice ones posted yesterday....the first of the Malt Shovel, corner of Muntz Street and Coventry Road, Small Heath...and another of Selly Oak High Street...no mention of dates.....




High Street Selly Oak sepia.jpgMuntz St junction Cov Rd.jpg
 
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!green lane f h henshaws house.jpgGreen Lane Small Heath FH Henshaw's house ,he was a noted Victorian artist , it never looked like that when I lived around the corner
 
!!oxfpord street birmingham.jpgFound a postcard the caption says Oxford Street and advertised as Birmingham , I only know two Oxford Streets one in Digbeth and one off Bournville Lane and I don't think either would have been on a tram route . Is the caption wrong or is there another Oxford Street about
 
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