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See Birmingham by Post Card

pjmburns said:
I notice the name Gaydon Grocer on the side of the building. Thomas Gaydon is listed in the 1900 Kelly's directory at 84 High street Harborne . Is this likely to be the right date?
By 1913 he occupied 102 and 104 High street
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Hello Janice, I have no idea of he date of the picture.
 
Janice. There appears to have been a renumbering between those two dates (rather later than most renumbering). You will see that both these sites are next to the school and the Birmingham college of Art, which is next to York Road. So the two addresses are in the same place
 
Does anyone know where on the Coventry Road,Yardley this was taken? None of the landmarks look familiar. Building on the left is Lloyd's bank
 
mbenne said:
Does anyone know where on the Coventry Road,Yardley this was taken? None of the landmarks look familiar. Building on the left is Lloyd's bank
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I've tried to zoom in on the signpost and can see Kings Heath pointing to the right. Has to be the Swan Island surely?
 
Your right. Thought it might have been but there were no familiar landmarks. The bank building looks well established but must have been short lived. ps noticed in the photo above that there is a banner for Hardings bakery which I recall was sited near the Swan Yardley.
 
I thought immediately of the Swan Yardley, although I never knew the old junction. If I ever went there it would have been in the mid 1950s when my dad took us by car to London. We did go to London once later via the M45 and M1 but that would have been in the 1960s
 
devonjim said:
Appears to be post both tram and trolley bus.
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I think it is earlier than 'post trolley bus', judging by the cars. The road surface looks as though the tram tracks have been 'recently' removed. Could it be 'post tram' and 'pre-trolley bus'? The telephone cables have gone underground, earlier photographs show them on the 'inbound' side of Coventry Road.
 
Spargone said:
I think it is earlier than 'post trolley bus', judging by the cars. The road surface looks as though the tram tracks have been 'recently' removed. Could it be 'post tram' and 'pre-trolley bus'? The telephone cables have gone underground, earlier photographs show them on the 'inbound' side of Coventry Road.
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Is that a Austin 10 or a Sunbeam Talbot in the photo- maybe the latter as the nose of the car appears to have chroming - this would place it after 1947/48 and presumably as no tram rails after 1951?
 
Diamond Draisey said:
Same view again as #169 & #175 on a Birmingham Library postcard 1934. Shows Hardings Royal Steam Bakery & a sign saying Site of proposed Residential flats & lock up shops.
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mbenne said:
Your right. Thought it might have been but there were no familiar landmarks. The bank building looks well established but must have been short lived. ps noticed in the photo above that there is a banner for Hardings bakery which I recall was sited near the Swan Yardley.
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I remember the shops on the corner but don't recall a bank. Seems they were built 1934 and went in 1960's. In 1960 there was a multi storey car park somewhere near there, at that time I had a pre war Wolseley (an NF), the turns on the carpark were so tight that I had to "use forward and reverse gears" as they said in the driving test, to get out.
 
devonjim said:
In 1960 there was a multi storey car park somewhere near there, at that time I had a pre war Wolseley (an NF), the turns on the carpark were so tight that I had to "use forward and reverse gears" as they said in the driving test, to get out.
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The car park was built on the northern edge of the Tivoli/Swan centre, along with Bakeman House and the rest of the centre. When the Tivoli was demolished we were promised that the new centre would contain a cinema, which then became a bowling alley. By the time they actually built it it was a bingo hall. In its prime the centre had a supermarket, furniture shop, Comet and a Crown Post Office. I think the supermarket had a couple of operators until finally it became a market hall with many small retailers. The market was quite popular but probably never achieved the turnover that a good supermarket can achieve. Being able buy a tap washer is useful but won't make any retailer rich. The car park was tight! Pretty much a continous spiral to get to the top. It was the first part of the scheme to be demolished when Tesco Extra started to be built. Now all that remains of the old Tivoli/Swan Centre is Bakeman House with its new cladding and blue lights. (On a rainy day one can catch a clint of blue reflected off the road and know that it came from Bakeman House, over a mile away!).
 
Spargone said:
The car park was built on the northern edge of the Tivoli/Swan centre, along with Bakeman House and the rest of the centre. When the Tivoli was demolished we were promised that the new centre would contain a cinema, which then became a bowling alley. By the time they actually built it it was a bingo hall. In its prime the centre had a supermarket, furniture shop, Comet and a Crown Post Office. I think the supermarket had a couple of operators until finally it became a market hall with many small retailers. The market was quite popular but probably never achieved the turnover that a good supermarket can achieve. Being able buy a tap washer is useful but won't make any retailer rich. The car park was tight! Pretty much a continous spiral to get to the top. It was the first part of the scheme to be demolished when Tesco Extra started to be built. Now all that remains of the old Tivoli/Swan Centre is Bakeman House with its new cladding and blue lights. (On a rainy day one can catch a clint of blue reflected off the road and know that it came from Bakeman House, over a mile away!).
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I had a connection to the Market Hall as my wife and my sister both worked there. They worked on the biscuit and cake stall, alternating shifts so that schoolchildren could be taken care of. The market was run by a company named In-Shops, based at Umberslade Hall, Solihull. They specialised in buying up defunct retail sites and refurbishing them as Market Halls. They had markets at Chelmsley Wood, Erdington, Northfield, Sutton Coldfield and a few others outside Birmingham.
 
Substantial buildings but I can't find them on old maps. There is an area named 'Armoury Close' on one old map of the area but no buildings on it. Looks like a long wire radio aerial on the buildings.
GovStoresBordesleyGreen.jpg
 
Spargone said:
Surely the Post Office factory in Fordrough Lane?
View attachment 133824
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Thanks, you're right it is the Post Office Factory Fordrough Lane and now I know I see we have an old thread about it ... :)

Post Office Factory. Fordrough Lane

I worked at this Factory from the time I left school at the age of 14 years.Started in August 1940 and attended the in house Engineering School. Unfortunately this was cut short when the Blitz started in earnest, the factory was badly hit in November 19th and 21st. H Block was destroyed and so...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
I'll add the pic to the other thread.
 
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Rural Yardley, view from what is now Queens Road? The topography doesn't look right, but then the foreground verticals don't agree with the background verticals (church spire) either!
 
Just spent a pleasant hour looking through this thread and a couple of photos of the market hall reminded me of the time, when i was 3 or 4, of that market, with no roof. I was taken there every week with mom and allowed to sit on the bomb, i usually had a penny to put in the brass slot on top. I was always told not to fidget in case it went off!
Was the place bombed? And where did the bomb come from? Any information on here?
 
John,

There's tons on here - just use Search Forum at the top of the page and put Market Hall and tick the Titles only box.

Maurice
 
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