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See Birmingham by Post Card

A postcard view of Church Road Yardley opposite the church. Unfortunately no date.
PostcardView.jpg

Modern view ... pity about the four cars ...
today.jpg

Using my laptop's editor I removed the cars to make a 'modern' postcard view ... ;)
Church Rd Yardley Modern Postcard.jpg

It looks a part of Birmingham which does not change much over the years ...
 
Maybe the bollards should have gone as well, Phil, they look a bit strange when there's no cars, But a question, as I am not familiar with the area - is it a cobbled area between the two sets of bollards that they were put there to protect?

Maurice :cool:
 
They tend to put up those bollards to close off a rat run, stop the commuters from taking a short cut from the main road rush hour.
There's a road here where they went further, they built a brick wall across the road. :)
 
sospiri said:
Maybe the bollards should have gone as well, Phil, they look a bit strange when there's no cars, But a question, as I am not familiar with the area - is it a cobbled area between the two sets of bollards that they were put there to protect?

Maurice :cool:
Click to expand...
Hi Maurice,
I thought there must be a bollard in front of SUV otherwise it would have driven through and parked in front of a house. I notice the church wall on the right seems to have been taken down since the old times. Doing it passed some 'lockdown' time as I decided what was behind the cars.
Phil ... :)
 
This post card was sold on ebay two months ago for £4.99. It is an advertising postcard saying that they were at 336 Stratford Street in 1900. My mother used to shop at Werff's on the corner of Temple Row and Bull Street. 1594220031172.png1594220425820.png

The post card that oldMohawk has posted of a shop on the Coventry Road is dated 1910.
 
I have found this additional information

Werff Brothers were founded in London during the 19th century and by the 1960s were a national chain for ladieswear. Werff also operated the My Fur Lady fur brand.
 
There were a Bernard & William van der Werff living in Ladywood in 1901, listed as drapers. In 1911 they were in Walmley, listed as dealers in ladies costumes.

They were sons of a Hermann, a German immigant. They had a sister Christina, who in 1911 is listed as a clerk in Mantle Shop. I wonder if one of the two ladies on the postcard is her.
 
mikejee said:
David
Just to correct a mistype on post 2022. It should be Stratford Road, not street
Click to expand...
Mike,
That is what I thought but the post card definitely says Stratford St. I am also a bit dubious about the shop looking so much like the Coventry Road shop so I am wondering if they got that wrong as well in 1960.
 
In the City & Midland Arcades Thread, there appear to be two or three Werff Bros shop and in one of the postcards on the thread their shop is quite plain to see. Perhaps in 1900 they did have a shop on Stratford Road, On the ancestry search, for Van Der Werff Birmingham, there are lots of entries particularly for Bernard & William including one in the rates books entries for Bernard having a premises on Stratford Road and living in Aston. Put in Van Der Werff Birmingham and on my search it came up on Page 2. Another mystery started, over to the Sherlocks amongst you.

Bob
 
In the list of companies that went into liquidation on that list above, the name Bourne & Hollingsworth struck a bell with me. That used to be a large department store on Oxford Street. It was in an Art Deco building on the corner of Berners Street. The building is now occupied by Next. In the days when shop assistants were treated as domestic servants, 600 female employees used to 'live in' in a building approx ½ mile away.
 
Phil,

I remember that vaguely as I didn't go down there very often, but deeper than the Green Road ford so probably too many drivers taking a chance in times of rain caused the closure.

Maurice :cool:
 
The legend on the cart reads Birmingham Industrial Co-operative Society. Great Francis Street.
1596193589551.png
This is a photo, by Lyn (Astoness) of a coal yard in Gt. Francis Street. Same one at a later date?
Post 134 of this thread shows their first shop.
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...rative-society-shops.42691/page-7#post-604232

** The problem with the tread quoted above is, for any potential researchers of the Co-Operative Movement, is that the Birmingham Co-Operative Society (BCS) and the Birmingham Industrial Co-Operative Society information has become merged. The thread title is about the Industrial one but much is focused on the more well known BCS. The same applies to the TACOS thread, BCS information also posted there by error. Maybe it is because men did not do most of the shopping. :D
 
Someone wrote on the back of this postcard 'Alum Rock Road' but I can't fix the position. They certainly liked dressing up the street furniture for celebrations but no hint as to what they were celebrating. A nice busy scene and milk churns on the right waiting collection.
Celebrating Alum Rock.jpg
 
oldMohawk said:
Someone wrote on the back of this postcard 'Alum Rock Road' but I can't fix the position. They certainly liked dressing up the street furniture for celebrations but no hint as to what they were celebrating. A nice busy scene and milk churns on the right waiting collection.
View attachment 147148
Click to expand...
This is only a suggestion from postcards in my collection or which many I have seen, but it is possibly the coronation of King George 22 June 1911. For some reason. there was a lot bunting nationwide for this event.

Bob
 
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