Sheldon

[xBIGGLESx]

I would love to see a picture of Burgess and Garfield I recently purchased a model T ford and it was featured with the Lord Mayor of Birmingham in 1964 and on the side of the car Burgess and Garfield Ltd. So if anybody comes across a Photo of B&G Iwould love to see it.

 

[AlisonH]

mbenne ,I think the H G Turners that I used to go in for my rabbits bran and oats was where you say it was by the now PDSA charity shop. This would have been 1960 to 1964 ish.
Yes I remember the willow trees by the Arden Oak pub next to the Hatchford brook, but there were willow trees also by Shakespears right by the traffic lights, junction of Sheaf Lane, Hobs Moat Rd and Coventry Rd, 1959 to probably late 60s, not sure when it was all ripped up to make way for road widening Yes I remember the horse chestnut trees running along the divider between the service road and the main road.. Conkering in the autumn. Halfords and Wrensons supermarket also in this parade of shops.
I remember the Ablesons plant hire yard, as I only lived at the back of this yard just off Old Lode Lane in Jillcot Road, I remember they had an outside tannoy system, during the weekdays when on school hols you could hear the call, "Calling Mr *******, Calling Mr *******, always called the name twice.
Also that barbers shop you mention in the precinct, I remember going there in the early 60s, not to much off the hair was required in those days to be fashionable, Beatles, Rolling Stones days about 1964. My school friend said, if you go there they don't take to much off. Came out like a freshly sheared lamb, and took loads of stick at school.
My Mum said it looked nice, that was enough for me to know it looked awful.
Never went back!

I remember H G Turner being on the corner of Coventry Road and Coalway Avenue, now an Italian restaurant.

 

[robert]

Hi Alison, I think Turners was one or two doors up from the corner. The Italaian restaurant has been both Indian and Chinese eating places prior to that I believe it was Smarts pork butchers

 

[jmadone]

Hi Alison, I think Turners was one or two doors up from the corner. The Italaian restaurant has been both Indian and Chinese eating places prior to that I believe it was Smarts pork butchers

I have a recollection that there was a shop near to Woolworths that sold pet supplies etc. could that have been Turners?

 

[robert]

Your jogging the memory now James I seem to recall Turners relocating to other premises.

 

[podgery]

Like everyone else I think the photos are great. It's all part of our past that is mostly memories these days.
Now I have a question that is not quite Sheldon but not far off. My memory recalls "The Swan" at Yardley.
Travelling into Birmingham, on the left was Arthur Painter - Funeral Director and next to him if I recall, the Library.
On the oposite corner the Rover Dealership Colliers and was there not a Corporation Bus Shed next to Colliers?
Now if one turns left off Coventry Road and travels 2 or 3 hundred yards, I seem to recall a Garage and I think it
was called "Jauncey's". Anyone remember this and does the family owned business still exist?

OldBrummie

Hi I have tried to follow your directions in this post and the only garage I can remember (other than colliers) in the area was in Stockfield road I don't remember the name of the garage but the last time I went passed, it was a builders merchants.

 

[jmadone]

Hi I have tried to follow your directions in this post and the only garage I can remember (other than colliers) in the area was in Stockfield road I don't remember the name of the garage but the last time I went passed, it was a builders merchants.

Yes I remember that one, it used to sell National Benzole and then Regent petrol. Further on down by the pub (The Stockwell?) was another garage that sold Jet petrol.

 

[podgery]

Yes I remember that one, it used to sell National Benzole and then Regent petrol. Further on down by the pub (The Stockwell?) was another garage that sold Jet petrol.

The pub was called the Speedwell I spent many an happy hour in there.

 

[mbenne]

Flourishing, struggling or changing with demand?

There have been many changes in Sheldon over the years. Particularly along the stretch of the Coventry Road, known locally as the Wheatsheaf. There was a time one could buy anything from coal to veg in this small area. The most noticeable changes began in the late 60's early 70's with the road widening scheme and building of the underpass, complete with public toilets! The building of new office accommodation, ever larger supermarkets and general social and economic changes have seen the demise of many of the old independent shops and smaller businesses, including well known names. Shakespeare's, Turners, Murphy's Garage, The Sheldon Cinema, The Juke Box, Vaughan Motors, Masons, Freeman Hardy and Willis, Foster Brothers, Woolworths, Lunch Box, March Hare chip shop, Housewives Choice, The Co-op, Municipal Bank, LLoyds Bank, Nat West Bank, HSBC(fomerly Midland Bank),Allied Irish Bank, Currys, Roy Pollard, Mundays Toy shop, Kents Hairdressesrs, Ray Bars Wool shop, The Post Office, a photographic shop, a Jewellers and a shoe repairesr at least two butchers (names forgotten) - even a Waitrose! I'm sure there are many more but those are the ones that spring to mind.

Its been a while since I last visited and I was saddened to see how much it has changed. Having time on my hands I took a short walk along the once familiar shopping parade from Wells Green shopping Center, down the foreboding underpass with its graffiti'd walls to Coleway Avenue and what did I find? Signs of more change ....
8 vacant premises
19 food outlets ranging from Indian, Chinese, Turkish and Italian cuisine, sandwich shops, chip shops, Burgers, Pizza, halal chicken, KFC and a cafe
4 Nailbars/beauty parlour
4 Charity shops
4 estate agents
3 betting shops and an amusement arcade
3 chemists
3 mobile phone shops
3 hairdressers
3 Tyre/exhaust centres
2 Insurance Brokers
2 gyms
2 care repair outlets
2 pubs - one original and another in its 3rd form in name only
2 Building Societys and one remaining bank, Barclays
A newsagent, a gym (now occupies what was the Co-op), a vaping shop, a Tattooist, a funeral director a car hire firm and a new Morrisons filling station.

Yes, there are still familiar names to be seen - Halfords, Topps Tiles, Iceland, Spar, Morrissons, Aldi, Tesco and Poundland - but not from my childhood memories. Not a shoe shop, butcher or tobacconist in sight. What would my Nan have made of it all! ! We always walked to the shops years ago now its pay and display parking in Wells Green precinct and nothing to shop for!

A Number of the offices that emerged in the 50's 60's and 70's have mostly been demolished, firstly Severn Trent Head Office, making way for Morrisons, STW Services at 2308 across the road has remained unoccupied for years after several homes were demolished for the new venture . More demolition of offices, a petrol station and a Homebase store to provide car parking. And more recently, offices further along, Cannon House , Cartland House and the old Maersk Air premises have been flattened. The plot was bare except for a growing mound of concrete out of which is now sprouting a new building. Maybe this is heralding the rebirth of Sheldon and a future generation of shoppers. Theres no signeage but heres the plan............

https://www.avisonyoungretail.co.uk/uploads/media//Investment/PDF/Sheldon RP.pdf

I'd love to know what occupied all these premises in the 50's!

 

[devonjim]

Mom used to catch the 159 from Damson Lane to shop at "The Wheatsheaf". The jewellers in the shopping precinct was "F.J.Sanders", a junior school friend.

 

[badpenny]

Sanders the Jewellers, bought a couple of rings and a pocket watch from there.

I still have the watch now over fifty five years old and still working.

 

[devonjim]

Sanders the Jewellers, bought a couple of rings and a pocket watch from there.

I still have the watch now over fifty five years old and still working.

Frank served his apprenticeship at the jewellers in Yardley Rd. Acock's Green straight from school, Cockshut Hill so was around watches all his working life.

 

[OldBrummie]

Flourishing, struggling or changing with demand?

There have been many changes in Sheldon over the years. Particularly along the stretch of the Coventry Road, known locally as the Wheatsheaf. There was a time one could buy anything from coal to veg in this small area. The most noticeable changes began in the late 60's early 70's with the road widening scheme and building of the underpass, complete with public toilets! The building of new office accommodation, ever larger supermarkets and general social and economic changes have seen the demise of many of the old independent shops and smaller businesses, including well known names. Shakespeare's, Turners, Murphy's Garage, The Sheldon Cinema, The Juke Box, Vaughan Motors, Masons, Freeman Hardy and Willis, Foster Brothers, Woolworths, Lunch Box, March Hare chip shop, Housewives Choice, The Co-op, Municipal Bank, LLoyds Bank, Nat West Bank, HSBC(fomerly Midland Bank),Allied Irish Bank, Currys, Roy Pollard, Mundays Toy shop, Kents Hairdressesrs, Ray Bars Wool shop, The Post Office, a photographic shop, a Jewellers and a shoe repairesr at least two butchers (names forgotten) - even a Waitrose! I'm sure there are many more but those are the ones that spring to mind.

Its been a while since I last visited and I was saddened to see how much it has changed. Having time on my hands I took a short walk along the once familiar shopping parade from Wells Green shopping Center, down the foreboding underpass with its graffiti'd walls to Coleway Avenue and what did I find? Signs of more change ....
8 vacant premises
19 food outlets ranging from Indian, Chinese, Turkish and Italian cuisine, sandwich shops, chip shops, Burgers, Pizza, halal chicken, KFC and a cafe
4 Nailbars/beauty parlour
4 Charity shops
4 estate agents
3 betting shops and an amusement arcade
3 chemists
3 mobile phone shops
3 hairdressers
3 Tyre/exhaust centres
2 Insurance Brokers
2 gyms
2 care repair outlets
2 pubs - one original and another in its 3rd form in name only
2 Building Societys and one remaining bank, Barclays
A newsagent, a gym (now occupies what was the Co-op), a vaping shop, a Tattooist, a funeral director a car hire firm and a new Morrisons filling station.

Yes, there are still familiar names to be seen - Halfords, Topps Tiles, Iceland, Spar, Morrissons, Aldi, Tesco and Poundland - but not from my childhood memories. Not a shoe shop, butcher or tobacconist in sight. What would my Nan have made of it all! ! We always walked to the shops years ago now its pay and display parking in Wells Green precinct and nothing to shop for!

A Number of the offices that emerged in the 50's 60's and 70's have mostly been demolished, firstly Severn Trent Head Office, making way for Morrisons, STW Services at 2308 across the road has remained unoccupied for years after several homes were demolished for the new venture . More demolition of offices, a petrol station and a Homebase store to provide car parking. And more recently, offices further along, Cannon House , Cartland House and the old Maersk Air premises have been flattened. The plot was bare except for a growing mound of concrete out of which is now sprouting a new building. Maybe this is heralding the rebirth of Sheldon and a future generation of shoppers. Theres no signeage but heres the plan............

https://www.avisonyoungretail.co.uk/uploads/media//Investment/PDF/Sheldon RP.pdf

I'd love to know what occupied all these premises in the 50's!

This certainly isn't the "SHELDON" I knew (well) as a kid.
OldBrummie

 

[wendylee]

I have a recollection that there was a shop near to Woolworths that sold pet supplies etc. could that have been Turners?

Yes I remember coming back up from Sheaf Lane ,woolworths, co-op, dry cleaners , butchers with the sawdust on the floor then around there I think a pet shop and a bank or building society on the corner?? I shopped there for years first with my mum when I was young then when i had my own children, myself my children my mum and my gran would shop at the Wheatsheaf together.? It has changed so much over the years hasn't it?

 

[OldBrummie]

A memory of shopping at the shops when one turned left out of Lyndon Road, past the Sheldon Cinema and just past the stream that is called Westley Brook on today's maps (I think in the 40's it went by another name). Mom used the grocery shop and the butcher. But I remember going to the Barber (who was in one of the first of this row of shops), on my own (unbeknownst to my Mom) when I was about 12. I think I paid something like sixpence for my haircut. Prior to that, I always went with Dad to his Barber in the city. I also recall there was some sort of heavy machinery company located behind the shops, just past the butchers. Possibly something like Abelson's but on a much smaller scale.
OldBrummie

 

[podgery]

I lived in Acocks Green but I bought a pram for my first child 50 years ago from a shop in the wells green shopping area. I can't remember the name of the shop but I think it was there for a long time afterwards.

 

[robert]

I think the name of the transport company behind the shops was Caudles or something simular.

 

[oldbrit]

I remember Caudles in the 1950?

 

[OldBrummie]

I think the name of the transport company behind the shops was Caudles or something simular.

Robert, I think you are right. The name definitely rings a bell. OldBrummie.

 

[Spargone]

Caudles was just past the Wheatsheaf, where the electrical wholesaler, tile shop, car park and big Halfords is now.
In more recent times, (i.e. after your memories!), there was a saleroom that displayed (Priestman?) excavators, on the corner by Sheldon telephone exchange.

 

[robert]

I remember the excavator showroom it had a two story glass front . After caudles closed it became Shirley U Drive, a van rental company.

 

[wendylee]

This certainly isn't the "SHELDON" I knew (well) as a kid.
OldBrummie

Wow, you know I had forgotten half of those shops , banks etc that you remember but I now recall most of them, shopped in lots of them too, my mum worked in the deli at Waitrose for years.
So many changes!

 

[Spargone]

Wheatsheaf crossroads junction, bottom left, the Wheatsheaf still has its bowling green. Further to the left on the Coventry Road is Caudles. (Did the shed belong to them? I remember an open yard). Above, beyond Coventry Road is the open space of Campbells Green, with the raised concrete track that the model engineering society ran their trains on. Beyond that Westley brook meanders all over the western extension of what is now Sheldon Country Park. There are prefabs where the brook reaches Church Road. Back to the Wheatsheaf and Barclay's Bank is diagonally situated on the corner. To the east is the service road in front of the 'old' shops, complete with wide verge and trees. At Coalway Avenue, opposite Mundays corner is a garage and beyond that the field backing on to Goldthorne Avenue where we held our Coronation celebrations in 1953. Continuing eastwards along Coventry Road and just beyond Wells Road to the north is the tree-lined avenue leading to Kedleston, this was demolished to make way for Bantry Close.

 

[wendylee]

View attachment 130947
Wheatsheaf crossroads junction, bottom left, the Wheatsheaf still has its bowling green. Further to the left on the Coventry Road is Caudles. (Did the shed belong to them? I remember an open yard). Above, beyond Coventry Road is the open space of Campbells Green, with the raised concrete track that the model engineering society ran their trains on. Beyond that Westley brook meanders all over the western extension of what is now Sheldon Country Park. There are prefabs where the brook reaches Church Road. Back to the Wheatsheaf and Barclay's Bank is diagonally situated on the corner. To the east is the service road in front of the 'old' shops, complete with wide verge and trees. At Coalway Avenue, opposite Mundays corner is a garage and beyond that the field backing on to Goldthorne Avenue where we held our Coronation celebrations in 1953. Continuing eastwards along Coventry Road and just beyond Wells Road to the north is the tree-lined avenue leading to Kedleston, this was demolished to make way for Bantry Close.

Hi Spargone, I was eager to get into your post when I saw it pop up but for some reason I can't see what I think you have posted is a map its just blank! Any suggestions is it just me? Thanks

 

[Spargone]

I'm new to the image posting. It shows up for me. It also opens as a 'pop-up' if I click on 'View attachment 130947' in your post. The image is a 'jpg', so should work for most people. Good luck!

 

[wendylee]

I'm new to the image posting. It shows up for me. It also opens as a 'pop-up' if I click on 'View attachment 130947' in your post. The image is a 'jpg', so should work for most people. Good luck!

Oh I just come back on to the BHF and it popped straight up , thank you, going to have a good look at your map, cheers

 

[OldBrummie]

Wow, you know I had forgotten half of those shops , banks etc that you remember but I now recall most of them, shopped in lots of them too, my mum worked in the deli at Waitrose for years.
So many changes!

Hi Wendylee Wherabouts in Aus? OldBrummie

 

[jmadone]

Wow, you know I had forgotten half of those shops , banks etc that you remember but I now recall most of them, shopped in lots of them too, my mum worked in the deli at Waitrose for years.
So many changes!

So did my mum!

 

[jmadone]

View attachment 130947
Wheatsheaf crossroads junction, bottom left, the Wheatsheaf still has its bowling green. Further to the left on the Coventry Road is Caudles. (Did the shed belong to them? I remember an open yard). Above, beyond Coventry Road is the open space of Campbells Green, with the raised concrete track that the model engineering society ran their trains on. Beyond that Westley brook meanders all over the western extension of what is now Sheldon Country Park. There are prefabs where the brook reaches Church Road. Back to the Wheatsheaf and Barclay's Bank is diagonally situated on the corner. To the east is the service road in front of the 'old' shops, complete with wide verge and trees. At Coalway Avenue, opposite Mundays corner is a garage and beyond that the field backing on to Goldthorne Avenue where we held our Coronation celebrations in 1953. Continuing eastwards along Coventry Road and just beyond Wells Road to the north is the tree-lined avenue leading to Kedleston, this was demolished to make way for Bantry Close.

Great picture, thanks.. I can just pick out my wife's old home in Downsfield Road at the top of the picture but unfortunately my old home and our old school have been cut off. Jim

 

[Spargone]

St. Giles church, the old school house above the tower, the church hall still to be built. The now demolished 'new' rectory beyond the hedge. The original(?) 298th Scout Hut in St. Giles paddock on Ragley Drive. [The first hut was a recovered army hut from the Yew Tree anti-aircraft site]. Rugby football posts on what was called King George V Playing Field, now a car park! Stanville Primary School at the top.