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Sparkbrook Shops

In 1946/7 I delivered newspapers to most of the shops shown in the photo. Working for Mr Jellyman, my round started at Stoney Lane and was both sides of Stratford Road to Fulham Road. With both morning and evening deliveries, I knew the shopkeepers quite well.. Sunday deliveries were very quiet: no shops open, but the Christmas tips were excellent. Eddie
 
Further to my message #31. As a paper boy, we had to carry a card of authorisation to say that we could deliver newspapers. I think it was issued by Birmingham City Education Department, and it showed name, DOB etc. In addition it gave the hours that we were allowed to work. Something like; Mon-Sat - 7am-8.30, and - 4.00pm - 6pm. Sundays 7.30am-10.00am. Could be a bit out on those times quoted. On one occasion, delivering newspapers, I was stopped by a school inspector, and had to show my card. Do they still have to have authorisation? One thing is for sure, I would not like to carry todays news papers. I would require a pantechnicon. of some sort. Eddie
 
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Someone will have to help me as to where Sparkbrook ends and Sparkhill begins. Assuming, leaving town, that Sparkhill on the Stratford Road starts at the Mermaid, then just in Sparkbrook on the corner of the Stratford and Warwick Road was H.E Turner, fishmonger and poulterer. The shop was certainly there throughout the 1950s. Horace Turner lived near us in Sarehole Road but fortunately we never had any fishy smells emanating from his house. Dave
 
Hi farmer
To my calculations it would have started at the top end of deritend and over that fly over and as you come over and area hundred yards
You would be by the church on your left and the cafe on your right hand side of the road which I think. There was a junction
With mosely rd. And the school on the far side of it which Stratford road Commencend and along the Stratford road and there was a railway bridge
Which you go under then you pass the Garretts family business they had a series of second hand shops in total I think it was five conceteclal
And each shop had its all items of in divisional items one for books and records one for tools bits and bobs one for caravans and cars
And one for every bit of junk you could think on then the black horse pub across from there was profit and west woods pets supply pigeon corn and straw
Alsorts with out naming all the other pubs and the hotel. Go straight down to the mermaid and straight up passing the police station then outward bounds
That was the start of Stratford road. Astonian,,,,,,
 
Hi Farmerdave, Like yourself I never quite know where Sparkbrook ends and Sparkhill starts, I always felt that it was about Waldorf Rd going up the hill on the right hand side but I also felt that The Picadilly was in Sparkbrook on the left hand side. It's a bit like where did Balsall Heath and Sparkbrook meet. I know it was at Highgate Rd. or is it?

I went to Handsworth Tech, and worked at a couple of places in Handsworth but some of the people I worked beside would have thought that was like coming from the moon. When I said I came from Sparkbrook they thought that there and Sparkhill were more or less the same place.
If I then said I was actually nearer to Balsall Heath they would say they had heard of Balsall Heath, but only because they had heard bad things about it and wouldn't want to go there whereas I never gave a thought about going there even after 10.00pm.
Someone I worked with at one time came from Glasgow and was living in a pretty high class boarding house in Moseley.
One evening he was attacked by 4/5 thugs and was very badly beaten up ,which he thought was a bit odd as he had survived in Glasgow amongst stories of local Razor Gangs etc.. The police came up with the answer that they thought it was a case of mistaken identity!!
Sorry for the waffle but I've got it off me chest.
Cheers, fellow Newbie!
 
Hi Eugene
Would you know what number in stoney lane would the shop have been,I was born in stoney lane 1952 and left about 1970 to move into Grantham road.

Council wanted to knock houses down and widen road but never happened,then built job center where house stood.
 
I remember a second hand shop on the corner of a terrace that was just down the road from Chinn's betting shop which itself was near the junction of Fulham Rd where over the road on the corner was Thompson's Glass where my father in law worked all his working life except for the war years.

I've just looked it up and the terrace was Trenville Avenue and the shop number was 76, and Chinns shop was 92. I note on Google that both premises are still standing today. Would this be the shop? as there were one or two more along that stretch of road in the 70's.
 
ploody said:
Hi Eugene
Would you know what number in stoney lane would the shop have been,I was born in stoney lane 1952 and left about 1970 to move into Grantham road.

Council wanted to knock houses down and widen road but never happened,then built job center where house stood.
Click to expand...

My mum's shop was next to a fish and chip shop opposite where Nelson Mandela school is now. I don't know the number but the shop still stands although it now looks almost derelict. My mum and dad, Peggy and Christy, had the shop in the 70s. They used to drink in the Royal Oak pub.
 
If you look on goggle street view the shop on the corner of Trenville avenue was called Freemans and for as long as I can remember it sold second hand cloths and was run by two sisters. To the right of the avenue was one house stood on its own with a yard facing onto Stoney Lane,then the shops upto Fulham Road
 
Hi dave
Sparkbrook started just after Henley Street going out of city and Sparkhill started by Poplar Road all remembered by the hanging signs on the pavement.
 
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