Stratford Road

[farmerdave]

There was a short run of shops between College Road and Springfield Road, where the 29A turned off from the Stratford Road. The first shop, nearest to College Road, was a newsagent. There were then other shops and the final building in that stretch was the Municipal Bank. I think I would describe the district as Springfield with Sparkhill starting a bit further down the Stratford Road. I certainly remember the Springfield cinema, Congregational Church, pre-fabs, and Bundy clock, all near the bridge over the river Cole. Dave.

 

[sospiri]

As I have detailed elsewhere on this site, the Springfield Cinema was taken over and used for storing sugar during the war and immediately in front of it was a large air raid shelter. I remember the latter being smashed up with a ball and chain around 1947 and the site beong levelled and grassed over. As kids we used the cinema as an unofficial roller skating rink after the sugar was removed. I'd still love to find a photograph of the forerunner to that bridge, though it was well before my time.

Maurice

 

[devonjim]

I don't think anyone has mentioned the essential bit of knowledge that if going on a pub crawl from Camp Hill to Shirley along the Stratford Rd to offer to buy the drinks on the right hand side of the road, by the time you reach the second pub on the right ie in Shirley most will have surrendered!
I was told as a child that the first ever traffic lights in Birmingham were at the junction of Durham Rd and Stoney Lane, can anyone verify this?
My great grandfather and later a great uncle owned the shoe repair shop at the junction of Clifton Road and Taunton Road, now an estate agents.

 

[dwrichardson]

Thanks all! Still very much looking for information and memories if anyone has them!

 

[PatHayward]

My journey starts at The Antelope on the corner of Baker Street where we lived in the late thirties. We lived in a yard where the front of the house was in Baker Street and and the entry from the yard was in St.Johns Road. Further along the Stratford Road was Evelyn Road and my Dad and I went to Mass at English Martyrs Church. On the opposite side of Stratford Road was Court Road and the Fire Station and next to it was Sparkhill Police Station and then the Library and Swimming Baths then St.Johns Church of England School where Mr.Baker was Headmaster and then there was Sparkhill Park with its ornate flower beds and beautiful lawns and pools and a bandstand. On the opposite corner was Thornhill Road and the Bear Public House which was very popular. At the end of a block of shops was Formans Road and on that corner was the Doctors House which was. Beautiful Victorian house which was covered in Ivy. Just a little further along Stratford Road during the war was The British Restaurant where you could get a very decent meal for a few pence - I think it was a shilling. After the large array of shops already mentioned previously we came to Springfield School Clinic where Mr Cliff Baker ( son of the headmaster of St.Johns School) was the Dentist there. Further along and over the bridge was The College Arms Public House and the road forked there to Shaftsmoor Lane and off that was Allcroft Road where we moved to the day before war was declared.

 

[Astonian]

Hi patty
I do believe barker street is a one way system now for traffic and the way they designed it for residents in that road
And in your period of the thirty and fortys and I would say the fifties Stratford road was a very good and bright and cheerful rd,
And it was an true Irish community and always know for good genuine bargains
And from end to another of Stratford rd right up to the robin hood pub was a well swept and clean road
No matter time of day and you could drive through and up it with ease
And many years ago two of my old friends ran two pubs down there both Irish
The antelope and the bear pub always packed with jolly cheerful people
But today its a completely utter mess from traffic wise and pedestrian wise you have to fight your way along on foot
Because the shop owners have brought there stalls right out on to the pavements virtually all the shops
Have done it and with scores of people gathering around the boxes surporting there goods you can not walk freely
And you cannot shop with ease and congestion of cars and huge vans doubled parked busses cannot get through and stopped and holds the flow of
Traffic the gutters are full of lost fruits or thrown into the gutter by the shop keepers
And its a dirty road now from one end to the other from old camp hill up to the robin hood pub
The police station looks dirty and grottie and I do not think the road is ever swept
I believe Yeats ago the council was gonna make it a red line root to stop the parking along a certain section
But that idea as been thrown out never happened
Just like ladypool road and belgrave road and the surrounding roads the trees have all been chopped out of these roads
These roads was lovely to walk along in those days
Patty would you recall the Beverly hotel on Stratford road that was one of the first to go to the dogs
I will have to admitted it did become a Doss house in the late fifths best thing they done was to knock it down
I went up the died of the spark hill police station not so long ago and where there museum
Was the walls was plastered in bill boards and posters it. Looked disgusting. I can tell you
Have a nice day patty best wishes Astonian,,,,,

 

[PatHayward]

Dear Astonian - yes I recall the Beverley very well down in Sparkbrook and it did become an eye-sore over the years and I agree with your comments about parts of the road up to Springfield but you can still get lots of bargains down there and I find a lot of the shops fascinating and well worth a stroll from Springfield down to Formans Road.
From the College Arms and up the hill are some some very with pleasant Edwardian houses on the right hand side and on the left are some lovely old bungalows probably built in the twenties and next to them I remember a large double - fronted Victorian house which was beautifully kept.Crossing over Reddings Lane and York Road you have the Parade and a thriving array of shops. Passing School Road you have those Wonderful art-deco flats which look exactly as they did in the 1940's when I first remember seeing them.
Past the BullsHead pub you have Waitrose then the new Aldi which opened in December 2014 then a run of pleasant semi and detached houses leading up to the Robin Hood pub ang then the Island with its many
and varied shops all neat and tidy.
I agree there have been lots of changes over the years and some not good but Stratford Road in general
still has a lot to offer.
with best wishes Astonian.
Pat Hayward

 

[Phil]

Alan

I recall the Beverley Hotel from the 70's for a couple of reasons one was before the opening hours of the pubs changed we always used it for a drink after time if there wasn't a stopover at the local, later in the 80's when the owner Paul was in financial trouble he mortgaged the hotel up to the hilt, got a renovation grant for the hotel, borrowed as much money as he could, ran his credit up everywhere including about a grand to me and did a bunk. I think everybody in Birmingham was looking for him.

Sometime later we got the contract to strip out the hotel and demolish parts of it, I can't remember now who the main contractor was, but I remember they stopped the job for a day when some large bones were found under the main entrance steps we were removing, if you remember they were quite high as were the all the entrances to the hotel. The police took the bones away and examined them and found they were from a cow. The other thing was if I had known how badly the alterations to the hotel over the years had been done I would never have sat drinking in there all the times I had. It wasn't until after it was stripped out you could see how badly the work had been done.

 

[Astonian]

Hi Phil
Nice to hear from you again yes I can recall how down hill it went over the latter part of its life span
It was a right dive in and out and I wondered why the sudden close down and never open end again
No one seen or heard of him way back in time in the early years you could get in after the afters
And I can recall knocking it down its was a wonder it never fell down on its own
Phil did you ever go into the queen Victoria across the road or the Angel for blimmey that was a complete down and outer
Best wishes Phil ,,, Alan,,,Astonian,',,,

 

[Phil]

Alan

I drank in all the pubs, clubs, and drinkers around there unfortunately not in the 40's as the OP needs to find out about my times were more the 60's & 70's in my misspent youth.

 

[history_fan]

Great to hear from you all. Astonian - the Stratford Road did become a Red Route a few years ago, to stop delivery vans/lorries holding up traffic, though buses and taxis pulling in, along with the sheer amount of traffic, means it's still a slow crawl up the road in some parts... Phil - it sounds like you have great memories of the various different watering holes along the Stratford Road, could you tell us a bit more about your experiences of the Angel, Black Horse, Victoria, Antelope, Bear, Shakespeare etc?

(PS the OP lost their log-in details so I'm the one hunting the info now!)

 

[Phil]

History Fan

I'm afraid I can't tell you much about any of the pubs you mention as I wasn't what you would call a regular in any of them, as I lived back off the Stratford Rd my locals were nearer to home. I can tell you that back in the 50's & 60's most of the pubs you mention were Irish houses as the population of Sparkhill & Sparkbrook was predominately Irish in those days because of the large lodging houses along the Stratford Rd.

I do remember the dances with live groups upstairs at the Mermaid Hotel in the 60's and the opening of a few clubs along Stratford Rd like the Talk of the Town near Walford Rd and the Cascade's at the junction of Showell Green Lane and also the one above Burtons at St Johns Rd who's name escapes me at the moment. That's about all I can tell you as other than the places I have mentioned Stratford Rd was never a great draw to me.

 

[Astonian]

Hi Phil
Did you not go into Daddy long ,legs up the stairs when it openened by camp hill can you not recall the first biggish fire on Stratford road
It was a huge shop fire in a bedding shop that was the midland bedding and carpet shop it was estimated at a I million cost of the fire
Caused damaged
I am just trying to recalled the dance club above tailors shop it on the corner was by the traffic lights and that shop changed
To a fact goods shop some think like 99 pence shop or pound shop title they used to own a hotel on the bristol road just short of
Priory rd it was a run down place owned by an English couple and sdold it to the Asian family of the fancy goods shop
Many years ago round about the seventy or eighty period all gone now thou Alan,,,,,

 

[Phil]

Alan

No I never went in the Dolls Club as I knew it as, but that was on Bordesley High Street not Stratford Rd, I think I have said this before though I did date a girl that worked there in the mid 60's.

 

[Astonian]

Well Phil
As you know it was half and half it was in bordeslly street as you say it was very close to the fly over so I thought it would have been post address as Stratford road
As the door wat was virtually on Stratford red. Still not to worry mate by the way I never knew you said it before
Many years ago on here I was thinking about it and I thought it was you whom said you was there and tolkd me the owner
Still mate not to worry Phil perhasps its my old age senior moment creeping in
Enjoy your day phi, Alan,,,,,

 

[devonjim]

Does anyone else remember the shop that had the front wall of the two upper floors collapse when alterations were being done to the shop. Just south of the Henley St corner. You can spot the different style of the brick work on google map. Can anyone say if there was a tram depot down Henley Street or just nearby, I recall the tracks being dug up in the summer of 1956.

 

[sospiri]

Are you thinking of Kyotts Lake Road depot?

 

[philm]

Don't remember a Ron Jones but I certainly remember "Gasser" Jones the wordwork master. He gave me an almighty clip round the head for putting a jackplane down on a steel rule. Corporal punishments were the norm in those days! My grandsons would be horrified.

philm

 

[sospiri]

Philm:

Ron "Gunky" Jones taught French - as did Deputy Head " Froggy" Hughes - and was also in charge of the rugby teams. Woodwork master at that time was a guy called Fletcher.

Maurice

 

[philm]

Maurice: Froggy Hughes was my form master for a while. You may also remember Conny Constable who taught the same subject

philm

 

[sospiri]

Philm: Yes indeed, and Kipper Keyte, Bertie Line and many more. However, we are wandering off the topic of Stratford Road, and this sort of chat should be on one of the schools threads, so before the mods rap our knuckles, I'll call a halt to this!

In fact, buried very deeply there is a page for Moseley Schools here:-

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=42257

Perhaps it should be renamed Moseley Grammar School since that is all it refers to and both Moseley Secondary Modern and Moseley School of Art have their own threads.

Maurice

 

[Bikeral72]

My wife worked as an apprentice florist, at a shop on Stratford Road, Sparkbrook. It was known as Raymond's florist, and was run and owned by a Mr & Mrs Tan. The Angel pub opposite Farm Road, was frequented regularly by my late father in law. My wife and I were married in the church in Farm Road. I believe that church is no longer there.

 

[norfolk brummie]

My wife worked as an apprentice florist, at a shop on Stratford Road, Sparkbrook. It was known as Raymond's florist, and was run and owned by a Mr & Mrs Tan. The Angel pub opposite Farm Road, was frequented regularly by my late father in law. My wife and I were married in the church in Farm Road. I believe that church is no longer there.

Was there a pub opposite Farm Road???

Eddie

 

[Phil]

Was there a pub opposite Farm Road???

Eddie

There were two pubs near the bottom of Farm Rd (1) The nearest was the Victoria (2) at the bottom of Long Street, the other was the Angel (3) at the end of Ladypool Rd.

 

[norfolk brummie]

Thank you for clarifying tha,t Phil,

Having attended Christ Church School, opposite Farm Road, but I was slightly thrown by the 'Opposite Farm Road' bit!!

Eddie

 

[dwrichardson]

Thanks all!

Devonjim - you can definitely spot a new building at what looks like 66 Stratford Road! Can you remember when the top floors collapsed? (PS I now have "Right Said Fred" by Bernard Cribbins stuck in my head...)

norfolk brummie - and anyone else - is there anything of the original Christ Church School building still standing, where the houses opposite Farm Road are?

 

[Phil]

dwrichardson

I don't think there is anything left of Christchurch School, there is a new block of houses on Stratford Rd accessed from Long Street.

 

[norfolk brummie]

dwrichardson

I don't think there is anything left of Christchurch School, there is a new block of houses on Stratford Ed accessed from Long Street.

Phil.

What a great photo of Christ Church School. Brings back memories of the 1940's. The school entrance is just shown on the right of the picture, by the sloping roof.

In winter, the school main hall, very Dickensian, would be warmed up with a fire in the hall fireplace. I wonder how many other schools had this heating facility.

Eddie

 

[history_fan]

Terrific photo! I don't know how many others were heated that way, but I do know that schools like Ladypool Primary School - and others designed by Martin and Chamberlain - used its tower to ventilate the school, getting cleaner air from higher up.

That, of course, was before the tornado...

 

[devonjim]

Thanks all!

Devonjim - you can definitely spot a new building at what looks like 66 Stratford Road! Can you remember when the top floors collapsed? (PS I now have "Right Said Fred" by Bernard Cribbins stuck in my head...)
I guess it was mid 1950's I was at school at Camp Hill, one day the building was having a new shop frontage fitted, the next the whole two storey facia above the shop collapsed onto the pavement. I don't recall if any one was injured or at what time of day the event occurred.