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Summer Lane

Sylvia John would only have been around 5-6 at that time but i will still mention the name all the same it may be an older brother or uncle thanks for the imfo.Dek
 
Hi Rosie Beardsmore,they were tiny houses weren't they,i lived in a small back to back myself.but my aunties houses made ours look big,has anybody got any photos of Powell St,sorry i didn't answer before been a bit under the weather
 
max...i am still searching for a pic of the coronet camera co that was on the corner of summer lane and brearley st....the actual building is still there but im after one with the coronet name on the building....thanks for reminding me...

this summer lane pic was sent to me by john houghton well over a year ago but i saved it too small to post..john has just gone through hundreds of his files to find it and send it to me again...so thanks john....its a cracker...

lyn
 
I didn't live on summer lane but my old boss used to work there before she bought her hairdressers. Cant remember the name of the hairdressers on summer lane she was at but it must have been near Trueman's the butchers as she started going out with the son Peter and later married him.
when I worked for her in litchfield rd we had quite a few people from summer lane come and have their hair done does anyone remember them, their was a Mrs Evans she had a grocers and she came with her friend Mrs Howell they were very very posh and had loads of money I remember all the jewelery they had on and always smelt lovely. I think the Trueman's had the butchers for a long time.
 
it probably was ray....without the shot of the barrel pub in it you wouldnt know that was summer lane would you.....well i wouldnt have done...

lyn...
 
You are right lyn without "The Barrel"it could have been any street.A place I have not seen mentioned on here, was the Prisoner of War club,it was across the road from "The Birmingham Arms" .
 
hi dave..must say i keep looking at this one....keep zoomin in and out..ive counted at least 11 people going about their daily business...its what i call a busy pic...

lyn
8 Men, I Woman 2 Children, I Bus Driver & Lorrry Driver.
Any advance
 
A place I have not seen mentioned on here, was the Prisoner of War club,it was across the road from "The Birmingham Arms" .[/QUOTE]

My Uncle was Secretary to the Birmingham Ex Services Club in Summer Lane, it moved from Hill Street (or Hurst Street?) He and my aunt lived in the flat over the club in the late 50s, and I used to go every week for a nice hot bath - whether I needed one or not, lol.
 
Charlie,
My memory of the P.O.W.club is from the early 1950s,could they have amalgamated with the Ex servicemens club?.
Jennyann,
That was a very interesting site,hard to believe it was once in the countryside.
 
on the opposite side to the barrel in lyns foto would have been old mr dossiter's second hand
furniture shop, and a little further down was 'bunnies' the paper shop,who later moved to
upper tower st, facing the settlement.
 
and the prisoner of war club was known as the 'EX-CAPTIVES'.
one of my uncles served time in a japanese prison camp in
burma, when asked what the conditions were like he replied
for the first 2 weeks it peed down
 
Ah yes, Paul - The Ex Captives Club, that was the name. I remember a lot of the folk who went there in the fifties, as well as my uncle Bill (Astle). It was a great social club, but some of the chaps went through hell during the war.
I used to walk from Swallow Raincoats, where I worked, down Well Street and on into Summer Lane. Coming home about 10 o'clock at night I used to get a bus in Summer Lane to town, then another to Handsworth. Never any trouble, I doubt I'd do it now!
 
I think the Photo was taken around the mid 1930s to early 40s

The bus could be a early Midland Red, Reg No HA 1618? help Lloyd
 
hi moss, great pics. i'm getting flashbacks now, can just see the top of the post office. and next door was my grandmother's house which was accessed up a gatted entry.
the 'house' i think would have been part of the hairdressers shop at one time, the lady who ran the shop we knew as 'MICK', you can draw your own conclussions there.
and next to that was the 'ginger beer' shop. ginger beer as in the drink i might add, anyway my nan was a proffessional pianist and could be heard most weekends bashing
out tunes in the vine, barrell, and woolpack. have just come across a print of a painting by RON 'SMUDGE' SMITH, re-produced in the sunday mercury a few years back
which depicts the same view of summer lane, only with a little bit of artistic licence.
 
Hi Paul,yes you are right,just past the bus stop i would think.
Yes i have got a print of the Smugde Smith print.
I also have this original painting by Eric Cook(a great artist and member of this forum)I would guess your front window faced it,it is of course The Vine which my aunt and uncle kept in the 1950s.
Moss.
 
I was talking to someone yesterday who told me how Summer Lane got it's name. I apologise if this has been mentioned before. Apparently the area and road was once owned by the Colmore family. The lane was a direct drive to their house. The lane was gated and closed most of the time but in the Summer it was opened for all to use and stroll along. Hence it was named Summer Lane.
 
thanks wend... well i hadnt heard that before...very interesting.. wonder where the colmores house was exactly...

lyn
 
thanks wend... well i hadnt heard that before...very interesting.. wonder where the colmores house was exactly...

lyn

On a serious note, according to Carl Chinn , in his book "One Thousand Years Of Brum" the name of Summer Lane predates the Colmores by a few hundred years!!! the name was in use in at least 1289. Max
 
brillient max...thanks...

dont surpose there are any pics in this ere book of yours...

lyn
 
Lyn
Colmore's House was New Hall, presumably on New Hall st, which apparently later became a warehouse for Matthew Bolton. Dont know about the origin of Summer Lane's name, but on the 1809 commissioners map below it can be seen that Great Hampton Row seems to be the access road to Colmore lodge, which presumably had some connection to the Colmores. It looks as if the lodge was on the left going up GHR just before New John St. Perhaps the story of allowing people to walk on the drive referred to Gt Hampton row.
Mike

Colmore_lodge_1809.jpg
 
Yes Lyn, that was what i meant, but perhaps I didn't put it very well. I think its the building on the corner of NJS on the 1834 dower map below
Mike

colmore_lodge_1834_Dower_map.jpg
 
my fault mike i didnt read all of your post..to busy looking at the map..lol...there is now 5 blocks of flats along njsw and looking at the map one of them(geach tower) would be on the spot where the the lodge would have stood...i also lived in those flats some years back...

many thanks mike...ive leant a lot today from this thread...

lyn
 
Me to Lyn. Just goes to show some stories are not always true but it made a good thread to read through thanks Max and Mike.
 
I don't know if these pictures have been posted before, if they have sorry for the repetition, if not,i hope you enjoy them
Max
 
Were there two summer lanes?? when a boy my dad said when he was a copper you had to go two up in the week and 4 up on saturdays when patroling "summer lane", he said you could tell the rich houses from the poor by the newspapers used as curtains, "daily Mail", rich, Daily Sketch" poor, but he never mentioned clubs or anything which I have read on the forum he was based then at Steel House Lane is it the same one!!
 
I was talking to someone yesterday who told me how Summer Lane got it's name. I apologise if this has been mentioned before. Apparently the area and road was once owned by the Colmore family. The lane was a direct drive to their house. The lane was gated and closed most of the time but in the Summer it was opened for all to use and stroll along. Hence it was named Summer Lane.

With regard to what you said Wendy, i have been looking at Mikes post that shows the Colmores Hall, it is possible of course that there could indeed have been a walk way between Summer Lane and the hall, although not an official one marked on maps . Max
 
hi paul...yes i would say you are describing the summer lane we are talking about....if memory serves me correctly i seem to recall reading that there was also a summer lane in erdington...

lyn
 
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