• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Ten Acres Stirchley

Re: Ten Acres and Stirchley Co op

gggf.jpeg

This store was on Dudley Road near Winson Green.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: Ten Acres and Stirchley Co op

vvcc.jpeg

Springfield branch on Sratford Road, 1912
 
Re: Ten Acres and Stirchley Co op

I think that this thread should be restricted to TASCOS and not include BCS items unless they refer to former TASCOS stores
 
Re: Ten Acres and Stirchley Co op

It did start of as TASCOS but that was to become the Co-op as we know it but I suppose we could have the relevant posts put onto a Co-op thread.
 
Re: Ten Acres and Stirchley Co op

xxx~0.jpeg


Image_28329~2.jpg

Again I have no information with these two but they do have Co-op adverts and for that reason I have put them here.
 
Re: Ten Acres and Stirchley Co op

I am wondering if the top photo was of a victorious football team with the crowds watching and the police escort. I can't make out if that is a football cup in the open roof. The QV reg doesn't make sense as that is not listed on the website I looked up for old registration numbers. The policemen could be wearing Metropolitan Police armbands. I know that the Royal Arsenal Cooperative Society had a large fleet of coaches at one time. I doubt if anyone would be able to identify the second photo as it is much older showing a char-a-banc
 
Re: Ten Acres and Stirchley Co op

As there were no Q series vehicle registrations at the time of two letters and four figures it has to be an OV on the coach - which makes it registered in Birmingham.
 
Re: Ten Acres and Stirchley Co op

I have merged these two threads about Tascos but left the Co Op as it is.
 
Hi All
I found this thread particularly interesting. Although the TASCOS store was in Hazelwell Street it is my understanding that Ten Acres was the area on the Pershore Road at the junction of Pershore Rd/ Dogpool Lane/ St Stephens Rd. I used to live in the Ansells off licence that was on the corner of Dogpool Lane and Pershore Road opposite what was then The Dogpool Hotel which was on the Junction of St Stephens Rd and Perhore Rd.
In the first picture the off licence can be seen on the right on the corner of Dogpool Lane. It was formerly owned by Rushtons Brewery and was also a grocery shop. As can be seen the original Dogpool Pub was on the opposite corner of Dogpool Lane where eventually the Telephone Exchange was built.
In the second picture taken looking down the Peshore Rd towards Stirchley, it can be seen that the Dogpool had moved to the opposite side of the road on the junction of St Stephens road. The off licence (1058 Pershore Rd) is on the left in this picture.
In 1960 the off licence became a 'My Cellar' wine shop but we still sold Ansells draught beer to customers who came with their own bottles or jugs to be filled. Behind the shop was originally the old mill race but this was filled in during the 60's and gave access to a field. As kids we used to play in this field at the back of which was the old co-op laundry. By crossing a piece of disused ground we could then get to the river Rea. What times we had, our own bit of countryside behind the rolling mills and industrial factories that were situated along Dogpool lane.
The beer we sold was thought to be particularly good, my Dad felt this was because the cellar where the beer was kept had a natural spring in it which resulted in the cellar flooding every day but kept the temperature constant. It was my job every day to pump the water out of the cellar using an old hand pump.
Also in the second picture can be seen the old Ten Acres Post Office and out of the picture to the right was Selly Park Girls School and Selly Park Baptist Church which was on the corner of Selly Park Rd.
Old Dogpool.gifTenAcresPostCard.jpg
 
There used to be a big TASCOS butcher/grocery at the Maypole. Having been made to memorise the divvy number by my mother I then had to learn another when I worked at the BCS on Moseley Rd Balsall Heath.
My BCS number may've been 381776 but the only number I'm certain of, (like Bernard mentioned earlier), is my army number, "first four" 2351.
 
Re: Ten Acres and Stirchley Co op

hi Linda,do you know that TASCOS is closing this Friday,march 29th March 2013? and soon to be knocked down to make the car park of Tescos!! what a shame
 
hi,there i went to the meeting regarding the building of the tesco store,it was said by the tesco reps that.the stirchley united was to be moved.they had been offered the old quik save store but had turned it down as being to small.theywere also offered ,the three horse shoes,but what they will do is anybodys guess. t.a.s.c.o.s wa supposed to be staying.regards john
 
Hi John,heard last night that Stirchley working mans club is buying The 3 Horseshoes pub,the old scruffy Stirchley baths is going to be the community club,the indoor bowls is moving to Kings Heath and Tescos hoping to open xmas 2015!! Heard that this friday night is party night at Tascos club as it is the last night and will remain empty untill it is knocked down and tarmaced over,shame.
 
i worked in the co-op buchers in stirchley, and in the slaughter house there, we only slaughtered pigs and sheep though no cattle, the co-op had its finger in every pie i think, i think what used to be the slaughter house if my memory serves me right is a sausage factory now.
My wifes uncle worked at the coop butchers in Stirchley for years, his name was Ted Strickley.
 
Not sure if this is connected, but I took some photos in Stirchley today.

Including Ten Acres Mews - Cox Wilcox & Co Ltd



And the Dogpool Hotel

 
Also mention of TASCOS on here outside the (former) Public Baths



And on here (near Fordhouse Lane junction)

 
The Divi always paid for our school uniform and winter shoes, 51193 still there after 65 yrs quoting the number to the Coop on Gristhorpe Rd/Raddlebarn an to the milk man an breadman an woe betide you if you forgot,My Nan and Granddad lived in Saint Stephens Rd over the road from the Dogpool Hotel an I went to Selly Park School like my Mom it feels such a long time ago now.
 
Blue plaque for Mary Cottrell at 1393 - 1395 Pershore Road, Stirchley, former site of a Co-operative Bakery. Seen in the heavy rain.

She lived to 101!



The Central Bakery dated 1891.



The shops there today.
Em's Pet Food Store on the left at 1395 Pershore Road. Isherwood & Co. on the right at 1393 Pershore Road.

 
In January 2020 The Co-op supermarket in Stirchley, the area’s oldest retailer with a 100 plus year history (TASCOS) will be closing. Morrison’s will be taking over.

The Pershore Road area between Dogpool Lane at on end and Fordhouse Lane at the other has until recently been relatively underdeveloped. It still has a good number of original Victorian and Edwardian retail units but with gentrification of the residential side streets the Pershore Road is due to change.... Lidl...Asda... Tesco are still poised to move in.

Will it be a soulless redevelopment like old Small Heath or Bearwood, or something which still retains its character, like Harborne or Selly Oak.... I think I will always prefer the latter.
 
Last edited:
It seems that the Co-Op, generally speaking, has moved away from supermarket type stores to smaller convenience ones. They did this many years ago in Devon. The larger supermarkets have also moved, to a degree, in that direction as it seems to be more profitable with less overheads. Personally I have never liked very large supermarkets: you can spend far too much time finding what you really need, rather than what they think you should have! :D
 
I take your point Alan, but when large firms do go to smaller size outlets they often use it as an excuse to raise prices, citing increased costs, even if the smaller one is only a couple of miles away. From experience, Tesco is particularly prone to this, and I gather from the Watchdog, on tv, that M & S do this a lot with their small stores, including the many they have in hospitals
 
You can't have it all ways, guys! :)

Here I know the layout of all the major stores that we use, but Lidl are the worst for changing things around. No disrespect to the ladies, but men alone do the shopping far quicker - they know what they want and go straight to it. Ladies get waylaid by special offers, chatting to people they know, even if they saw them only the night before, and just impulse buying. I don't think I've been in Stirchly since 1960 more than once, and that was just passing through!

Maurice :cool:
 
Yep things are certainly changing. I remember being the very first person through the checkouts when Tesco opened their first Small Heath store in the early 60’s.. It was considered to be a shopping revolution at the time and the Evening Mail photographer was there to record the occasion... Didn’t hang around though, paid for my single bag of crisps and legged it!

Been at our premises in Stirchley for nearly 40 years now and often wonder why we have stayed so long. Perhaps it because the shops have mainly all been community based and located close to or en-route to some of the wealthier areas of South Brum. Met a lot of interesting people, visited some lovely homes and made some good friends. Perhaps that is what community shops are about, I feel as if I am on an alien planet whenever I am forced to visit any high street full of national multiples.. Profit, profit, profit! Yawn, yawn, yawn!

Sorry to see you go old Co-op, you may not have been the best of supermarket retailers but at least you were our own.
 
Maybe they will open elsewhere not to far away, where parking may be easier. Most Co-Op societies have grouped the others to make smaller outlets.
 
I think there are enormous changes coming about to all retailers everywhere, large and small. Before Tesco abandoned their original plan to develop the Stirchley site, their proposal was for 24 hours opening with home deliveries run from the same buildings. Perhaps this is what Morrisons are planning? Out of town shopping centres are now discouraged and with our need to drastically cut energy emissions and reduce our dependence on oil, easily accessible local units with “bricks and clicks” are being proposed as the way forward.
It will interesting to see how it develops.
 
It seems that most of the Co-Op threads are a mixture of TASCOS and BCS, irrespective of thread title. It makes searching a little difficult. Maybe they might be better just as Co-Op rather than individually named? It is fine for us older folk we probably know the difference but it might not be apparent to younger people.
 
Back
Top