The Acorn,Garrison lane area

[Shelagh]

hello Folks
Does anyone know anything about a pub called the Acorn,Garrison Lane/artillary Street area.
Is it still there or has it been bulldozed

Thanks for looking
Shelagh

 

[glaciermint]

I can't add much Shelagh because there isn't a pub of that name now. It is howeveer shown as having been in Garrison Lane if you look at the site www.midlandspubs.co.uk (link works as at today).

There are a number of pub experts on this site so I'm surprised somebody can't help you more -come on chaps!

Bob

 

[Shelagh]

thanks for the try,my sister in law in Oz remembers it when she was a girl she is 72 now so it must be 50-60 years ,it was open then.but I think it prob went in the Bordesley renual,whenever that was.

Shelagh

 

[Phil]

I drank in there every saturday morning for a while in 1971, we stopped using it when the football season started. I think it was still open until the late seventies.

Phil

 

[harley]

i lived next door to the pub. it was on garrison lane .i lived there in1967 68 maybe.my mom had the second hand shop ,next door was a pet shop ,next door was broadhursts scrap yard. then some houses . then the bridge over the canal.going back down to the pub there was a road.cross over. then a fruit shop. butchers ,then fish shop.carry on down to itchicoo park.then the sailors return pub .there was another pub facing the park.on the other side of the main road.not sure of the name.harley

 

[Shelagh]

Thanks for the info Harley,there was a road alongside Ichicoo park ,at the end of that ,opposite the back of the park,was a pub called The Hen and Chickens later called Eddies Bar and I have been told ,back to Hen and Chickens.On the Garrison lane side of the park, the pub Oppposite was The Garrison I think and thats still there,if that's the one you mean.
Thanks again
Shelagh

 

[harley]

yes shelagh now you say it. it was .oh the memories and i was only eleven years old ha ha . but i used the outdoor most nights for me crisps and bottle of pop with the black twist stopper.corona.my friends mom and dad had the sailors return pub at that time too.harley.

 

[Shelagh]

Hi Harvey,
do you remember the billiard hall at the top,could be on Bordesley green and there was a bomb site next door,do you know what was there before it was bombed
Shelagh:sleepy:

 

[Junie]

In 1940 'The Acorn' was on the corner of Garrison Lane and Barwell Road. My Dad used to drink in there until he was killed in May 1941 when a parachute land mine fell in Artillery Street. We knew it as 'The Accon'.

 

[Shelagh]

I believe my husbands grandmother was "bombed out " of artillary street,perhaps it's the same bomb,how strange that my son, Lived a few years back, in Hoffbeck court opposite Barwell road
thanks for the reply,:thumbsup:

 

[Junie]

Hello Shelagh. What was the name of your husband's grandmother and does he know the number of the house in which she lived? I was only eight at the time and the landmine fell on the house next door at No. 31 Artillery Street. I wondered if I knew his family. At No. 29 three members of the Anderson family were killed at the same time as my father. June.

 

[Phil]

to Phil,
If the acorn was like the other pubs around,there would be no room at the inn on matchdays lol. do you know if it was taken down as part of the renual
:confused2:

I only drank there on a Saturday morning because my sister and brother in law lived in Grey St and we didn't like the Sportsman. Considering that I think new housing now stands where the pub now stands, I should think it was cleared under the urban renewal scheme.

Phil

 

[harley]

when we lived in the shop next door to the acorn .second hand shop in 1968. it was overun with mice , all coming from the old pet shop next door and the scrap yard at the back of us ,broadhursts scrap yard .

 

[harley]

shelagh , yes i can remember the billiard rooms but cant remember thebomb site.it was near the cross roads of bordsleygreen .i went to the tilton road girls school.but cannot rcall the bomb site. i remember the bank on the corner.and the factory i worked at left at the bank. going down the hill.think it was newmen tonks . not sure

 

[Shelagh]

Hi June and Harley,
I have been told that a relative called Dennis Tennant worked at the butchers , my husbands grandmothers name was Brown and she had her daughter and her husband and grandson living with her their name was Bowen.A photo would be fantastic.
Shelagh

 

[Shelagh]

Hi June,
have found the number of the house in artillary street it was number 22

Shleagh

 

[harley]

shelagh, well first off the sportsman was on the same side as the acorn but further up the road towards the flats ,well in the 1960s i beleive they were hostels , then the garrison is facing itchicoo park. side of the park really ,then the cottages ,were in the street facing the the top end of the park.but i do remember all those shops, and the grass there in the picture where the dog is ,was houses all the way to the bottom of the street. then there were bit left of that street maisonett flats.oh no our shop was not on the pictures.as we were abit further up left of the picture, oh what a shame .go quite excited to see it again never mind lovely photos thanks for showing them.the first shop on the left was a fruit shop and it was owned by a man called john and his mum ,they were lovely people .sent me a bouquet and fruit when i was ill with mumps.i will never forget them.harley

 

[Shelagh]

Went to Garrison Lane Sunday,There is a walkway between 2 sets of apartments which leads into Barwell road,so I guess the Acorn is now apartments!The blue and white pub is the Beau Brummie Tavern in Dartmouth street ,which used to be the hen and chickens when my ma in law lived down there.
Shelagh

 

[lencops]

I started work age 14yrs in 1943 at the Post Office Engineering Works as a Junior Fitter it was opposite the Sportsman Pub, Garrison Lane, i was trained in the engineering part of the site, the other part was were they maintained the Green Post Office Morris telephone repair Vans, which had rubber front wings. i believe it was originally a Government Training Centre.

 

[brummie nick]

You're correct, It was a training centre, my Father attended what I believe was a rudimentary carpenters course there, after being wounded in WW1

Nick

 

[Junie]

Hello Shelagh

Sorry it has taken so long to reply, but I vaguely remember the name Tennant. I was outside St Andrew's Church as a child collecting confetti off the ground after one of the Tennant girls, I think, got married - this would be in about the mid. forties.

The other names do not mean anything to me. I have a brother who is a little older than I, but I cannot ask him anything as he is very poorly in Heartlands Hospital.

Regarding the lovely photographs, the 'Hen and Chickens' is/was in Lower Dartmouth Street, behind the park. The cottages are in Witton Street at the side of the park leading up to the 'Hen and Chickens'. On the corner of Garrison Lane and Witton Street was a factory named Shakespeares. It was bombed and the whole area was heavily bombed during the air raids. I can remember seeing Shakespeares burning.

June

 

[jansumner]

hello Folks
Does anyone know anything about a pub called the Acorn,Garrison Lane/artillary Street area.
Is it still there or has it been bulldozed

Thanks for looking
Shelagh

Hi all, I lived in the shop next door to the Garrison Tavern (corner of Witton St) our's was a general store (Rene's Stores) the other side of Witton St was Harry Hunt Greengrocer.

I remember the shops Shelagh is referring to there was the fish and chip shop where you could buy a 6 of chips, and the newsagents with toys in the window, and the Phil the Butcher. I lived there mid 50's til early 70's

I also went to St Andrew's Junior School and remember having our sports day at the Blues ground where I won the egg and spoon race

 

[Shelagh]

Have I got my directions all wrong ,I thought Witton street Was on the left going toward Watery lane and on the side of Ichicoo park.is the Garrison now not the same Garrison as years ago( now facing ichicoo park),I think i have got old timers ,cant work out from the messages where anything is, woe is me.
Pom, WAs the street with the dog on the grass (in the photo)Gordon street.?:headhit:

 

[Phil]

Shelagh

See if you can sort yourself out with the aid of this map.

Phil

Lost map replaced

 

[Junie]

Shelagh

Witton Street ran from Garrison Street (Wrights Ropes), across Garrison Lane to Lower Dartmouth Street. The Garrison Pub has always been at the same location, near to Garrison Lane School which was my first school, opposite the park. Incidently I have a photograph of my grandfather at the same school in 1895.

The dog is on the apex of Gordon Street/Wolseley Street and Garrison Lane almost opposite Barwell Road which is just off the photograph to the left of the shops.

June

 

[jansumner]

Have I got my directions all wrong ,I thought Witton street Was on the left going toward Watery lane and on the side of Ichicoo park.is the Garrison now not the same Garrison as years ago( now facing ichicoo park),I think i have got old timers ,cant work out from the messages where anything is, woe is me.
Pom, WAs the street with the dog on the grass (in the photo)Gordon street.?:headhit:

You're right about Witton St, it ran straight across Garrison Lane, up from Garrison Street where Wrights Ropes was (past the bombing) then continued up past the park. The Garrison pub is the same one.

I wonder if that photo was in Gordon ST? it looks familiar now you mention it, just by the phone box.

jan

 

[jansumner]

Shelagh

Witton Street ran from Garrison Street (Wrights Ropes), across Garrison Lane to Lower Dartmouth Street. The Garrison Pub has always been at the same location, near to Garrison Lane School which was my first school, opposite the park. Incidently I have a photograph of my grandfather at the same school in 1895.

The dog is on the apex of Gordon Street/Wolseley Street and Garrison Lane almost opposite Barwell Road which is just off the photograph to the left of the shops.

June

June, We lived in the shop sandwiched between the school and the Garrison pub, I went to the Garrison Lane nursery in the late fifties - hated it!! We left there early seventies.

jan

 

[East Coast Exile]

This thread brought back a few memories! My parents lived in the 'Holmes' on Garrison Lane from 1972 until they died (Dad in 87 Mum in 92) I used to be a regular in the Sportsman along with my mate who lived in Barwell Road. We wouldn't drink in the Acorn cos his Dad used it and anyway the lady of the Sportsman (Maggie) had a very attractive daughter!

The Hen and Chickens was one of the very few Davenports pubs in Brum. I remember it as being very much an 'Irish' pub which had entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights.

I don't recall Garrison park being refered to as 'Itchicoo' park but I do remember it having a fair on it fairly regularly.

The pub nearest the Blues was the King George I believe it used to be packed on match days but I seem to recall it was closed on match days for a while after a fan was killed nearby.

 

[jansumner]

It's funny, I lived right opposite the park and yet we never called it Itchicoo either, perhaps it's a very old name?? Yes I remember the fairs being there too, I used to beg my mom to let me go over the fair, it was quite magical at the time, a real highlight - caught many a goldfish at that fair!

Jan

 

[Lloyd]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itchycoo_Park tells the story of the 1967 song by that name, and gives some ideas of how it was coined, including:

"The hairy seeds from the Rose hip (or wild Dog Rose) were called "Itchycoos" by English children in the 1950s, and the term is still used by some elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The seeds could be broken out of the berry and dropped down someone's collar between shirt and back to cause itching."