Well me ol’ muckers what can I say? Some bostin’ replies here, full of crackin’ stuff.
Ta for the pic of the ‘other’ Summer Hill Stores, or ‘The Stores’, over on Summer Hill Terrace Phil. Ar I had heard of this, and, like Astonian, was puzzled as to why the one in Ladywood had the same name, given the other one was on Summer Hill.
It would be good to learn the difference between a ‘beerhouse’ and a full ‘public house’ too, if some kind soul could tell us that is? Would it have been more of an outdoor then, rather than a sit-in boozer?
Mind special thanks for the other snap Phil, of what seems to be 401 Monument Road in the 1950s, that’s just the ticket! Amazing that the lads on the corner are actually Alan’s brothers!!
Bostin’ reading the memories you have of your old end Alan - all about the Methodist Church and the shops, as well as the bit about going to the flicks in the Church for thruppence! What you’ve writ really makes this part of old Ladywood come alive, so thanks for replying.
As I’ve said, like you, I thought it odd Alfred Causier’s ‘The Summer Hill Stores’ was called that, what with it being a way away from Summer Hill itself, and there being another one there an’ all! I wondered if an old gaffer of the one on Summer Hill moved to Monument Road and took the name with him?
Much obliged to you for your postings Mike, stuffed with detail. Glad to know I did get the right spot on the map, and interesting to hear the building was still there until the sixties (as you’ll see Alan says he remembers it being empty in the fifties). You’ve obviously gone to some trouble for me, for which I’m grateful, and I now know much more about its history than I did the day before yesterday.
Fascinating to learn about the change of road name from Icknield Street West, and the renumbering and everything that went with that. Whilst the snippet about it losing its licence in 1915 is of particular interest, and fits with what you and Phil found out about it no longer being a beerhouse between 1914/15 and 1921.
I know Alfred was in Brummagem by the 1891 census, as he’s living at 1 Back 40 Ruston Street North in Ladywood. He must have come in the early 1880s as he was married in Aston in 1884 and his daughter, Kate, was also born in Brum in 1889. Anyroad, here the 1891 census, where he’d down as an “Iron Planer”:
Summut I hadn’t got was Alfred at ‘The Summer Hill Stores’ in 1897, so ta for this Mike, also good to know he’d moved on by 1908. His daughter Kate had died in 1903, and by 1911 he’d gone ‘up North’, and was living at Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury, in the West Riding of Yorkshire according to the census that year:
Although when first up in Yorkshire he’s down as an ‘Engineer’, by 1922 he was running the Plough Inn at Northorpe, Mirfield, not far from Ravensthorpe, where he stayed until 1926. That year he moved to the Black Bull Inn at Birstall, again not far away, before taking on the Blacksmith’s Arms in Brownhill, Batley, at the beginning of 1932. This last boozer was then taken over by his son-in-law, Ingram Preece, the husband of his other daughter Agnes, after Alfred died in 1934.
As an aside here the Enumerator in 1911 had him down as “Fred Causier” on his schedule, whereas I’d have thought he’d have been ‘Alf’, but maybe that’s a Yorkshire thing? Not sure why Alfred took to being a pub landlord, but he did have family in Worcester who ran the Prince of Wales on Shrub Hill.
Anyroad up, many thanks for all the bits and bobs you’ve all put up, adds more to my knowledge about ‘The Summer Hill Stores’ and Alfred Henry Causier’s time there. If anyone could tell me more about what a ‘beerhouse’ was, I’d be chuffed. Cheers to one and all!