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Then and Now - please participate

Ian FOFB

Brummie yes ! Novice no !
I hope that people take advantage of the new section on the Forum and post their own then and now's.

Ian.
 
A Pair of Bulls with a 50 year Age Gap.jpg Is this the sort of thing that you want, a photo of two bulls 50 years apart.

Phil
 
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Perhaps these two as well both from Cannon Hill Park, I have a series of these photos made up for a similar thing that I do for another site. I don't mind posting them on here as well if you would like me to.

One shows the tea rooms this year and the other is from the 50's
The second photo shows a Victorian postcard of the Glacial Bolder and the other shows it this year again

Phil

Cannon Hill Park Tea Rooms +.jpg Glacial Boulder Cannon Hill Park .jpg
 
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Hello, Phil,
Fascinating photos indeed .... but whatever happened to the indigenous trees in the top half of the first photograph? Were they diseased and had to be cut down? Why does Man have to play with Nature? Surely the young majestic Horse Chestnut on the left and the other two 'English' trees in the foreground are far more attractive than the out-of-place palm trees which have replaced them and seem so irrelevant to the landscape of Edgbaston and Moseley and hence Birmingham? Only an opinion, David
 
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David

I would imagine that some in the parks and gardens dept thought they were cutting the sunlight and the falling leafs in the autumn and winter to the outside seating area was a nuisance. So in their accumulated wisdom (being the total of a country yokel) decided they had to go.

Phil
 
A few more photos of then and now, these three are all public houses. Once well used and loved, now the sites are used for a totally different purpose. Some call it progress not I, I call it vandalism,

The Ashted Hamlet, Vauxhall Rd Nechells. Now a community building.
The Dolphin Public House, Warwick Rd, Acocks Green. Now a Supermarket.
The Gospel Oak, Gospel Lane Acocks Green. Now being converted to apartments.

Phil

Nechells Ashted Hamlet 60's and Now.jpg Dolphin.jpg Acocks Green The Gospel Oak Gospel Lane.jpg
 
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Perhaps these two as well both from Cannon Hill Park, I have a series of these photos made up for a similar thing that I do for another site. I don't mind posting them on here as well if you would like me to.

One shows the tea rooms this year and the other is from the 50's
The second photo shows a Victorian postcard of the Glacial Bolder and the other shows it this year again


Phil

That large bolder Phil? wonder why the railings do they think someone was going to run off with it:rolleyes:
 
Alf

Believe it or not it was rolled into the lake a couple of times.

Phil
 
I would like to thank everyone who is contributing to this thread, which is what the Forum is really about. I wish I had some photos to contribute.
 
Four more, this time in the city. Two of Broad St, one of Bromsgrove St and one of New St

Broad St showing the Prince of Wales Theatre and the now Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Broad St Looking toward the city at what looks like the turn of the 20th century and now.
Bromsgrove St from Hurst St in the 60's and the same view today.
New street from outside what is now the International Hotel just after WWII and today.

Phil

Broad Street.JPG City Broad St.jpg City Bromsgrove St.jpg New Street 1953 and Now.jpg
 
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Then and now in Edgbaston..

View from my window at brand new BMH 1968. Building begins right there 2009 (window marked in green). Completed new Hospital.
 
I seem to remember the single storey buildings just past the Odeon in New Street were a temporary C & A, I used to get dragged round town most Saturdays with mom and my much older sisters, and we always went in a C & A store in New Street, does anyone know what was there pre-war, and was the site bombed.
 
Dennis that,s the Womens Hospital isn,t it?Did you work in there no wonder you are so cheerful.Dek
 
this is a cracking thread:) although it does pain me to see some of the great buildings we have lost...

keep em coming folks...

lyn
 
Dennis that,s the Womens Hospital isn,t it?Did you work in there no wonder you are so cheerful.Dek

You betcha dek my friend. 1960, just left school. Choice of two jobs. Engineer with Hardy Spicer in Erdington fiddling with axles for cars. Research Laboratory Scientist in Gynaecology Department at QEH/Women's Hospital looking down microscopes and stuff. Go figure, as my American friends would say...
 
Heres a few on Balsall Heath, various old photos ans some photo's I took a couple of years back. Old residents who lived in Balsall Heat around the time I did will recognise the old photographs though I am not so sure about the later ones. I got lost when I was taking them.

The first photo is Edward Rd looking down toward Pershore Rd, this road used to be a busy shopping are up until the 70's.

The second photo is the Junction of Mary St and Strensham Rd, just past the shop are some unusual houses complete with balcony, they still survive today which is even more unusual.

The third one shows Cheddar Rd that runs along the side of Cannon Hill Park, at one time a very respectable Rd, but in the 70's it became less than respectable for reasons we won't go in to. It is suffice to say that the police made the road into a cul de sac and it helped cure some of the problem.The fourth photo shows Cox St West which was on the route of the 48 bus, today the road no longer exists.

The last shows Knutsford St, that ran off Wenman St down to almost opposite Mary St School. It was a favourite fill for Go carting and tobogganing with us kids when we were young with only the odd horse drawn milk cart to worry about. They later built the replacement for Mary St school over the top of the road.

Phil

Balsall Heath 1960's and Now.jpg Balsall Heath 1960's and Today.jpg Balsall Heath Cheddar Rd  (2).jpg Balsall Heath Cox St West 1960's ans 2008 +.jpg Balsall Heath Knutsford St 1964 and Today.jpg
 
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A few more scattered around Birmingham,

We have the Atlas Public house at the junction of Garrison Lane & Cattell Rd and old Blue Nose that stands there now.

Then we have Retort House, Gas Street as far as I am aware was the oldest gas works in the country and what is even more unusual it is still around today.

Another view that has hardly changed, Stratford Rd Sparkbrook opposite the bottom of Farm Rd and the location of the now gone Smiths Coaches.

Finally The Council House taken in what looks to be the early 60's and again what it looks like today. It's not very often I say this but I think todays view is the better one.

Phil

Jct Green Lane & Cattell Rd c1960 and Today.jpg Retort House Gas St 1960's and Today.jpg Sparkbrook Stratford Rd opposite Farm Rd c1950 and Today.jpg Victoria Square 60's and Today.jpg
 
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Great then and now's Phil especially your pair of bulls. I must admit the centre of Brum is great, it's where I used to live that I can not bare to go back to.
 
A few more scattered around Birmingham

We have the Chamberlain Memorial Clock at the junction of Vyse St - Warstone Lane in the Jewellry Quarter.

Then we have the old Hansworth Council House on Soho Rd Handsworth

Next is the Section of Ladypool Rd Balsall Heath or is it Sparkbrook I still don't know and I lived there for years, but its the section between Highgate Rd & Studley St.

Last of these few is a section of Monument Road, that is much changed today. It's the section that is now with a blocked off end just off Ladywood Middleway.

Phil
Chamberlain Clock.JPG Handsworth Council House.jpg Ladypool Rd old & new.JPG monument rd (2).JPG
 
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And another great old pub/pubs before and after shots? The Red Lion/Waverley Hotel - corner of Albert Street / High Street. There was an interesting discussion on another thread about whether the two pubs were one and the same. Not sure about the outcome, it was a draw I think, but they sure look the same from the first floor up? I Think the latest google shot is about right for the position?
 
And here's a 'before' picture, I will await the 'after' from lyn or postie with bated breath? But I know a good Solicitor if things go as per :D usual...:rolleyes: Frothy! Put her down...
 
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