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Then & Now

Outer Circle bus 358 KOV on Fox Hollies Rd at junction with Olton Blvd East. The bus is a long way from the Newtown Shopping Centre advertised on the bus.
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Today not too much change but fencing stops folks crossing the road anywhere ... like they could years ago.
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nice photo phil...interesting for me as the ad on the bus is for newtown shopping centre...do you have a date for it phil

lyn
 
Thank you Farmer Dave. It made a great difference and produced many more hits, though most were not to do with this particular church. did not find any mention of a fire in the 1950s at St Barnabas. Did notice a note in 1956 that the congregation were to be merged with St Johns nearby, though in 1958 two funerals there were reported, so still there in 1958
 
I don't know if I'm right remembering this but my father told me the houses further down the view in the first photo, on the right of Witton Lane, used to be where the Aston Villa players lived? No posh mansions on the wages they received in those days!
Have a look at an old post below ... :)
 
My one and only visit to Villa Park and I think George Cummins was playing that day.
I've only ever watched one live professional football match - it was Aston Villa v Grimsby Town and the score was 3-3.
It was in 1947 so probably can be classed as 'near vintage'. A Google search pins it down to Sat 12 April 1947. Has anyone on the forum watched an earlier Villa match?
I was only little at the time and on the packed Witton end terrace I did not have a good viewpoint, so the crowd picked me up and passed me by hand overhead to a better place to watch !
Probably best to post any further AV football discussion in an Aston Villa thread ... ;)
 
On a winter's day in the 1970s, Keith Berry photographed Witton Lane.
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A similar view today.
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In the picture by Kieth Berry from the 70s the impressive building on the opposite side to the Holte Pub would probably have been the Aston Social Club?

Around 1940 it was known as the Loyal Caledonian Corks (Aston) Social Club Ltd.
1915 may have been used as the Board of Trade Labour Exchange, and 1883 to 1900 as Coffee House under various owners.
 
i think this thread shows us just how many lovely buildings have been lost....very often i do have to wonder what for....

lyn
Lyn, absolutely! Many times I just wonder why, I worked in industry all my life building and modifying plants, it seems that the private sector is held to different guidelines that the public sector!
 
Long ago Keith Berry took a photo of the Villa Star Cafe on the corner of Nelson Rd and Trinity Rd with Aston Villa football ground behind it.
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The cafe is long gone. A brick gate post in this view is not the same one seen in the old pic but its position looks the same.
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WOW...…….I remember that café oh so well, I have an aunt and uncle that live not too far from there.
 
John

I couldn't have been more local I lived about a three minute walk away in Francis Street, when I think about it I spent an inordinate amount of time in that cinema. I suppose because it was so cheap and we didn't have a television until about 1960 at the earliest.
 
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