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Then & Now

Another Keith Berry photo taken in the 1970s as he wandered around the Jewellery Quarter. He had stopped in Hylton Street. Lessar Brothers making spectacles in their Lesbro Works. A company named Penns next door.
HyltonSt.jpg

Today and not too much change apart from the new building on the right. There is still a Spectacle Works.
Hylton1.jpg
 
oldMohawk said:
Another Keith Berry photo taken in the 1970s as he wandered around the Jewellery Quarter. He had stopped in Hylton Street. Lessar Brothers making spectacles in their Lesbro Works. A company named Penns next door.
View attachment 139639

Today and not too much change apart from the new building on the right. There is still a Spectacle Works.
View attachment 139640
Click to expand...

thats just how i remember it when i worked in vyse st early 70s

lyn
 
Many small changes though, but it is good to see those places still standing.
The overpowering sign of the optical folk has gone, the Goldlink place looks far smarter, the road name has gone, R S Walker is now two separate occupancies and the bricked up doorway is now opened up. The properties do look much nicer now. The pavement is now brick and a better road surface.
 
Bob Davis said:
Is that the old tram terminus at the Yenton?
Bob
Click to expand...
It was the tram terminus ... and heres a quick 'Then & Now' ... :)
It's 1931 and a tram approaches the terminus on Sutton Road. Broadfields Road on the right, and the Yenton Hotel over the road.
index.php


Today the Yenton is still there.
index.php

the pics are forum links so only visible if logged in
 
oldMohawk said:
Another Keith Berry photo taken in the 1970s as he wandered around the Jewellery Quarter. He had stopped in Hylton Street. Lessar Brothers making spectacles in their Lesbro Works. A company named Penns next door.
View attachment 139639

Today and not too much change apart from the new building on the right. There is still a Spectacle Works.
View attachment 139640
Click to expand...

just how i remember it when i worked in vyse st early 70s

lyn
 
oldMohawk said:
In the 1970s Keith Berry stood in Albion Street and photographed a building opposite in Legge Lane. It was originally a fire station but was being used as a garage by the date of the photo. The George and Dragon pub is on the left.
View attachment 139630

Many of the old fire station buildings still exist but are being used for other activities and this building is no exception. It is now a children's nursery. The pub building has also been renovated and is now the 'Pig and Tail' bar and snacks.
View attachment 139631
Click to expand...

March 1909...

46FE4A7F-33B1-483A-8336-6BBAF31627BD.jpeg
 
On Erdington High Street in the 1970s Keith Berry saw this lady standing on tiptoe in her sling-back-kitten-heel shoes. He commented that she was peeping over the wall of St Barnabas church at a wedding. She first appeared in another thread on the BHF back in 2016 and there was discussion about her gloves, handbag, shoes, and what she was thinking ... as we do ... :)
54335408.Tiptoe.jpg
Click to see added colour version

A view of the pavement where she was standing but the wall has been lowered so no need for anyone to stand on tiptoe these days ...
LadyNow.jpg
 
Last edited:
In 1979 Keith Berry was in the Lozells area and came across some urban renewal in Chain Walk which was a short road from Lozells Road down to Birchfield Road. In the 1950s and 1960s it was a convenient shortcut for drivers wanting to avoid Six Ways.
ChainWalk1979.jpg

Today the houses are still there but Chain Walk can't be used as a shortcut because it is blocked off at the Birchfield Road end.
Modern_Chain_Walk.jpg

Have look round with street view.
goo.gl

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
goo.gl goo.gl
 
Villa Road in 1979 looking towards Hamstead Road. Ansells Pub on the left.
Villa Road Then.jpg

The pub is now a Veg Hall but the word 'Head' still in the pic but more decorative. The 'Chicken Inn' seen in the old pic has become the W M J C (West Midlands Jerk Centre) selling spicy chicken.
Villa Road Now.jpg

goo.gl

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
goo.gl goo.gl
 
oldMohawk said:
In 1979 Keith Berry was in the Lozells area and came across some urban renewal in Chain Walk which was a short road from Lozells Road down to Birchfield Road. In the 1950s and 1960s it was a convenient shortcut for drivers wanting to avoid Six Ways.
View attachment 139732

Today the houses are still there but Chain Walk can't be used as a shortcut because it is blocked off at the Birchfield Road end.
View attachment 139733

Have look round with street view.
goo.gl

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
goo.gl goo.gl
Click to expand...
Gower St school at the top?
Dave A
 
I don't think any of us look back on the 1950s with wholly rose-tinted spectacles. And black-and-white images probably block out such things as litter and general untidiness/scruffiness. But what I can't understand is why everything, if this last image is anything to go by, has become so UGLY, in comparison.

Chris
 
It's difficult comparing black & white images with modern colour ones, but now today's signs use much more garish colours in order to try and make sure that their image projects above everyopne else's. Today's advertising industry is immense compared with the number of people engaged in the industry in the 1950s and the costs are quite a significant part of the overheads of many businesses too.

Maurice :cool:
 
Certainly the colour makes a big difference, it's now far brighter, there is more of it and it's everywhere over these buildings. More is quite obviously better these days. But the forecourt - just scruffy, pillars, bins and other stuff everywhere, pavement surfaces all different, much of it worn out...... You can't blame individual businesses who are just doing their best - in fact you can't blame anyone, I suppose. It's all about free enterprise, after all.

But I do wish that it didn't have to look so depressingly dreadful when compared with what, almost certainly, it was once like.

Chris
 
I suppose the up-to-date pics of some streets in the city centre are an improvement such as New Street.

A 'then and now' I know because I lived in this area when I was a child but have not been there for years. This pic is dated 1940.
sbeeches1940.jpg

Today it looks like this. More cars but we all use them and in the distance the M6 runs across where our playing field was complete with a babbling brook. The M6 totally spoilt the area but I can't complain, I use it twice a month.
Beeches1.jpg

Colours removed modern pic ...
Beechesbw.jpg

Have a scroll round at the shops I remember but no cars parked in front back then
goo.gl

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
goo.gl goo.gl
 
The old one looks like it was all brand new, then. Trees recently planted. Great that it has matured so well. (And very useful to have a b/w version for comparison - thanks, oldMohawk).

Chris
 
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