• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

They Were Caught In Our Old Street Pics...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hi Lady P, I suppose from 1945 to the late 1950s ships were the only way for most people to cross the Atlantic and other oceans. I notice also a 'Royal Mail Line' office in what seems to be a group of shipping offices.
oldmohawk
 
In 1960, maybe 61 can't really remember the actual date I sold a vintage Rolls Royce to a guy in San Francisco, it was shipped out there by Royal Mail Lines, I remember driving it to London to pass it into their hands, it had to be there by 9 am so we set off at midnight to be sure, it was February and very cold, the car had no heater.
It only took us two and a half hours to get there and we found that the depot was right in the middle of the Soho red light district, we slept in the car wrapped up in blankets and warmed by a couple of petrol cans filled with hot water from a filling station toilet.
Once the car was handed over me and my wife did the tourist thing for the rest of the day and caught the Midland Red coach back to Brum just after six.
That was the last time I was in London except for passing through on the way to Heathrow Airport.
 
Oh Yes! Bob, I mentioned that on another thread I think. There was a model ship in the window and it was one of the must-sees on our trips to town. It had all the furniture in. I loved it. I later found it again in the Science Museum but I expect it's hidden in some secret spot now. Or horror or horrors, thrown away.
 
I wasn't sure what that one said Pedrocut. Thanks for the link, I shall study it later. My Great Uncle crossed the Atlantic many times and always travelled by White Star Line.
 
The call I always remember from around the mid 1940s at the Odeon end of New Street was "SPATCHerMILE ..."

Chris
 
At Court 2, St Jame's Place, a man with a camera suddenly appeared, chalked the address, and took a photo as they looked at him. People in the next court watched over the wall as did a women on the right. A close look (2nd pic) shows the upper windows of the nearest houses covered by mesh. It could be to stop bricks thrown at the windows or for some reason we'll never know. That large pillar of wood in the near wall looks odd, what could it have been ?
Court2_St_James_Place.jpg
Mesh over window.
window.jpg
 
I'd guess to stop kids throwing stones, Phil. Rented properties with damage charges to the tenant. I can't say I have come across it before though.

Maurice
 
oldMohawk said:
At Court 2, St Jame's Place, a man with a camera suddenly appeared, chalked the address, and took a photo as they looked at him. People in the next court watched over the wall as did a women on the right. A close look (2nd pic) shows the upper windows of the nearest houses covered by mesh. It could be to stop bricks thrown at the windows or for some reason we'll never know. That large pillar of wood in the near wall looks odd, what could it have been ?
View attachment 117790
Mesh over window.
View attachment 117791
Click to expand...

Like the two "hoodies" on the wall behind.
 
In the picture, I am wondering whether it is entirely accurate, or whether it is photo that has been scanned and included a small part of another next to it on the right. The partially plastered wall on the extreme far right does not look right to me, but looks as if it does not go with the photo. It also does not seem to fit with the plan of court 2 below.

map c 1889 court 2 St James Place .jpg
 
The pic below of houses 4, 5 and 6 in Court 2, St James's Place, shows the wall and that large pillar of wood. The map draftsman appears to have drawn the wall slightly out of position. The photographer has chalked the address (abbreviated) on the wooden pillar. The folks outside houses 4, 5 and 6 seem quite relaxed about being photographed.
St-James Place-456Crt2.jpg
from the Shoothill collection
 
Last edited:
Thanks for clearing that up. shows the OS were not infallable, though I have found that on occasion before, with, for example numbering in a court (that is assuming the people living there remembered correctly)
 
Moving out of the courtyard to the houses on the street 12-17, St James' Place, the plaster rendering had survived better on front of the houses compared to the back, but look at the high wall where the bricks have dropped out. The folks of the area were probably wondering why the photographer seemed so interested in their houses and stood watching and now we look at them 100+ years later.
St_ James_Place.jpg
from the Shoothill collection
 
Last edited:
The smartly dressed mother and daughter outside the telephone box in Ratcliffe Place reminds me of my younger days when I sometimes waited in a queues to use city centre telephone boxes. If I had been waiting at the one in the photo maybe I would have glanced at that classic building behind and also at the statue :)
RatcliffePlace.jpg
 
I may be one by myself, but I loved the Birmingham building before they cleaned them. I look back and think how the dirt and the grime was a legacy and a record of the heavy industrial past that Birmingham was so proud of.


All of those factory chimneys across the skyline, and the rows of terrace houses right alongside the big factory’s, Electric Avenue, Oxygen Street, the Gas works….


I’m getting all nostalgic now.
 
There are a few formerly well known shop names possible in this photo _ George? Baines for example and what about the pub? The Stag, The Hart, The Hind or whatever? Was that a billiard hall there as well? I was too young tot frequent those places but someone here must have spent some of their misspent youth in there! :D
 
Pedrocut said:
Yes the Pub was the Roebuck! The Billiards I believe was above the shops, but much smaller than the one at Witton.
Click to expand...

Not sure now that the Billiards was above shops. There are a few accounts of Billiard and Snooker matches being played at the Roebuck around 1914.

The Roebuck Hotel must have been an old pub, there is a mention as early as 1850.
 
There was a billiard Hall over the top of Burton Tailoring on the opposite side of the road. Was quite a nice are deco building as was the style of Burtons
 
The pub in the High Street was the Roebuck and was demolished. The New Roebuck was built a little further up the High Street I think because when I was walking down Barnabas Road the new one seemed to be opposite me. The old one wouldn't have been.
 
Lady Penelope said:
The pub in the High Street was the Roebuck and was demolished. The New Roebuck was built a little further up the High Street I think because when I was walking down Barnabas Road the new one seemed to be opposite me. The old one wouldn't have been.
Click to expand...
What was the name of the pub on the corner of Chuch Road/Street/Lane opposite the Carlton Ballroom. We always limbered up in there before going down to the Palace for the Saturday Night dance, before we discovered the Carlton more bop less formal and you were allowed closer contact in the slower dances.
Bob
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top