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Toy/Model Shops City Centre

S

sylviasayers

master brummie
I know this isn't Aston but can anyone help settle an argument I have had with a friend, I recalled a wonderful toy shop which may have been a model toy shop which was located at the corner of Stephenson Street and
Navigation Street, just past the old entrance to New Street Station before
redevelopment, I loved to look in there it was a treasure trove to me as a child. When we used to go to catch a tram to the Lickeys I always lingered
looking in the window but never went inside. My friend disputes this and said I'm thinking of a shop near the back of Rackhams somewhere. Help
I can't recall the name.
 
Toy Shop

Hi
The only shop I can remember that was anything like you describe, was on the corner of Temple Street and Temple Row. They had a fantastic range of models and toys. I used to buy all my model aircraft there in the early too late 50's. :D
 
Sylvia, there was indeed a shop, I think? it was almost where you place it, It was certainly on a corner, and in Stephens Street. I was often taken there, along with my brothers in the early sixties. As for one near Rachams? I don't recall that one.

.The shop you mention Sylvia, I think it may have moved into the nearby arcade later on, although I cant be sure. It was a magical shop, and sold many toys, a brilliant place for a child.
 
The Model shop at "the back o'Rackhams" was on the corner of Cherry Street, facing the the Churchyard. It was still there in the 70's. I used to buy my Scalextric bits and bobs there ! brumm-brumm !
:lol:
 
Model Shop

Yes Den, I also bought models from there, it was called "The Model Aerodrome", do you remember the racing cars they sold with a cordite fired engine ? it,s a wonder any of us didn't have a hand blown off.
 
And what about the dope you got to paint your gliders with? :? You could get real dopey sniffing that. :roll:
 
Thats Right

Thats right Paul, I think it was maybe cellulose based? Our dad used to make model planes, the structure was I think covered in a tissue? and then painted with dope.. I used to love the smell, although it made me cough.
 
Toy shops and model shops

The three main model shops in Town that I remember were Birmingham Model Supplies in Dale End, run by a Mr Smith, with two lady assistants, Mrs Neagley and Welsh Mrs Thomas. For a time they had a young girl assistant, Joan - I rather fancied her - but I don't thing that sort of modelling meant much to her. I was a regular customer from early 1946, but I can't say if it had been open during the War.
The Model Aerodrome at the corner of Cherry Street and Temple Row was formerly Barnby's, and a few doors down Cherry Street until about 1940, I think. They made quite a fortune selling model aircraft kits with balsa wood strips and tissue paper.
There was also Kanga Models in, I think, Colonnade Passage, run by Mrs McQueen. Long after I left Brum I went into their new shop and there was Mrs McQueen, who asked kindly after me and my friends in the Birmingham Model Railway Club.
Also Horntons in Stephenson St, started 1956 I think. Yes. there was a model shop for a time on the corner of Navigation Street and John Bright Street, but I never thought much of it.
Porky Walker
 
Hi Sylvia,
Do Remember a good model shop called "Model Aerodrome" on the corner
of Cherry St.
 
Kanga Model Shop

This shop was situated in the road along side the Theatre Royal that ran from New Street to Stephson Street, I think it was called Ethel St
 
Right Dirty Den
Opposite the Churchyard :eek:
Used to love it on my Sat visits to Brum
 
I remember the one in the middle of Cherry Street well. As mentioned earlier it was still there in the 70s. I'm pretty sure it turned into a fairly large camera a photography shop. There was a guitar shop nearby as well.


Dave
 
Hi Alf, are you there :?:

I'm still here :!:

Stockton's not bad - the houses are cheap, or at least they were when we moved up in 91. Might go back to Brum one day - fond memories - but things are never the same going back are they.

Dave
 
the model planes sold at the model aerodrome were KIEL CRAFT used to go there every saturday when i had my pocket money not sure i have spelt/ kiel craft right

jake
 
I used to pass the model shop on the corner of Cherry St. every day on the way to school. It was right opposite the church yard. I say pass but that never happened I always had to spend time gazing into the window at the super assembled models and dream of owning one. Then I had to run to catch a West Brom bus in front of Snow Hill Station.
I managed to buy an engine from that store. A Mills .75 and I built a Junior Mallard and a scaled down Envoy which I flew at Sutton Park. Yes Kiel Kraft was one of the brands. Wow, I think I built one of their models, a Skylon if I recall. There was a problem with the wing attachment. Faulty design or I read the plans incorrectly.
Regards.
 
Jake you are and the spelling Kiel Craft if you look on Google there are 100s of pages O0
 
Wow,
The Model Aerodrome shop in the corner of
Cherry St. brings back some happy memories,
I  bought two Keil Kraft kits the Ajax & Achille's
duration rubber powered models they were made out of
Balsa wood & covered in tissue paper and then painted
with "Dope" to taughten the tissue
Then I tried something bigger, an A1 6ft swing span
glider which I flew at Atherstone golf course
after the 3rd trial,it flew beautifuly and then
on landing managed to find the only piece of rock on the ground
needless to say it caused quite a bit of damage :( :knuppel2:
 
From 1966, (just after some football match!!!) I worked at Barnby's. It was situated at the end of the Great Western Arcade, opposite Snow Hill station. There were three floors: Ground floor was mainly prams, pushchairs, cots, etc. The Mezzanine floor was the dolls and soft toys department, and the top floor, the biggest, had books, diecast models, train and Scalextric sets, Airfix models, Meccano and a Kindergarten section.

The shop was built over the rail tunnels, and every so often, the whole place would shake. Customers would ask what was causing the vibrations, and we would answer " It's the big train set in the basement!

I left in 1971 to join the RAF.
 
Chris911. Barnbys is the toy shop that a lot of Brummie's from that era remember. It was a child's treasure cave. It was always good to go there with a kind Uncle and Auntie when Christmas or a birthday was on the horizon.

I liked the answer re "the big train set in the basement".
 
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The toy/model shop at Stephenson St / Navigation St junction was Hortons, or a very similar name. I remember it well, and the one in the passageway facing the old New St station entrance and New Street itself, only a small shop but I used to buy a bus enthusiast magazine there every month.
The model shop I used most was Bearwood Models, in Three Shires Oak Road, Bearwood (it had a railway signal outside) and I still keep in touch with its last owner who lives in Upton, Worcs now.
 
chris911 said:
From 1966, (just after some football match!!!) I worked at Barnby's. It was situated at the end of the Great Western Arcade, opposite Snow Hill station. There were three floors: Ground floor was mainly prams, pushchairs, cots, etc. The Mezzanine floor was the dolls and soft toys department, and the top floor, the biggest, had books, diecast models, train and Scalextric sets, Airfix models, Meccano and a Kindergarten section.

The shop was built over the rail tunnels, and every so often, the whole place would shake. Customers would ask what was causing the vibrations, and we would answer " It's the big train set in the basement!

I left in 1971 to join the RAF.
Click to expand...

Barnby's was a birthday treat for me in the early 1960's. My mum used to take me by steam train from Wolverhampton Low Level to Snow Hill and then coffee and cakes in the Kardomah next door before train-spotting the rest of the afternoon. Yay!

Are there any photographs of either/or Barnby's/Kardomah anywhere please? Private messages welcome.
 
I could really have done with a showroom window view Lloyd, in order to drool over the goods on display there. And that's without looking into the Kardomah coffe shop..............Laugh!
 
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You'd only spend your pocket money, Richie!
I remember the coffee smell from the roaster in the Kardomah - wasn't there one on New St. as well?
 
Just spotted this - I loved Barnby's! In the 1950s my mum worked there - her name was Irene Taylor, nee Wiseman, and she was Scottish. Anyone remember her?
Empty
 
I recall them both and my disappointment when the Model Aerodrome was turned into a flower shop ;(
 
Hortons or Horntons? I recall you could at one time start a train layout by covering a sensor on the window.
 
Great memories flood back of the Model Aerodrome corner of Cherry St, St Philips was just across the road, i gaze into the windows for ages, i bought a balsa wood model of a Spitfire and a Messerschitt 109 ( spelling?), with help from my Brother, who was a student at the College of Arts & Crafts soon to be joining the Army, circa 1943, we shaped them, painted them and hung them from the ceiling, i thought they were great, a point of interest in the types of wood, hard, soft etc, balsa wood is classed as a hard wood. Len.
 
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