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Villa Road Handsworth

Ian FOFB

Ian FOFB

Brummie yes ! Novice no !
The 'then' pictures are taken from old postcards, the 'now' pictures taken from Google Streetview.
The older of the pictures is thought to date from the 1920's.

Have inserted postcard images of the old villa Road, but they may not all be the original ones


Ian.handsworth%20Villa rd.2.jpgVilla%20Rd%201_.jpgHandsworth Villa rd 2.jpgHandsworth Villa rd 3.jpgHandsworth Villa rd 4.jpgHandsworth Villa rd.jpg
 
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hi Ian
Enjoying your then and now pics well done. Have a problem with your Wellington Rd pics cannot place the now pic have mentally gone from
Wellington Rd Perry Barr to the Rookery Rd but can not place the junction
robb
 
Hi Robb,

The picture is from the small traffic island where Wellington Road, Handsworth Wood Road, Church Lane and Hamstead road all converge.

Ian.
 
The 'then' pictures are taken from old postcards, the 'now' pictures taken from Google Streetview.
The older of the pictures is thought to date from the 1910's.

Ian.
 
Hi, Ian.
Really great to see what Villa Road used to look like.
Aplogies if I have asked before, but do you have any picture of the Villa Cross Picture house and the shops to the Villa road side of it (to its left)?
Or do you know where I might obtain one?
Thanks a lot
Nigel
 
Nigel have you looked on the B,ham Cinemas thread there may be something on there. Dek
 
HI GUYS
What spectactular pictures of our past history of good old villa rd and lozells rd and of handsworth in it s gloriuos days
at such a slow pace of life i bet ity was great in those daysto live in and around there in those days
you could be certain it was crime free way back in those days i can recall most of the area very well i used to cover most of the area way back in time when i used to deliver milk for midland counties dairy i used to deliver to alot of those old victorian house up and down and around the arera some still kept the old servant bells in there houses
and some was alot of the propertys which they let out as flatlets and some had big stair cases with many indivisual room lets whom would have milk from us
and then there was some like dungeons which was darkened alleyways with little appartments we nicked named the dungeons
because of the roughness of these appartments and at that given time some doggies people we liked to get out sharply and these was around thornhill rd and oppersite the handsworth park my grt grand parents lived in one of the big posh houses my mother used to telll me with a house maid
so yes i can relate to handswth and i had a cousin whom lived in brunswick rd facing the hart family if any body recalls them
many thanks ian for the great pics and the memory astonian
 
hi nigel..here is a pic of the villa cross pic house to be going on with(i do have another one somewhere and will post it when i locate it) but if you type in lozells road shops pubs and buisnesses in the search box and go to that thread you will find some other pics that maybe of interest to you...hope this is of help...

astoness...

villa cross pic house 4.jpg
 
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hi lynn
many thanks for that picture i know its the new frontage one as i remember doing it
i also remember the old orinionale one as well which was a veryu attractive looking one before that make over
i also know afew years back we had a picture of it on this site as years ago we had discussed this place and the area afew years back
i was just thinking that when jim took over from the houghtons he did not get all the pics as it was in there time it was ran
and as jim and hillary are busy it would not be right to asked them to surt it out but mayu you have got one of it
any way lynn thanks darling for the make over one and across the rd from the picture house if you remember there was a big furtiture store on the very corner
and they was one of the century old surviving shop from way back of the ld area what ian as shown best wishes lynn speak soon alan astonian
 
hi alan..hope you are well and yes i do remember the furniture shop on the corner....i will go through my folders and see if i have the other pic and get back to you...

lyn
 
Hi Ian. Fantastic photos ! The very first 1920`s shot has a Wilkinsons shop just showing on the right hand side. Was this the first of their shops ? I seem to remember they were at Villa Cross until the seventies.
 
Nigelhls said:
Hi, Ian.
Really great to see what Villa Road used to look like.
Aplogies if I have asked before, but do you have any picture of the Villa Cross Picture house and the shops to the Villa road side of it (to its left)?
Or do you know where I might obtain one?
Thanks a lot
Nigel
Click to expand...

Look on the Lozells thread. I have posted a few photos on there that you may like. Max
 
Great picture Max i actually was working at Wilkinsons from 1965-1968 approx, and proberly put those lawn mowers out on display as that was usaully my first job every morning.To the left of the shop window against the wall is the pink parafin dispencer which was in great demand in those days with parafin selling at 2shillings a gallon or you could have it deliverd for 10/6 per 5 gallon can.Mr Wikinson snr came to the store daily at 9am, said good morning to all the staff on his way to the office and left at 1pm saying goodbye to the staff.His son David and manager/director Reg Durham oversaw the running of the store.Arthur Powell was responsible for the hardware section and i was his apprentice! At that time they also had a store in Soho Road,and opened a new store at the Scott Arms which is still there.Would be great to hear from anyone who worked there during my time, and exchange stories of which there were many.
 
Many a time i used that parafin machine if Padmores in Villa st was closed. I remember the shop from about 1956 ( when i was a 5 year old ). The wooden floor and the smell of the place was unique. As i got older it was the place to go for replacement wheels for anything from roller skates to bike wheels, they had them tied up in a display going from the largest to the smallest.
Im not sure but i think that one of the guys that worked there opened a delicatesant type shop over by Gowers newsagents. Max
 
I wonder if anyone can help me with information on Villa Road please.
Some of my Ancestors lived and worked in the area through the census years 1841 to 1891 but some of the roads don't appear to exist anymore.
1841 John Pedlingham, Aston Villa, (next to Hunters Lane?)
1851 John Pedlingham, Villa Road, Number in schedule 57
1861 John Pedlingham, Aston Villa Road, Number in schedule 126
1871 John's father William in Little Hunters Lane.....John in Villa Road,129 in schedule
1881 John Pedlingham, 100 Villa Road
1891 John Pedlingham, 100 Villa Road.

Queries...
1 Where would Little Hunters Lane have been in relation to Villa Road ?
2 Where would Aston Villa/ Aston Villa Road have been in relation to Villa Road ?
3 Have the house/building numbers remained the same to present day ?
4 On one of the Census, there was a pub called The Bulls Head at 104 Villa Road...is this the same as the pub that is now called "Head" (strange name for a pub !!)
5 Is the Timoor Kebab House of today, the same building as 100 Villa Road of 1881/91?
and finally
6...with fingers crossed...are there any old photographs available, showing perhaps The Bulls Head with number 100 in it ?? (long shot I know) and maybe a map of the area for about 1881.

I have to add that on looking at the location on Google Maps, I was amused by the shop at 102, the "West Miland (no d) Jerk Shop"...seems very fitting...did they run out of room for the "d" ???? lol
Any help with my queries will be most appreciated..
 
Lindyloo
3 & 5. The timoor Kebab house is certainly in the same place as John Pedlingham's butchers. There has been no renumbering since about 1880 and before directories di not number villa road. It certainly looks to be of the right period to be there in 1881.
4. The Head is in the same position as the Bulls Head, but the building looks a lot newer to me.
2. John Pedlingham is listed in the 1862 directory as being in villa Road, with no number given. so I think Aston Villa Road, and villa Road are the same.
1. I can only find one mention of Little hunters lane in directories, in white 1873 directory. At that time much of the area came under handsworth, and not all directories included this. however by comparing names listed with the 1878 PO directory, it would seem likely that Little Hunters lane was the upper part of Hunters lane , which was in Handsworth, which later was just called Hunters lane, Handsworth, and then became Hunters Road

Mike
 
Image75.jpg
 
This photo of the tram terminus in Villa Road was previously put on by another member. Shop on the right hand side with the car parked outside used to be Mrs Payne's Sweet Shop in 1940/50.


Tram_Terminus_Villa_Road.jpg
 
Hi,
Yes, indeed - to the left of the picture house, there were a couple of shops,owned by my Grandfather, then a big, gated entrance to our property and then our shop, Hulse, Milliner. The next shop was Wilkinsons.
I've been trying for some time to find a picture of the old shop, but so far no luck.
Regards
Nigel
TOPSYTURVEY said:
Nigel, You were by The Picture House then?
Click to expand...
 
Hi, can someone tell me how to bring these pics up please????????? I used to live in Handsworth, but left many years ago. I would love to see some pics of the area then and before......thanks
 
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