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Monkey Run

C

chipmonkey

proper brummie kid
When i told my dad we were going up town on a Saturday night he always said "up the monkey run i suppose."

Anyone with any ideas where exactly was the monkey run?
 
Hi,

The monkey run I remember started alongside Bromford railway bridge, and was a footpath
which ran alongside the railway, and I believe used to finish at the bottom of Common Lane,
Washwood Heath. I remember it as just a dirt track, fenced off from the railway.

Kind regards

Dave
 
I understand a monkey run to be a pub crawl not a particular place or any pubs in particular I think it's just an old expression for a pixx up
 
Hi All,

Every district had its Monkey Run (Maybe still has). Usually the main road with shops and possibly cinema and the youngsters (teenagers) would walk along in small groups the girls ogling the boys and the boys ogling the girls. It was a way of making new friends of the opposite sex and in many cases led to courtships and eventually marriage. It was all completely innocent but sometimes did lead to a bit of harmless snogging. My local Monkey Run was Coventry Road from Muntz Street to Cattell Road.

Old Boy
 
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Our monkey run was Newtown Row, and High Street, Aston, we would walk up on one side of the road and back down on the opposite side, if it was wet we used to go into Blacks, the shop was shut but there was a big entrance with glass "boxes" which had clothes etc., displayed in them and plenty of mirrors to check your hair, the lads were the worst getting their combs out and flicking their hair back. We also used to go in the amusement arcade opposite the Globe cinema.
 
I meet my hubby on the Monkey Run 43 years ago ours started at the Roebuck in Bromsgrove and finished at the Golden Lion it was the A38 then now pedestrianised....
 
Our Monkey Run started at the Soho/Villa Road junction and went all the way up to the Regal Cinema near the junction with Holyhead Road.
 
Dave89 said:
Hi,

The monkey run I remember started alongside Bromford railway bridge, and was a footpath
which ran alongside the railway, and I believe used to finish at the bottom of Common Lane,
Washwood Heath. I remember it as just a dirt track, fenced off from the railway.

Kind regards

I remember that 'monkey run' too, looks like it's still there. I go past on the train if I'm going to Nottingham or Leicester on the train. Don't think I'd venture down there on my own now though!
Click to expand...
 
The monkey run was mainly the high street of every district thus we in Erdington when we were lads always said see you up the monkey run !


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Why is it called monkey run?


the term dates back to a 1920s term used in England., monkey runs, or monkey walks all referred to young folks donning their finest clothes and strutting down Main Street on Sunday evening, trying to meet friends;);)

monkey run (plural monkey runs) (British, historical) An evening walk undertaken by groups of young people, usually along established routes, to find a boyfriend or girlfriend.:grinning:
 
mw0njm. said:
Why is it called monkey run?


the term dates back to a 1920s term used in England., monkey runs, or monkey walks all referred to young folks donning their finest clothes and strutting down Main Street on Sunday evening, trying to meet friends;);)

monkey run (plural monkey runs) (British, historical) An evening walk undertaken by groups of young people, usually along established routes, to find a boyfriend or girlfriend.:grinning:
Click to expand...
I think it might date back to a little earlier than the 20s as my Nan used to talk about it in her youth and she was born in 1891.
 
sylviasayers said:
Our monkey run was Newtown Row, and High Street, Aston, we would walk up on one side of the road and back down on the opposite side, if it was wet we used to go into Blacks, the shop was shut but there was a big entrance with glass "boxes" which had clothes etc., displayed in them and plenty of mirrors to check your hair, the lads were the worst getting their combs out and flicking their hair back. We also used to go in the amusement arcade opposite the Globe cinema.
Click to expand...
That amusement arcade was called the Bingo, they had a jukebox in there which was the first one I'd ever seen.
Dave A
 
Jonathan Green's Dictionary of Slang gives Monkey's Parade from 1879:
Monkey’s Parade (n.)
used of various urban walks popular with local young people in such London suburbs as Wanstead, Wimbledon, etc. and cities such as Manchester and Dundee but primarily a popular promenade in the East End of London, Bow Road running from the junction of Mile End Road (Whitechapel) and Grove Road (the Monkey’s Parade was also the name of a street gang).

​


London Life 14 June 3/2: walks abroad, on monkey's parade, the rotten row of the east [...] At this point commences the fashionable promenade known to ‘eastenders’ as ‘Monkey’s Parade,’ or ‘Chickabiddy’s Walk’. 1879
Flintshire Obs. 8 Mar. n.p.: scenes in east london [...] Bow-road, which is one of the principal thoroughfares in the East-end, has for some time past been invaded by a ‘respectable’ class of roughs [...] and in consequence the road is now known as the Monkey's Parade. 1888
T. Holmes London’s Underworld cap. 10: How foolish, yet how pitiable their conduct is; you will see that they walk for about two hundred yards and then walk back again, and then repeat the same walk [...] up and down the ‘monkey's parade’. 1912
Source: https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/mxdpopa#nryoceq

Monkey Walk used in many areas of the UK. Mom born Ladywood 1908 used it in conversation conversation.

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