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Fred Hanks Motorcycles - Slade Road

DaringD

DaringD

New Member
Hello all, my name is Andy Daniel - I'm one of Fred Hanks' grandchildren and the son of Beryl who co-owned it with my uncle Roy from the early 90s until it's closure.

I'm currently trying my best to find any and all photos of the shop at 247 Slade Road during any of the decades that it was there. I'm currently working on recreating an accurate model of the building and I need to find as much reference as possible. Unfortunately, there are not many photos of the way it used to look still in existence that I can find and so I am appealing to anyone who has anything to please contact me, or post it here.

It seems that the historic images from Google street view aren't available for that section of Slade Road, only from the bottom of Abbey Road, which leaves me stuck for any decent images of various angles of the building as it was.

I had hoped to ask the new owners of the building if I could take some of the old woodwork from the shop frontage away when they had it removed, but I don't live in the UK any more and I missed the renovation process and wasn't able to grab any of it!

Also, if anyone has any questions about the shop, I'd be happy to answer if I can!

It would be a huge help and I would be very grateful!
 
Hi Andy and welcome to Birmingham History Forum. I remember Hank’s Motorcycles quite well; it was my local shop for motorbike bits. I also remember your mom Beryl who served in the shop, she certainly knew her bikes and mechanics well.

Was it Roy and Fred who had the sidecar outfit? Iv seen them race at Malory Park a few time with their distinctive crash helmets.

There are a few snippets here: https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...ol-slade-road-school.48217/page-2#post-833715

And a bit about Rose here: https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/threads/remembering-rose-hanks.58635/
 
Morturn said:
Hi Andy and welcome to Birmingham History Forum. I remember Hank’s Motorcycles quite well; it was my local shop for motorbike bits. I also remember your mom Beryl who served in the shop, she certainly knew her bikes and mechanics well.

Was it Roy and Fred who had the sidecar outfit? Iv seen them race at Malory Park a few time with their distinctive crash helmets.

There are a few snippets here: https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...ol-slade-road-school.48217/page-2#post-833715

And a bit about Rose here: https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/threads/remembering-rose-hanks.58635/
Click to expand...
Hi, and thank you!

Roy had a lot of different passengers at various times and so did Fred, so it depends when you saw them who would have been driving or passengering.

The helmets live on! My helmet is painted the same, my dad also passengered for Roy in the 70s, and also had one of those helmets.

Nice to meet an old customer here, I bet my mom would remember you too, she has a knack for faces.

I'll have a look at that link now.

Thanks again!
 

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DaringD said:
Hi, and thank you!

Roy had a lot of different passengers at various times and so did Fred, so it depends when you saw them who would have been driving or passengering.

The helmets live on! My helmet is painted the same, my dad also passengered for Roy in the 70s, and also had one of those helmets.

Nice to meet an old customer here, I bet my mom would remember you too, she has a knack for faces.

I'll have a look at that link now.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...
I recall one of his riding partners was a guy called Wacker Westwood, if that ring a bell?
 
DaringD said:
Hello all, my name is Andy Daniel - I'm one of Fred Hanks' grandchildren and the son of Beryl who co-owned it with my uncle Roy from the early 90s until it's closure.

I'm currently trying my best to find any and all photos of the shop at 247 Slade Road during any of the decades that it was there. I'm currently working on recreating an accurate model of the building and I need to find as much reference as possible. Unfortunately, there are not many photos of the way it used to look still in existence that I can find and so I am appealing to anyone who has anything to please contact me, or post it here.

It seems that the historic images from Google street view aren't available for that section of Slade Road, only from the bottom of Abbey Road, which leaves me stuck for any decent images of various angles of the building as it was.

I had hoped to ask the new owners of the building if I could take some of the old woodwork from the shop frontage away when they had it removed, but I don't live in the UK any more and I missed the renovation process and wasn't able to grab any of it!

Also, if anyone has any questions about the shop, I'd be happy to answer if I can!

It would be a huge help and I would be very grateful!
Click to expand...
You may already be aware Andy, but the following is available on YouTube, entitled "A visit to Fred Hanks Motorcycle Ltd" posted by Ras Negus. It shows both the inside and outside of the shop in Slade Road and is 8.27 minutes in duration.

1755097086840.png
 
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