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Barbara Trueman shop in Driffold , Sutton Coldfield
- Thread starter tali
- Start date
C
Catkin
Guest
Hello Baron, The lane is to the left of the large house/cottage which has been demolished and the vicarage nestles in behind but at the other end of the lane.
Hope you can understand what i mean, thank you for the memories...Cat
Hope you can understand what i mean, thank you for the memories...Cat
Absolutly, there is only one Victoria Road as someone who lived there for years. They have destroyed it now but at least the two houses I lived in (as a child in one and as a teenager in my own flat later) are still there.
Sorry you are wrong, it was The Snackery, a den of iniquity where you could drink frothy coffee until as late as 8.30 at night (shock horror) Susan Maughan of Bobbies Girl fame was a waitress there. Corner of Victoria Road was the Methodist Church with Keyes School behind it then a little car park,bus shelter and garden then the Dog Inn then a cattle pen next to the Empress Cinema with the closed off theater and dance hall underneath. Across South Parade was Coombes,sweets and tobacco,then the bus and coach company shop then British Homestores, then Burtons with the snooker hall above, another den of iniquity. I lived in Victoria Road until I was 12 and took my sweet ration coupons to Coombes before going to The ABC Minors at the Empress on Saturday mornings for 3d (it later went up to 6d)
jennyann
Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
Hi Pipuk: Some confusion re the restaurants in Sutton Coldfield. The Snackery was in The Parade and in the l940's it was owned by Ronnie Hancox, a band leader. He had three restaurants in all I think. It may have been a den of iniquity..I don't know. The Buttery was on Birmingham Road just above the Sutton Cottage Hospital and is now an Indian restaurant or at least it was in 2009. You can read more about Ronnie Hancox and his restaurant at https://www.ronniehancox.co.uk/history.htm Ronnie lived in Sutton Coldfield and was very well known in those days.
dek carr
gone but not forgotten
I spent 3 years at the Town School (Victoria Rd)1950-53 came from Reddicap Infants and went on to Riland Bedford. Can anyone remember the Riland Bedford playing fields in those days we used to walk up the High St and pass through an old double gate just before B.Vs. Walk through a yard with old stables on each side this would then open out onto the field which is now the location of Sutton College. Dek
That sports field was part of the Moat House complex, then the Educaation Offices and was used by Town County Senior and later Junior Schools as they didn't have any of their own. Bedford had very extensive playing fields, so large that they could in recent years build the replacement for the Town Infant and Junior schools on it and still have enough space. The Moat House fields were also used for the Area Sports in the 50's . It all got swallowed up when they built Sutton Tech although Moat House remains.
David Weaver
gone but not forgotten
I used to Jump on my Golden Flash, travelling from Four Oaks, rub my right ear off as I turned right down Sutton Hill tear through The Parade past the Empress and then casually park at the Horse and Jocky waiting for my girl friend. Nice memories. Regards, David.
You are right about Susan Maughan although the time frame is somewhat confusing as she was born in 1938 and her pop hit was in 1962. However in the early 60's the first coffee bar in Sutton which was open after 6 was The Snackery just up from the Cottage Hospital before you got to While Road. It was a small place in what was then modern purpose built shop units and had no room for a band. It had a juke box and was open until 10 at night and was seen as a den of iniquity by the city fathers. It was used by teenage would be "Teds" who would have killed themselves with their own bicycle chains rather than be seen dancing to a band. Many is the hour my elder brother and I spent there,trying to make a cup of frothy dishwater last all evening. I rather think Mr Hancox was of an earlier and perhaps gentler time.The second coffee bar was Dunbars (JDs) in Mere Green a few years later. The only other place was the Busmans Cafe between George Rose and Busbys for those at the rough end of the trade who didn't mind engine oil in their drink.
In daylight hours there was Pattersons, Trows and if you didn't mind mixing with the pearl and twinset matrons,The Brown Owl.
There are two "lanes" in the immediate area, one off Trinity Hill which was a metalled road that runs between the two school buildings up to the Parish Church on one side and the Vicarage on the other. Half way up the Hill on the left is a lane which runs alongside the raised playground and then the old school canteen to the Sons Of Rest in the Vesey Gardens. The second runs behind the houses in Victoria Road and Coleshill St entry between no.s 63 and 65 Victoria Road and exit between no.s 9 and 11 (approx). At the top of this lane as it descends towards no.s9 and 11 it runs alongside the rear of the extensive gardens of the Vicarage, which were totally wild in my childhood some 60 years ago. It provides rear access to many of the houses on Coleshill St and Victoria Road and indeed some of the houses on Coleshill St have their ornate "fronts" facing onto this lane rather than onto the street itself. It was in fact the same distance going via the lane as via the road and was hilly and often muddy but much more fun than via the pavement,having conker and fruit trees. (true, said trees were in back gardens but when did that count to small boys?
