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Betting Shops Bookies Bookmaking

S

sylviasayers

master brummie
My dad had a small daily bet after first studying form with the help of the
Sporting Handicap and theSporting Buff. His bets were placed with Joe Davies in Inkerman Street.

Dad always used the name "Warwick" on his betting slips and I often took them and fetched his winnings, we went up an entry anfd queued in a small garden to enter through the back door in to the front room which had wooden shutters to the front windows and a high counter over which the money was paid.

My gran and grandad Horton also had daily bets placed with Joe Davies, his place was in one of the streets off Newtown Row on the right hand side
going towards town.

In his younger days grandad who was a professional gambler travelled the country for course betting often taking my mother with him when she
was a schoolgirl to help Mr. Hawkins selll his jellied eels and shell fish to the punters.

In the 50s and 60s there was a Hawkins Fish Bar in High Street, Aston, a few doors above Burlington Hall, probably owned by one of Mr.Hawkins senior sons.
 
INKERMAN STREET

Sylvia, there was a betting shop in Inkerman Street? would this be the one your reffering to?

I believe at on time, our house 4a Phillips Street was an illegal betting shop, lets hope I can prove that one day.
 
Rod,

George Davies betting shop was in Inkerman Street, about two thirds of the way up on the left hand side, I have a half recollection that some of the "runners" took bets just above the Bazaar side entrance at the bottomof Inkerman Street.

t took me four attempts to put my piece on the Forum as Bt kept pulling the plug on me this afternoon, and thats why I must have missed the street off


Actually it was on the right hand side of the street. We silver surfers have memory lapses.

Sylvia
 
My gran's betting name was Lol. Donno why though. She'd send me for a jug of light from the off-licence at The Queens or Mrs Sharpe's offie in Vicarage Road, but she'd never trust me with a bet.
 
You have all started something now....I can tell you tales about betting shops but my ones weren't in Inkerman Street. There was one in Devon St and one on Duddeston Mill Rd on the left hand side as you turn out of Inkerman st..and if you give me enough time I will try and recall his name...I think it was Sid Jones...always dressed really well with his gold bracelets and all. Spent a lot of time in The Vic Pub and Manor Arms. He had a thing for my Mom!!!!
My dad 'stood' for him once a year and took bets at the bottom of our yard 'Vauxhall Terrace' he would then get nicked and spend some time in gaol.He got paid quiet well for doing it. Don't think I'd risk having a police record though just to help some one like a bookie out. That's how I got to know what Winson green looked like...lol
Lil Etchells's house was the 'front' for the bets back then(around the 50's).
My gran and mother were terrible gamblers I was forever taking a tanner wrapped up in a bet to the bookie. My instructions were always very precise. "just walk down the street and sit on the step of the house and when you think no one's looking tap on the door" and like nipper some one would just take it zap...gone.
My mother always wrote Dolly8 on hers and my dad Amo..I can remember so clearly how she would lick the end of the pencil to make it write and pick the horses out of the back of the mail or Buff.....
 
:D I might be a little behind on this one, But bets in and around Gt Lister St were put on at Geogie Silks place. The Silks owned a Cafe on or near the corner of Gt Lister St/ Henry St and opposite Rupert St. There was an alley way in Henry St where the "cafe deliveries" were made and my brother would stand at the end sometimes and take other deliveries. He never got copped, because he always had one of Silkies dogs with him and would start walking it if any one he was unsure of came too close. As far as anyone knew he was just Silks walker as they kept Whippets. Silks was on the right side of Gt Lister St when coming from town on the number 14 or 43 buses. They moved accross the other side of the road to the corner of Gt Lister St /Proctor St on the Rupert St side when their shop and the Pie/ faggot & pea shop were pulled down to make room for the new road that was built at the back of the flats known as The Big Block on Kellet Rd t:madeyes:
 
betting

i recall putting a bet on for my dad it was a caravan next to the white towers pub vauxhall rd does anyone recall that. good site
 
I can remember a George Davis having a betting shop in Little King St. just up from Lucas's. My father was one of his gullible punters.
Believe his father also ran shops in the the B,ham area, having quite a profitable set up.
My late father in law worked for George, I guess in the middle fifties, and told of the many times that, when George was away from home for any reason, he would sleep over with the "takings" under the bed and under his pillow.
I also knew the Wheeler family who had betting shops in various parts of the town. One I remember, was in Summer Lane and one on College Rd.
Must hasten to add that non of the wealth I knew, rubbed off on me. :cry:
 
Roger

Roger can you be more specific? Who did you take the bets too? It wouldn't have been me, I'd love to know more
 
William Hill

My Dad loved a bet, a little too much actually,
As soon as he got paid he tended to do two things, the first was his drink, to say he was a 16 pints a day man was no exageration, the second thing he did was gamble..After he'd carried out those two little hobbies, the rest of us (and that included Moms' share of the housekeeping), were left potless.
I remember that he always used the 'yankee' bet, I dont know how that works myself and I've no interest at all in finding out, there is far too much pain to even try to.
In 1965 Dad won over 300 pounds, he gave Mom about 20 pounds out of it and he gave us about a pound each.. I guess 300 pounds by todays standards must be the equivilent of around 5/6000 Pounds now
I do remember he won all that money on a Saturday and I also remember that on the following Tuesday he asked Mom if she had anything left of the 20 pounds he gave her...I love you Dad but you were a swine at times...
I dont bet, I never have, I dont smoke either, they print on a cigarette packet these days 'smoking kills'...they should have a sign over every Bookmakers door saying..
'Gambling makes your Mom cry herself to sleep'
 
Luckyjo said:
You have all started something now....I can tell you tales about betting shops but my ones weren't in Inkerman Street. There was one in Devon St and one on Duddeston Mill Rd on the left hand side as you turn out of Inkerman st..and if you give me enough time I will try and recall his name...I think it was Sid Jones...always dressed really well with his gold bracelets and all. Spent a lot of time in The Vic Pub and Manor Arms. He had a thing for my Mom!!!!
My dad 'stood' for him once a year and took bets at the bottom of our yard 'Vauxhall Terrace' he would then get nicked and spend some time in gaol.He got paid quiet well for doing it. Don't think I'd risk having a police record though just to help some one like a bookie out. That's how I got to know what Winson green looked like...lol
Lil Etchells's house was the 'front' for the bets back then(around the 50's).
My gran and mother were terrible gamblers I was forever taking a tanner wrapped up in a bet to the bookie. My instructions were always very precise. "just walk down the street and sit on the step of the house and when you think no one's looking tap on the door" and like nipper some one would just take it zap...gone.
My mother always wrote Dolly8 on hers and my dad Amo..I can remember so clearly how she would lick the end of the pencil to make it write and pick the horses out of the back of the mail or Buff.....
Click to expand...


　
'Morning, All,
I'm always bemoaning the fact that I appear to be so old that nobody seems to exist who may, for instance, have attended Loxton Street Senior Boys during the same period that I did - 1939- 1943.

So, apparently, there are none of my old classmates around who could possibly operate a computer efficiently enough to become members of Heartlands...

Therefore, here I am, all on my own, and browsing nonchalantly through posts of years past that may offer a little recognition of the period in which I am particularly interested.

But, wait a minute. What's this?!!

I was doing my usual casual browsing when I caught sight of "Betting Shops" and "Devon Street". The two together blended into an immediate association of ideas. I read on...

I quote the above post by "Luckyjo" and you will see the name "Sid Jones" mentioned. For once, I was elated!

Sid was my cousin, and when Luckyjo saw him he was obviously toiling on behalf of his dad - my uncle - Harry Jones, who, in those days, was operating an illegal bookmaking business in Devon Street. The "front" for the business was Lil Etchell's house - No. 10?, No12?. I'm not sure, these days.

But Lil Etchells was my (and Sid's) aunt, she being the sister of my mother, Dolly, and Sid's mother, Louie.

Aunt Lil's house was situated at the bottom of a sloping, blue-bricked court called Vauxhall Terrace, which is where, I believe, the writer of the post above lived as a child. What I hope to be able to tell her - for Luckyjo turns out to be a lady - is that my grandparents, George and Elizabeth Etchells, also lived in the same Vauxhall Terrace...

Luckyjo emigrated to Australia in 1986 and has her own website, available through her profile on Heartlands. It seems her name is Joy Ames, and she, like a lot of us, is researching her family history. I have, in fact, already sent Luckyjo an email, with a shortened version of this post, but so far, have had no reply.

I would like Luckyjo to know that she is slightly wrong in her description of Sid. He wasn't the type to sport smart suits and gold bracelets. The only piece of gold about Sid's body was his heart, for Sid really did have a heart of gold and would help out a friend in any way he could.

I think she may have him confused with Roy, Sid's brother, who did like to present a "smart" front to the world about him.

I, myself, "worked" for Harry Jones for a short time, prior to being called up for National Service.

In those days, telephones were hard to come by, and to get one installed was practically an impossibility. But Harry needed one badly to run his business efficiently (the racing results).

Yet how could he apply for a telephone and quote his illegal business needs?

However, Uncle Harry had a mate - a fellow bookie - who, somehow or other, had been able to get a telephone installed at his house. But the house was at the bottom end of Devon Street and Harry operated at the top end of Devon Street...

So Harry arranged for his mate to have the results ready for someone on a pushbike to pick up the results from the bottom of Devon Street and "Pony Express" them back in double-quick time to the top end.

The Pony Express rider? Me...

Anyway, I feel quite satisfied now that I have hit another of my rare targets on Heartlands. Who knows? Maybe my post will stir other members' memories of my uncle's bookmaking days in Devon Street...

Cheers,

Jim Pedley (pedlarman)
　
　
　
　
　
　

　
　
　
　
　
　
 
I remeber in the 1960 i went to school with a karen jones who had hi bookies just down the hill from devon street on duddeton mill. past swifts and pass inkermanstreet going down toewards the rea and his bookies was some were there.
If i remeber right it was painted sky blue.
who remebers swifts dripping yummy.
colin
 
My dad used to give me an envelope which I had to put through someones front window at the top of Uplands Road. We lived at the bottom near Sandwell Road. Then I would have to go and get an Argus for him on a Saturday night from the paper shop.
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Mo
 
colin walker said:
I remeber in the 1960 i went to school with a karen jones who had hi bookies just down the hill from devon street on duddeton mill. past swifts and pass inkermanstreet going down toewards the rea and his bookies was some were there.
If i remeber right it was painted sky blue.
who remebers swifts dripping yummy.
colin
Click to expand...

Colin,

I think you may have touched on one of my relatives who I have never met...!

In later years - when he finally moved out of the area and out of my Aunt Lil's house - I believe my Uncle Harry Jones opened a legal betting shop just around the corner from where he used to have his illegal place at Aunt Lil's, in Devon Street.

It was either Sid or George (two of Harry's sons) who married and had a daughter named Karen. But I can't remember which son it was, and - as I say - I have never met the children of these two particular cousins...

But thanks for coming back with your information. It's nice to know there are people who remember relatives and friends.

Cheers,

Jim Pedley
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RayD said:
I can remember a George Davis having a betting shop in Little King St. just up from Lucas's. My father was one of his gullible punters.
Believe his father also ran shops in the the B,ham area, having quite a profitable set up.
My late father in law worked for George, I guess in the middle fifties.
Click to expand...
And I worked with his son David at J Lucas just down the road.
 
I remember a yard in Manor road Witton and I think the little office at the top was Woodwards. Often a little old man sat by the gates taking the bets in a box with a slit in. I remember my mom winning what seamed to be a fortune but didn't tell my dad as he didn't approve and said it was a mugs game. Jean.
 
Does anyone remember the bookies in Buckingham street,it was run by Ernie Cashmore Who later owned a jewellery shop in High Street Erdington
 
There was a man called Hilditch who took illegal bets at his premises in Mary Street, Balsall Heath, next to the Wellington.
What a great piece of creativity was the respectable trade of being a 'turf accountant'
When bookies were legalised, despite the fears of being driven out of business by the new legalisation, quite a few legitimised their operations and went on to make lots of money.
 
In the circa late 50’s I used to take bets for the old man to an house/office in either one of these streets.

Used to walk up Burbury Street, cross over Farm Street and turn right into either Bridge Street West - Little King Street - New John Street West.

Looking at map I would say Little King Street or New John street West, but unsure?

Did you do the same? Any clues as to which Street
　
Ray
 
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There as a Bookies in Little King Street on the right hand side (opposite the Lucas Print works) run by a guy called Davies - I worked at Lucas with his son.
 
hi all
Our milkman was a bookies runner back in the fifty's my dad used to nab him at least once a month.
regards
paul
 
Thanks for info. I was trying to gauge how common it was for kids in those days to take bets? I can't recall ever being asked to pick up winnings.

Ray
 
Hi all, as a kid I used to take bets for our mom, the bookies runner used to be in Longmore St Balsall heath, there was a newsagents half way down and he used to stand in an Entry, nom would have three threpenny doubles and a threpenny treble. Each client had there own ‘Monika’. Thinking back it was like something from a Carry on film, he used to wear a trilby would you believe, as you walked past you would slip the rolled up bet with the money inside in to his hand, he’d give a slight nod while at the same time looking for the Rozzers. What memories.
Baz
 
We had an illegal bookie in Cranbourne Road Kingstanding, I was chatting to him one day and asked him if it was worth all the hassle from the cops, he pointed to his mark 5 Jaguar parked across the road and said, "I've had one new Jag off the mugs of Kingstanding and I'll have another before I'm done." E.
 
In Shakespeare Rd Ladywood there was a bookie called Ted Rogers that was the days when it was illegal and a woman called Dolly Pumphrey would stand at the bottom of the entry to take bets,

And on a Sunday i used to fetch my dads winnings i used to say any money for Duke which was my dads monica and the bookie always gave me threepence happy days

Mossy
 
our dad was what was called a bookies runner..when i see him next i shall ask him for his memories of those days.....

lyn....
 
I used to take my dad's bet's to an illegal bookie at the bottom of Warstone Lane. Never fetched the winnings though, because he never won...bless him.
 
hi maggs..our dad started betting a a very young age...hes 80 now and only gave it up after his recent stroke..his motto was and still is now....never bet more than you can afford to lose...us 6 kids never went without so i guess he followed his own advise...

lyn.
 
Yes Lyn, I suspect my dad had the same idea. I never went without either. I seem to remember it was no more than a shilling a bet.
 
maggs...our dad will never forget the 1956 grand national...dont think hes ever got over it....he put a running bet on the three big race meetings of the year...he got the winner of the 1st..got the winner of the 2nd and so the total winnings so far all went on devon lock ridden by dick francis....he cleared the last fence well on the way to victory when his legs just froze and down he went....think dad said he would have won about £3000 quid but for that incident...

mind you it didnt put him off betting...lol...

lyn
 
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