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Birchfield Road Perry Barr

Banjo said:
In 1959 I lived 28 Birchfield Road right opposite Mansfield Rd (marked red). It was a big View attachment 99951Georgian type house and must have belonged to someone of note back in the day.
Does anyone remember Harry Bastable's shop? He was a speedway rider in the 40s/50s? and owned the motorcycle shop on Birchfield Rd. I bought a BSA A7 & Sidecar from him in 1963, for £55. Apologies regarding photo position as I can't get the hang of inserting them.
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Hello can you tell me if you remember anything about 142 Birchfield Road please.
 
Don't think this first image has been on here but it shows the Birmingham Municipal Bank at the corner of The Broadway with Birchfield Road. Despite all the changes here, many of the buildings are still there, the BMB is still a bank today according to Streetview. The parade of shops coming towards the photographer in the last photo are also still there, a good example of 1930s local retail development.
Viv.

1930s
Screenshot_20230528_091716_Chrome.jpg
Present day
Screenshot_20230528_133244_Maps.jpg

1950s


Screenshot_20230528_091815_Chrome.jpg
 
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Vivienne14 said:
Don't think this first image has been on here but it shows the Birmingham Municipal Bank at the corner of The Broadway with Birchfield Road. Despite all the changes here, many of the buildings are still there, the BMB is still a bank today according to Streetview. The parade of shops coming towards the photographer in the last photo are also still there, a good example of 1930s local retail development.
Viv.

1930s
View attachment 180468
Present day
View attachment 180470

1950s


View attachment 180467
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That was a nice area for shopping, amazing how well it looked in the 1930’s!
 
Agree Richard, a pleasant shopping area. The biggest change must have been when the road was widened. It looks like there were entrances to houses on the left of the 1930s. These must have been swept away with the 1960s road widening development. Viv
 
Vivienne14 said:
Agree Richard, a pleasant shopping area. The biggest change must have been when the road was widened. It looks like there were entrances to houses on the left of the 1930s. These must have been swept away with the 1960s road widening development. Viv
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Yes, I remember the road widening so well, very messed up for a long time. I was serving my apprenticeship at Brooke Tool and sold my motorcycle (very quickly) in anticipation of immigrating to the US and had to take the bus from Villa Cross! I had to leave early so as not to be late for work.
 
Apparently i used to live at number 296 for the first few months of my life.

Would that property be at the city end of Birchfield Road or out towards Perry Barr?
 
Thank you both for the maps, i did venture that way many years ago on a family history jaunt but couldn't
find any trace of number 296.

Would have been nice to have seen the house.

Thanks again..
 
I don't know whether it'll be of any use, or interest, but in the 1970s we were told by our postie, that each of the three tower blocks on Birchfield Road had been assigned a street number - not that anyone ever used them - when they were built at the beginning of the 1960s. (We lived in Birchfield Tower.)
Calder Tower was no. 290 Birchfield Road, Birchfield Tower was no. 300 and Tweed Tower was number 316, Birchfield Road. I'd always assumed that the houses that were demolished to make way for the three blocks had previously had those street numbers. The map kindly provided by Mikejee does seem to bear this out....
 
Alf Rogers said:
I don't know whether it'll be of any use, or interest, but in the 1970s we were told by our postie, that each of the three tower blocks on Birchfield Road had been assigned a street number - not that anyone ever used them - when they were built at the beginning of the 1960s. (We lived in Birchfield Tower.)
Calder Tower was no. 290 Birchfield Road, Birchfield Tower was no. 300 and Tweed Tower was number 316, Birchfield Road. I'd always assumed that the houses that were demolished to make way for the three blocks had previously had those street numbers. The map kindly provided by Mikejee does seem to bear this out....
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I believe you are correct. Flats, tower blocks, maisonettes and other multiple occupancy buildings had one on the councils database for maintenance etc.
 
They used to be available on a website, but this now has stopped making them available. The nationallibrary of scotland has ones for london and parts of the south of england, but not yet available for birmingham
 
mikejee said:
They used to be available on a website, but this now has stopped making them available. The nationallibrary of scotland has ones for london and parts of the south of england, but not yet available for birmingham
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Thank you mikejee what i would give for a picture of 142 Birchfield road where i was born, everyone i have asked has no idea what it looked like.
 
mauricemargetts@yahoo.co. said:
Thank you mikejee what i would give for a picture of 142 Birchfield road where i was born, everyone i have asked has no idea what it looked like.
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Here is a photo of Birchfield Road, numbers 148-172, taken in the 1960s, with Hatfield Road on the left. This is the closest I can find to your number 142, which must have been situated between the Hatfield Road & Salisbury Road junctions.
 

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  • 1960s Nos. 148-172 Birchfield Road, with Hatfield Road on the left, and Speedway Motors at No....jpg
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Alf Rogers said:
Here is a photo of Birchfield Road, numbers 148-172, taken in the 1960s, with Hatfield Road on the left. This is the closest I can find to your number 142, which must have been situated between the Hatfield Road & Salisbury Road junctions.
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Thank you Alf Rogers for trying to find number 142 what a wonderful picture you found, What i would give to walk down that road all the history that has been lost.
 
Vivienne14 said:
This is Birchfield Road near Livingstone Road taken by Phyllis Nicklin. This section of Birchfield was very familiar having attended Enid Goodwin's dance studio in Livingstone in the 1960s. Viv.

View attachment 181302
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Sorry Vivienne 142 Birchfield Road is on the corner of Salisbury Road and Hatfield Road, Thank you very much for trying dont think i will ever find a photo. But got this from one of the photos on the site of my dad on the left crossing the the road that i have never seen before.
 

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