British Industries Fair Castle Bromwich

[oldMohawk]

Looking again at these films reminded me of buildings in that area. My Dad worked at the Castle Bromwich Spitfire factory throughout WW2 and after the war worked each year at the BIF (British Industries Fair) over the road. The photo below shows him, second from left, on one of the exhibition stands.
In the school holidays, I used to go with him and often sit on the edge of Castle Bromwich airfield watching airmen training in Tiger Moth biplanes. Later in the 50's I watched a F86 Sabre jet break the sound barrier with a loud bang diving over the field flying low towards the city centre at near 700mph.

 

[oldMohawk]

An notable event in Castle Bromwich in the 1940's/1950's was the British Industries Fair (BIF) on the Chester Road. Here are a couple of scans from the 1949 catalogue. It's full of adverts for well known Birmingham companies many of them now long gone.
It states that British manufacturers only are allowed to exhibit, and may only show goods of their own manufacture.

 

[Vivienne14]

I never imagined the BIF to have a permanent entrance, but it seems to show one n this photo. A very modern looking structure for the time. This was it in 1956. Viv.

 

[Pedrocut]

The British Industries Fair, Castle Bromwich 1920 - 1957

From 1920 until 1958 nowhere in the country welcomed more visitors than Castle Bromwich. The British Industries Fair in Castle Bromwich was the busiest exhibition centre in Britain. (Like Castle Bromwich Station and Castle Bromwich aerodrome, the British Industries Fair was not actually in...

historyofcastlebromwich.jimdofree.com

 

[Two]

Birmingham Industries Fair - Photo Listed as 13 May 1952.

 

[Vivienne14]

Well I never imagined it to be so big ! What enormous exhibitions they must have been. But I suppose the site would need to be large to house some of the big industrial exhibits. A good aerial view of the frontage in relation to the exhibition halls too. Viv.

 

[oldMohawk]

My dad worked there building exhibition stands. Occasionally he took me and my sister there and we played inside the building watching the stands being built. Sometimes we popped outside to watch aircraft taking off and landing on the airfield.

My Dad (2nd from left) wearing his flat cap at the British Industries Fair, Castle Bromwich. in 1948.

 

[oldMohawk]

Early days at the British Industries Fair

I have commented on another thread about my mother saying that as a girl she had to run back home for her hat while the church bell was still ringing because she had to pass her grandmother's house and she knew that her dad would get told off if her grnadmother saw her on the street without a hat.

I think that the film which started this thread was in Belfast and surounding areas.

For a Birmingham photo, look at all these business men in the 1930s going into the British Industries Fair, a predecessor of the NEC

 

[Mark Tooze]

Found these on the Bristol Museums Collections Website (well worth a look by the way!!)
They are all of the various Port of Bristol Authority stands at various BIF's in Castle Bromwich in the 1930's and 1940's - lots of interest on theirs and the surrounding stalls. Some nice models too!

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[Radiorails]

Bristol buses, at the time of the exhibition, were blue and cream. This survived until 1948 when the company was nationalized. Since privatisation they have had a multitude of colours.

 

[Mark Tooze]

Here are some more:-
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Try a search on "Birmingham" on this site - lots of interesting things come back!