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Bromford Lane.

oldMohawk

oldMohawk

gone but not forgotten
Edit. There is also a thread for the 'Old Bromfird Lane' here:

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/threads/old-bromford-lane.44515

Two shops in Bromford Lane took a blast in WW2 bombing. All the roof tiles loosened or blown off, but as the modern photo shows the properties were repaired and they are in use as shops today. I wonder what 'Bingham's' sold in 1940 ? (I've since found out that they were a Barber's Shop)
bromford19402014.jpg
 
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An imagined story about our old street pics .......

One winter's night in 1940, the Luftwaffe came over maybe intending to bomb the Castle Bromwich Spitfire Factory but missed and bombed Bromford Lane instead. When the 'official' bomb damage photographer arrived there were two people walking purposefully away and two standing still. Maybe the photographer did not notice but there was a Union Flag hanging from a damaged bedroom. The extensive damage on both sides of the road suggests a parachute mine might have been dropped.

Pic 1.The lady standing on the right is probably wondering what's going on in Pic 2.
Pic1BromfordLane1940.jpg
Pic 2. Workmen digging for something near the shelter ...
Pic2BromfordLane.jpg
Pic 3. On the other side of the road a butcher's and barber's shop were damaged in the blast.
Pic3Blastdamage.jpg
Pic 4. But the shop owners had a sense of humour ...
Captain Mannering would have been proud of them !
Pic4blitzhumour.jpg
As best as I can read them ….
The barber's shop board says ' A Blasted CLOSE SHAVE Gone absent to Erdington'.
The board in the butcher's says 'Open As Usual ALL DAY'

Pic 5. Google and it's camera arrived in 2015 taking pics and I think the bedroom, which had the union flag in 1940, is just to the right of the bus shelter.
Pic5bromfordlane.JPG
The lady in Pic 3. has been on the forum before click/here
 
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A No 79 tram on the Tyburn Rd crossing the island at the Bromford Lane junction. Interesting street furniture connected with trams such as those unusual shelters and the white posts. The main film on at the Apollo Cinema (advert on right) appears to be 'Over She Goes' which was released in 1938.
Tyburn_79tram.jpg
The pic below shows an aerial view dated 1939 with the island clearly seen and a tram.
1939view_TyburbBromford.JPG
image from 'britainfromabove'
 
Amateur wartime posters (signs) put up by the owners of bomb blasted shops in Bromford Lane Erdington. The shop on the left is a butchers who was definitely 'open' all day. The shop on the right was a barbers who had a 'blasted close shave'. They still had a sense of humour even though their shops were wrecked.
bromfordbomb.jpg
from shoothill collection
 
Just behind the steelworks and on the same access road was West Midlands Gas Board Training centre, at the time it was the complete training centre for the gas industry in the 70’s from the Distribution network to the meter, to domestic and commercial appliances .
 
An artist impression of WMGB Training Centre, very accurate of the actual site
 

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Was only thinking a few weeks ago the name of this shop, back in the sixtys, i am sure they used to have one of those, collection boxes out the front , it was a light coloured Dog collecting for the Blind
 
That was opposite the Fox and Goose shopping centre and in the 70 s I worked with a girl who was a great knitter. There was a wool shop there that we visited often. Perkins always fascinated me, it was like going back in time.
 
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