• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Bulpitt and Sons Birmingham

Lyn, I agree with you on this one. I worked at Bulpitts when I left school, and in those days of course there were no postcodes, but I can't remember the office stationery having Ladywood on them or Hockley on them. I lived in the next street going towards the Mint, and we were St Pauls, Birmingham 2. A big part of Bulpitts (which was head office) was in Icknield St and Pope Street, which was at end of Moreton St where I lived.
 
My old A-Z says Icknield St. is Hockley 18, if that's any help? Icknield St. stretched from Spring Hill through what we called Brookfields, to Hockley.
rosie.
 
Re: Bullpitts

Both these aged maps I have of Birmingham, show the corner where Bulpitts stood as Birmingham 1 district. I know from memory the postal address of W.Sapcote in Camden Street was B1 3DE. On the maps the edges of the borders are red on one and blue on the other.
 

Attachments

  • Bham 1.jpg
    Bham 1.jpg
    212.7 KB · Views: 32
  • Birmingham 1.jpg
    Birmingham 1.jpg
    162 KB · Views: 31
Re: Bullpitts

hi people looking for bultitt ,location i worked there for 41 yrs . head office address was albion st B31 3DL HOPE THIS CAN HELP JOHN
 
Hi terry would this be terry huges,from the swansea angling club run by biil bailey,my name is john bailey i worked for sid lewis,i was the founder member of the fishing club.I now live in Dorset and have done for the past 20 yrs,would like to know if you are still in contact with any of the old members.john
 
hi guys
the bulpitts offices wa classed as hockley as we all know it covered a vass area around several streets and yes it was officialy pope street the office
and birmingham 18 came down from ladywood and if our dear old mossy is looking in i think he can veryify it we was living down the rd and around the block from
Bulpitts orinionaly there stores was on ingleby street ladywood b,18 it was at the corner of monument rd it stretch for about 6 hundred yards down the monument rd
and finished before you got to springhill then there was a garage [ indepentant one ] a little wood yard then the turf pub at the lights as you cross over the monument rd to your right was midland bank ; and next door to that there was bill landon hardwares and bathroom and plumbers shop he now would have been there great grand fathers and across from him facinng was another main office with a lovely arch and huge front doorswith stone ware around it from ther along it was another department for bullpitts down a little further was the womens mid wifes living accomadation and where they operated from then up around to powel street and into camde street which they occupied from the corner all the way down to ickneild street crossing over ickneild street to lower camden street was willmotts and breedon
another depot of wilmotts was around of goodman street
but geting back on track with bullpitts i recall them building the opersite side of bulpitts in camden street which later became there extention
for there loading bays they bought out the prevous companpy and remodern most of it down to wards warstone lane i just cannot think of the street name
but that street was also theres up and around those strets orinionaly there head office was at the corner of springhill which was clased as ickneild street from them traffic lights down to hockley brook cross over to the bank i mentionioned and the pub going back up to monument rd from them light upwards was classed as ladywood b 18;
that was our post code as well as shakspear i would imgine our dear old friend mossy lived there as well as i recall mossy with his rod stewart hair cut ; i don,t think he would mind me saying that as we shared our same friend many years ago
Terry going back to the robbery it wpould have been in the late sixtys to seventys more around 69 the more i think about it and it was my cousins husband whom was one of the gang and a couple of his mates and one security officier whom they planned it he got payed a handsome some but all to prevail he got bigger sentence
and they came from catherine street aston and i can that chap whom married my cousin was a nasty person and violent towards to her and beat her up rotten
and regular his local was the vine on lichfield rd but after years of abuse she divorced him and met a real nic guy and happily marriedfor many years until he died
he worked hard never used one swear word never smoked and never drank alcho ; and yet he died of cancer ;it was a pity she never met him before the last one
he himself died many years ago and his sons are my nepwews and they are al grown up now with there own grown kids whom have got kids in there thirtys or more
but thats how i had the inside info; of whats went on; whilst i recal the bulding that bulpitts bought long before in the 1900 or the thirtys was the palie ballroom
it was a very massive building coverirng like i said half way down monument rd where once there was door exits for the patron s leaving the ballroom where all the top big dance bands of the area performed there best wishes as always Astonian;
 
No one as yet has mentioned 'Pruden's' the barbers on Icknield street. I should imagine that many Bullpits workers had their hair cut in Pruden's.
 
johnhbailey said:
Hi terry would this be terry huges,from the swansea angling club run by biil bailey,my name is john bailey i worked for sid lewis,i was the founder member of the fishing club.I now live in Dorset and have done for the past 20 yrs,would like to know if you are still in contact with any of the old members.john
Click to expand...

Hi John, I assume you are referring to me, but no I am not the person you are thinking of. I left Bulpitts over 45 years ago and I never kept in contact with anyone. Terry
 
HI BOB ;
If my memory serves me correctly was it not that prudents was facing directly the bulpitts buildings on ickneild street
as you walk down towards bulpitts on ickneild street on the opersite side thats where it was
fromthe libary you would walk down passing the shops passing the pwn brokers and stodards and the big hardware shop and the tobbacist
continue down along crossing camden street there was the old orinional wimbushes shop then a little bike shop before he moved across the rd then one ormore little shops you came to prudences with his old fashioined sign sticking out of the wood work [ red and white stick ] may i say as alot of workers all lived up inand around ladywood
i think they all went to the oneup the top end of monument road think it was called rays next to the station public house on the corner of cope street and
the monument rail way station and facing shakespear rd ;
and incidently rudence was about one hundred yards from the gate pub ; best wishes astonian;;
 
Re: Bullpitts

Thanks very much for all the helpful responses to my earlier question.

Chris
 
Astonian said:
HI BOB ;
If my memory serves me correctly was it not that prudents was facing directly the bulpitts buildings on ickneild street
as you walk down towards bulpitts on ickneild street on the opersite side thats where it was
fromthe libary you would walk down passing the shops passing the pwn brokers and stodards and the big hardware shop and the tobbacist
continue down along crossing camden street there was the old orinional wimbushes shop then a little bike shop before he moved across the rd then one ormore little shops you came to prudences with his old fashioined sign sticking out of the wood work [ red and white stick ] may i say as alot of workers all lived up inand around ladywood
i think they all went to the oneup the top end of monument road think it was called rays next to the station public house on the corner of cope street and
the monument rail way station and facing shakespear rd ;
and incidently rudence was about one hundred yards from the gate pub ; best wishes astonian;;
Click to expand...

Pruden's was on the corner of Icknield st and Camden st directly on the front of and on the same side as Bulpitts. Re; Stoddards was further down Icknield st on the corner of Carver st.
 
Re: Bullpitts

Arthur John Pruden Hairdresser 145 Icknield St corner of Icknield St & Camden St (Kelly's Directory 1950)
 
hi bob
jst to tell you stoddards had two premises one where i said just along from the springhill libary which really was the main selling shop ;
the one you are on about was there office and shop housing where all there meat products was produced and prepared [ carver street ] by the toilets
if you recall correctively the busyest shop was next to sid cleggs potoe mechants whom only started off by selling all brands of potoes by the tons
out on the front of the shop and inside the shop any brand you wanted he had them for a little as a penny a pound but about 3 months later he started to sell fruit
he made his money and moved into the whole sale market and stoddards little shop which was the bigger seller at the top of ickneild stree was the number 8 bus out side ; and a couple of doors away was the tobbaconist ; on the subject prue was orininaly on the side of the d i said ; like the cycle shop man moved across the rd
then there was a clothes shop and then a paper shop along side the doors of bulpitts old exits and right next to him or shoiuld i say just before the paper shop
was our aunty jelf whom ran the fish and chip shop ;and incidently i helped in there along with my mother serving ;i would batter the fish and do the spuds
whilst i ave mentioniond bulpitts my memory is flooding back that one friday lunch time a foreman came around and asked for hake and chips
at the end of the day he came back around to the fish after he clocked out at five and walked in with his fish and chip paper he came to the counter and said to my
aunty can i have a refund as he openend up his chip paper and produced te skeleton of the bones of the fish and said it was horrible
by golly my aunt chased him out of the shop and never come back but he waited for a week and came back ; but getting on track i can assure you stoddatrds was also at the top end by the libary and our next door neiboiur and our friends had two sons whom worked for stoddards one was johnny hollond and the younger one was billy hollond
john was slaughter at carver and billy at ickneils street end as the butcher ; best wioshes astonian;;
 
does anyone know if bulpitts became the swan company..somewhere in the back of my mind im sure my sister worked there..would have been in the early 80s so i must ask her

lyn
 
Lyn, Swan was their brand name, they sold their rights to it in 1988 to Moulinex a French company.
 
terryb18 said:
Lyn, Swan was their brand name, they sold their rights to it in 1988 to Moulinex a French company.
Click to expand...



thanks terry then im quite sure my sister did work there for a time...will still ask her though just in case i do have that wrong..

lyn
 
Hi, I'm a new member. I'm doing some research into L1A1 Rifle production in the UK and I'm trying to find out if the marking B&SB stands for Bulpitt & Sons Birmingham.

Do any of the ex employees of the factory know whether the company made items for the British armed forces such as Combination Tools, Blank Firing Devices, Foresight Covers. The marking is also found on some ammunition related items such as Fuze containers and some aluminum 1.5 inch flare gun cases. The dates on the various items range from the late 50's though to the mid 80's.

Can anyone confirm my theory, I would like record the correct manufacturer for this marking B&SB as its not recorded anywhere and it would be a shame to loose the military connection to the factory.

I know Bulpitt & Sons did make .303 in. Chargers during WW1.

Thank you in advance for any information you can provide. If anyone would like to see the item/marking I can post some photos if it will help.
 
Hello nzl1a1collector. Yes Bulpitts did make ammunition supplies. I worked in the office that dealt with the MOD and the Admiralty.
 
Just been reading through this thread and found mention of Wilmot Breeden and Lucas. In the 1960's the skipper of WB cricket team (Frank Tye) would poach people from Bulpitt's, finding good cricketers from Bulpitts jobs in "K" Block at WB Amington Road so they could then play for WB. There was also a link with WB and Lucas I believe the MD at WB, I think it was Carl Breeden was married to a daughter of one of the Lucas hierarchy. Have you noticed similarities with the two company logos.
 
edgbaston said:
Re: Bullpitts

Does anyone remember Walter Taylor O.B.E.,he worked for Bulpitts for more than 50 years.Mary
Click to expand...
Yes. He was my late grandmother's younger brother. We knew him as 'Uncle Boosh'. He won his OBE by saving military plans from the Bulpitts offices after the Luftwaffe had firebombed the factory
 
I thought I had posted this request years ago, but it seems not. Did anyone know a Pete Airey, who worked in the Anodising Dept at Bulpits in the late 1950s & early 1960s? Pete was a semi-pro string bass player in his spare time and I was informed some years ago that he had passed away.

Maurice
 
Last edited:
I worked at Bulpitts from 1977-1985. I was an electrical assembler. I made coffee perculators, deep fat fryers and electric kettles it was piece work (43 per hr). The kettle on the forum 105 is a first for me, never seen that model. It was Swan brand they had 3/4 ranges pots & pans matched the kettles. I enjoyed working there.
 
maggs said:
Lovely photo's of old Bulpitt employees Terry. I also worked at Bulpitt's, and was so happy there, it was a great firm to work for.
Click to expand...
I too worked at Bulpitt's in the 60's. I was an office runner. We used to sort the post out and deliver it to all the departments. Till we got promoted. Loved it....
 
Went on a trip around Bulpitts in about 1971 from the Technical college I was at. I was fascinated by the metal spinning process for making frying pans. It looked lethal for the operator, I thought just one slip, yuk, doesn't bear thinking about. Bet it happened though.
 
I'm sure it did, E.B., but we had metal spinners down at a firm I handled exports for in Dorset, and I think seemed very well schooled. It is literally "metal-bashing", the cruder side of non-precision engineering, but quite fascinating to watch - from a safe distance! :-)

Maurice
 
nzl1a1collector said:
Hi, I'm a new member. I'm doing some research into L1A1 Rifle production in the UK and I'm trying to find out if the marking B&SB stands for Bulpitt & Sons Birmingham.

Do any of the ex employees of the factory know whether the company made items for the British armed forces such as Combination Tools, Blank Firing Devices, Foresight Covers. The marking is also found on some ammunition related items such as Fuze containers and some aluminum 1.5 inch flare gun cases. The dates on the various items range from the late 50's though to the mid 80's.

Can anyone confirm my theory, I would like record the correct manufacturer for this marking B&SB as its not recorded anywhere and it would be a shame to loose the military connection to the factory.

I know Bulpitt & Sons did make .303 in. Chargers during WW1.

Thank you in advance for any information you can provide. If anyone would like to see the item/marking I can post some photos if it will help.
Click to expand...
L1A1 SLR. 7.62X51 NATO.CAL.
ManufacturerRoyal Small Arms Factory and Birmingham Small Arms Company factories (UK),[1]
Lithgow Small Arms Factory (Australia)
Canadian Arsenals, Ltd. (Canada)
Ordnance Factory Board (India)Produced 1954–1985.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top