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Church Road, Yardley.
- Thread starter ALB10N
- Start date
The travel agent was Bill Simmonds trading as W .T. Simmonds he also owned the newsagents next door. He ran it with his wife and they had a daughter but I cannot remember her name. Bill died young due to all the Senior Service he smoked and his wife continued with the business for a while. I left the area in 1959 after living in Hob Moor Road close to the Yew Tree for 20 years. My parents continued to live there until retiring down to Gloucestershire in 1967.
Wasn't that next door to a model shop, I think run by husband and wife by the name of Aldhous? One of my classmates called David Lewis used to call at that record shop every week to buy a copy of the top twenty(?) listings. I couldn't see the point myself. Later on we moved nearby, from Sheldon, and the model shop became a favourite shop. It always seemed strange that the very nice lady that ran it knew her stuff, compared to her customers that must have been 99% male! The record shop became a ladies hair dressers, I think. When the model shop couple retired they converted the shop into a house with a little front garden.
This part of Church Road has been bypassed by the main road and serves the back of Tesco. The white house was the model shop and the house to its right would have been the hairdresser/record shop.
Hi
I also remember the record shop. I bought a Judge Dread LP from there
but I hate to think how many years ago. I still like Judge Dread records though!
There was also a photocopier shop near the corner with Harvey Road.
It was started by a couple of ex Gestetner engineers. This would have been early 90s.
Kind regards
Dave
I also remember the record shop. I bought a Judge Dread LP from there
but I hate to think how many years ago. I still like Judge Dread records though!
There was also a photocopier shop near the corner with Harvey Road.
It was started by a couple of ex Gestetner engineers. This would have been early 90s.
Kind regards
Dave
suemalings
master brummie
MIL would like to know who you are! See if she remember's your family. Would you send me a private message and let me know your name?
oldbrit
OldBrit in Exile
Just down from the newsagent on Church Rd, that I am sure you are talking about, the Barbers shop, Billy Haden I think, There was a crescent with a shop on the corner, maybe a sweet shop, this was in the early 1950s, The street was short, a cul de sac can't think of the name? But we lived there at one time on that street, at the end, before we moved to Moat Lane. This street was demolished now a parking lot for the Tesco store? Loved the fresh bread from the bakery.
Lumpammer
master brummie
I think the cul de sac you mean was Milton Crescent, which lead to Hardings bakery. In have just looked on Google and it is still there but with no name. I used to go to Hardings on a Saturday looking to help one of the drivers for the day, I also used to go to Saturday matinee at the Tivoli.
oldbrit
OldBrit in Exile
This was on the other side of the bakery same side as the barbers' shop etc,
jmadone
master brummie
Am I right in remembering that the Saturday matinee at the Tivoli was in the afternoon. I can remember once going to my "usual" one at the Sheldon in the morning and then going to another one in the afternoon but I can't recall whether it was the Tivoli or the Adelphi in Hay Mills.
wendylee
master brummie
Hi,
Oh yes the kids Saturday matinee at the Sheldon, loved it! The Adelphi was in Hay Mills it was nicknamed "The fleapit" for some reason. It was later a bathroom supply place sometime in the 70's as we bought some kitchen cabinets and bench tops there.
I think the Tivoli was near The Blues ground.
Wendy
devonjim
master brummie
Tivoli was at the Swan, Kingston was by the Blues ground, opposite the bus garage.
jmadone
master brummie
But both owned by the same people.
jmadone
master brummie
The Adelphi was also a nightclub at one time,
devonjim
master brummie
Booked our honeymoon trip to Tunisia at Simmonds's in 1968!
yes it was the Kingston at the Blues Ground, but now I cant visualise where the Tivoli was near the Swan. Thank goodness I am certain where the Sheldon was, we had many saturday matinees there as kids.
wendylee
master brummie
Hi Devonjim thank you for that, I remember the name Tivoli cinema but now you have given me the address I cannot for the life of me visualise it.... does anyone know when it was demolished?
Wendy
devonjim
master brummie
www.cinematreasures.org/theaters/39677
Wendy does this help?
Wendy does this help?
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oldbrit
OldBrit in Exile
Thats it!!! The Causeway Thanks the little grey sells are getting darker. It backed onto the park that was there. Walked through and came by the Old Bill that was a cop shop at one time.
Lumpammer
master brummie
I can remember that a Comet Electrical was on the site of the Tivoli and a bank on the corner of Lily Road. Must have been 70’s.
wendylee
master brummie
Hi Jim It does help, I do not have any memory of the cinema now I have seen the photo,, the information on the tells me i was only 10 when it closed, I have never been there maybe I just recall someone talking about it! thanks for the help.
Ah yes I do remember Comet Electrical
Ah yes I do remember Comet Electrical
Living top end of Bolton rd, near Golden Hillock rd which was on the No8 Bus route, we did the short trip to sparkhill to attend the Waldorf in walford rd, and the Piccadilly on the stratford rd......took the bottles back for a refund to pay for the entry fee during school hols ha ha...
Elmdon Boy
master brummie
Yes I remember going past it on the bus, late 60s or early 70s and seeing the group 3 Dog Night appearing there. They had a hit record at the time, Mama told me not to come.
It was later used as a religious temple or perhaps a mosque I seem to remember.
In the late 50s I saw the film The Duke wore jeans starring Tommy Steel there.
The Adelphi was at one time the Namadhari Sangat Community Centre.
I always thought of the Tivoli as the place for the 'big' films, compared to the Sheldon. The Tivoli showed Oklahoma and Bambi for instance. The Sheldon was closer to us, so as children we got to go to the Saturday morning shows. The only 'big' film that I remember there was Sink The Bismark. Once we went to the Tivoli by car. Dad tended to bring a different car home every night from the Rover works so he was a bit slow reacting when a message came up on screen, scratched onto a bit of 'black' film, "Will the owner of..." Very embarassing! Best memories of the cinema were probably going to the News Theatre in town to see some cartoons. There was a certain thrill in reading the moving 'text messages' above the cinema but maybe best of all was popping into the Oxford restaurant, sitting on a padded stool with chromed stem, and having a bowl of tomato soup! In retrospect that was probably stretching Mum's budget to the limit. (In those days Mum and two children sometimes got to share a whole small bag of Butterkist popcorn. My nephews had a mega-bucket each and refused to share a single grain).
Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Regarding the Tivoli, Swan and New Inn
Living in South Yardley all my childhood, now some forty odd years in Church Road Yardley, you may understand why I have such a like of the Swan Pub and it's environs, at the junction with Church Road, and Coventry Road.....a significant part of my Bowls life, as Dad played there for many years, when they had a Green....and my teenage life, when we followed the Rockin' Modernaires who played there regularly.....all gone now of course......but this post was inspired by an old pic of the old TIVOLI Picture House, which was opposite the lesser known Pub The New Inn, which still exists, but in a much different form....the Tivoli, now the Swan Centre and Tescos finest....was also the scene of a Night Club, The Cavendish, where we once saw Bob Monkhouse do the bluest act I've ever seen! And I do remember some old lady giving me some stick for snogging in the back row of the Tivoli when about 14........and this was well before anything even slightly risque was even thought of...! Nosey mare....! Anyway, here are some pics I've collected of that iconic spot over the years....
Living in South Yardley all my childhood, now some forty odd years in Church Road Yardley, you may understand why I have such a like of the Swan Pub and it's environs, at the junction with Church Road, and Coventry Road.....a significant part of my Bowls life, as Dad played there for many years, when they had a Green....and my teenage life, when we followed the Rockin' Modernaires who played there regularly.....all gone now of course......but this post was inspired by an old pic of the old TIVOLI Picture House, which was opposite the lesser known Pub The New Inn, which still exists, but in a much different form....the Tivoli, now the Swan Centre and Tescos finest....was also the scene of a Night Club, The Cavendish, where we once saw Bob Monkhouse do the bluest act I've ever seen! And I do remember some old lady giving me some stick for snogging in the back row of the Tivoli when about 14........and this was well before anything even slightly risque was even thought of...! Nosey mare....! Anyway, here are some pics I've collected of that iconic spot over the years....
oldbrit
OldBrit in Exile
Dennis. I started the Modernaires band in the 1950s but when I left for the USA in 1957 they disbanded and then another group took the name. We played upstairs at Swan pub many many times, packed them in for dancing over the weekends, great times and lots of fun. We played all the local pubs for years. Arthur Ashworth was our manager, he lived in Sheldon of course now, except for me, are all long gone now, happy I lived at 126 Moat lane, for almost all my life, till I left age 23 for the USA (Snogging in the back of the Tiv did that a few times also). My first girl friend June Howell live in the Prefabs on Moat lane
