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City Centre Photographs

A number of them are, I think, from the Janet Mendelsohn collection(6210; 7173: 7230-Balsall Heath Road: 8918) and would be from Balsall Heath) 7173 is looking towards Edward Road in the distance from the north
 
In May 1935 Phyllis Nicklin stood on the pavement opposite the Council House, held her camera high above the crowd and took this picture on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee Celebrations for King George and Queen Mary.
PhyllisNicklin1935.jpg
 
john knight said:
Don't know if this is the right place for these, where are these photos taken, I know 2 are Balsall Heath, but no knowledge of the others.
Click to expand...

John I think they are all Janet Mendelsohn images and are all of Balsall Heath or nearby.

1 The only one I'm not sure of but I think it's Clevedon Road
2 Longmore Street (not a 100% on this one on reflection either)
3 Upper Highgate Street
4 Longmore Street / Balsall Heath Road
5 Upper Highgate Street looking down Conybere Street
6 Clevedon Road Nr Cox Street West.
 
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Post #1860

The more I look at images 1 & 2 I wonder if they could be in the Aston area, as the photographer did take photos of other areas and these just seemed to be mixed in with those of Balsall Heath.
 
I am pretty sure the second one is Balsall Heath, as I remember when there was the exhibition of Janets photos, one of the people there talked about "Uncles" store in Balsall heath
 
Just looked at Mikes photos of 2009 thread, great photos, (and now a precious historical record), of a world now long gone, but remembered by my age group so well, knew Balsall Heath well from a young boy to a youth. Paul
 
phil the area code of VIC 6276 for the shop may help i think it stands for victoria and if you look above the entry it does say victoria place...need to find out where the area code was..could well have been aston or witton way and for many years there has been an uncles pawn shop in witton although having said that i think a few shops were known as uncles..could also be perry barr
 
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Mike

I agree about Clevedon Road, I had come to the same conclusion myself because of the three story houses in the image and anyway I'm sure the bend in the road would have been visible.

As for Uncles Store there were many such named shops in Balsall Heath & Sparkbrook the main one I remember was down Ladypool Road (no it wasn't the one). I think they were all owned by Sikh's and they were called Uncle's because they are all supposed to be related according to their creed.
 
VIC telephone exchange was for Small Heath/ Sparkbrook, can't remember the precise boundaries. Now 771,772,773,753,766.
 
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Lyn

There were quite a few Victoria places and I checked out the ones n Balsall Heath and nearby and none of them fit.

Victoria pl Arthur st 10
Victoria pl 111 Aston Brook st 6
Victoria pl 141 Edward rd.12
Victoria pl 59 Friston st 16
Victoria pl 36 Brearley st 21
Victoria pl Heathfield rd 14
Victoria pl 336 Icknield Port rd 16
Victoria pl 142 Lee Bank rd 13
Victoria pl 26 Main st 11
Victoria pl 49 Mary st 12
Victoria pl 11 Nechells Park rd 7
Victoria pl 59 Rupert st 7
Victoria pl 178 Tower rd. Aston 6
Victoria pl Westley st 9
Victoria pl 104 Wynn st 15
 
phil i think we need to try and find out what area that telephone number used to be..ive seen it above shops a few times but cant place the area at the min..being in the telephone exchange business eric maybe able to help i dont recognise the photo from my neck o the woods

thank jim just seen your post..so VIC was for small heath/sparkbrook exchange...thanks

lyn
 
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Great photos John, I'm afraid I don't know the locations. Taken probably late 60s early 70s from the Mothers Club posters, cars and dress.
 
Victoria Telephone Exchange from http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/exchanges.htm
​
Victoria exchange is located in Watery Lane, Birmingham and serves Small Heath and Sparkbrook.
The first exchange covering the Small Heath area opened in 1894. The exchange then reopened in 1906 at 140-142 Coventry Road and in 1907 was renamed Victoria. It subsequently moved to Sandy Lane in 1910. The building was demolished in 1976. This exchange was converted to Automatic operation at 2.00 pm on 07/03/31 when it had 1775 subscribers.
The telephone codes currently used are 0121-753, 0121-766, 0121-771, 0121-772 and 0121-773. CMVIC
 
thanks david....i messaged eric who sent me this reply

Yes Lyn, it was the old VICtoria Telephone exchange in Watery Lane (and is still there) providing local service for around Watery Lane, garrison Lane, Coventry Rd Camp Hill Bordesley Green including the Blues ground, anywhere within about 2 miles from the exchange
 
I read the Mail link in post 1878#. It sadly reflects many cities and towns in the UK. There does not seem to be one particular answer and it there is no point in illustrating only one aspect to declining retail outlets. There are, it seems, a few reasons, which, when aggregated, have brought this about.
However, judging from the photos on BHF showing the continual demolition and rebuilding of parts of the city centre it does seem that many are voting with their feet. Post WW2 the population were more resilient - having survived a horrific war - moreover public transport played a great part of their travelling lives. Today that is not so; a large part of the population have their own transport but prohibitive car parking costs and restrictions have encouraged many to seek out of town areas where parking is easier and usually free.
Birmingham should attract lots of punters from the rural areas outside the city but I am of the opinion that the reconstructions - and some of the things highlighted in the newspaper report - may well have diverted trade elsewhere.
Sadly much of the townscapes these days consist of food and drink outlets. If I stand at a crossroads in one small Devon town I can see six places offering coffee and food, some alcohol. The rest of the town is tourist orientated, has the usual 'charity' shops and most banks are closed down.
We may blame many things, but when all said and done we either support the shops or we don't. Is it much of our own doing? Noticeably some areas of our cities are busy; that is the suburbs where the local population is supportive.
 
Quite, Pedro, and Graham Young is one of the few newspaper journalists who can put together a perceptive piece of journalism. I wonder how long before the big boys in London make him an offer that he can't refuse?

Not far into this very long article, he mentions that Smallbrook Ringway, or whatever they call it now, is going to be redeveloped. Again???? The City has been one enormous bombsite since before I left in 1961 and it has solved absolutely nothing.

Sadly I have not seen one political party across the whole spectrum of politics that has put forward a manifesto that will solve 5% of such problems, simply because they all have a personal axe to grind, and Joe Public and his problems are well down their list of priorities. If indeed the problems are soluble, which somehow I doubt. But I certainly don't wish to drag this thread or the Forum down a political route - that would solve nothing either!

But one thing that most of us that have a knowledge of Brum stretching back to WW2 years or just after, is that this constant bombsite mentality is getting the city nowhere. The introduction of these road trains (they call them trams, but they are not) at immense cost does not seem to be popular with a lot of traders either.

Maurice :-)
 
One problem, as I see it, is that pedestrianization of principal streets means that it becomes a far too relaxed park like area and the hurly burly - which to be honest most people below retirement age like - takes peoples focus away from shopping.
 
This photo has been dated as 1950. 1008 CVP 108 was extensively refurbished in 1948 and looks in fine condition. In the other thread mentioned I pointed about that she entered service in 1937 and survived until 1960.
The horse and dray was railway owned; they used hoses fr some time after WW2 and were often to be seen in yards assisting movement of individual wagons.
 
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