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Co-op High Street Birmingham

Chris B said:
Hi Changinman1,
the basement subway as I should have called it was accessed from the entrance to the wines and spirits steps on High street or the small lift from the ground floor. At the bottom of these steps you could access the Oak Restaurant or the sales passage that led on down to Moor street where the Kitchen furniture sales area was. The subway that ran under High street was entered just below the Restaurant entrance and led into the hardware and electrical goods basement in the Big Top building. If you remember the Food Hall was the other side of the Wines & Spirits as I remember it as it was only a single story building tacked on and knocked through to the main High Street premises with a false facade on the front to make it look as if it was part of the old Corn Exchange which was the Central premises. The main Canteen was on the third floor of central premises. Incidentally below the public subway was a futher tunnel which you could walk through which carried all the cables, pipes, phone lines, and services to and from the Big Top Site.

Names to remember : Harold Pallet Store Electrician
Billy Simms " Plumber and his mate Big Harry
Johnny Grimes " Carpenter
Harry Betteridge Third Floor Warehouse
Harry Fletcher Drapery
Alan Rawlings Mens Wear
Mark Thomas Dry Goods Office
Basil Bourne " " "
Bill Dove Electrical Officer
Peter Lovell " Dept Manager
Fred Homer Hardware Dept
Horace Fackerell " Buyer
Ada Martin Tools Dept
Mervyn Manley Store Manager
Edna Naylor Paint & Wall paper
Jack Cook Kitchen Furniture (Ex No10)
Norman White Dry Goods Controller
Bill Gilmore " " "
F. Loxham-Kidd Personnell Officer
Trevor Horne Training Manager.
William Anderson Time & Motion + other jobs
Frank White Wines & Sprits area manager
Mr Bradley " " " Head
Mr Freck Laundry Controller
Mr Cleghorne Coal & Fuel Manager
Ivy Snowden Lighting Dept

if I think of any more I will post later.
Regards Chris B
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my aunt Beatrice Abbott was accounts I think..shes still with us at 94
 
My mom Madge worked part-time on the cash desk in the late 50’s and 60’s. I was fascinated by the cash canisters coming down the tubes from departments. I think the lady in charge might have been Miss Cull. I also remember the staff canteen and the fact that quite a few workers were disabled. As a kid they were interesting people who were special because they were different.
Pete Middleton
 
My memory of the Co-Op in the centre of Birmingham is the restaurant in the basement. We would go to Brum to get school clothes in the late 40's / early 50's and we would go for lunch in the Co-Op ( the only time I can remember going out for a meal ).
The restaurant was decorated it the art deco style with pink mirrors on the walls and the lighting, also pink, was concealed in the junction between the ceiling and the walls. If it still existed today it would have a preservation order on it. Does anyone else remember it? I don't know if it had a name. I wish there was picture of it here.

The only other thing I can remember was the money being sent to the cashier on the overhead wires.

Memories from over 70 years ago.

Regards from Redruth

Arnold
 
Arnold Mason said:
My memory of the Co-Op in the centre of Birmingham is the restaurant in the basement. We would go to Brum to get school clothes in the late 40's / early 50's and we would go for lunch in the Co-Op ( the only time I can remember going out for a meal ).
The restaurant was decorated it the art deco style with pink mirrors on the walls and the lighting, also pink, was concealed in the junction between the ceiling and the walls. If it still existed today it would have a preservation order on it. Does anyone else remember it? I don't know if it had a name. I wish there was picture of it here.

The only other thing I can remember was the money being sent to the cashier on the overhead wires.

Memories from over 70 years ago.

Regards from Redruth

Arnold
[/QUOT It was called "THE OAK RESTAURANT" when I worked there in the 60s / 70s
Click to expand...
 
Arnold Mason said:
My memory of the Co-Op in the centre of Birmingham is the restaurant in the basement. We would go to Brum to get school clothes in the late 40's / early 50's and we would go for lunch in the Co-Op ( the only time I can remember going out for a meal ).
The restaurant was decorated it the art deco style with pink mirrors on the walls and the lighting, also pink, was concealed in the junction between the ceiling and the walls. If it still existed today it would have a preservation order on it. Does anyone else remember it? I don't know if it had a name. I wish there was picture of it here.

The only other thing I can remember was the money being sent to the cashier on the overhead wires.

Memories from over 70 years ago.

Regards from Redruth

Arnold
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It was called "THE OAK RESTAURANT" when I worked there in the 60s / 70s
 
My memories of the Co Op center city was the barber shop in the basement that you could make a reservation at. During my apprenticeship I worked every Saturday morning and went to school three nights per week. On a Saturday after work I would take the bus from Perry Barr and get my haircut. Then take the bus from Snow Hill back to Handsworth and get ready for Saturday night start at the Kardomah!
Miss those days!
 
There’s mention of a temporary restaurant in the basement when the premises were extended in 1938. Would they, at this time, have had premises on both sides of High Street ? Find the High Street Coop premises a bit confusing. I realise the one side was replaced by the Big Top premises (after WW2 bombing, rebuilt in the 1950s/1960s ?) but when was the Coop on the other side built? Thought it was an old building (further along from M&S towards Bull Ring) when we used to visit it in the 1960s. Was this advert for that building ? Think it was in a 1930s style. Viv.

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Yes Viv. The 1939 Kellys lists entries for both sides, No street numbers but drapers in the Grand Louvre buildings one side, and next to Scotland Passage the other
 
pmcc said:
Hi, I worked in the basement on the tool section in the early 1960`s. Ted Turner was in charge, Mr. Buxton Supervisor with Mr. Fackerall and Mr. Archer ran the floor.
DOES ANYONE HAVE PHOTOS OR MEMORIES DURING THAT TIME.
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I remember the people you mention, as well as Shan Bauser, Rene satethwaite, Mrs Christopher, Maureen Balding, Betty Heaps, Peter fell
 

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Chris B said:
Hi Frankf,
Castle St Passage ran from the basement by the Wines & Spirits and exited into the street opposite Moor Street Station roughly, and there was a door in the wall half way along that led to Castle St goods deck, the rest of the first floor in the Big Top Site was carpets and floor coverings run by somebody ? Macdonald, and the second floor was furniniture, run by Fred Turton, and above that there was the Rainbow Suite for functions and meetings and a few offices. Do you remember Basil Bourne who used to run the Dry Goods office and when he retired it was run by Mark Thomas, who incidently died New Year 2008 aged about 58, you had a character named Dennis Downing who was manager of the Restaurant, his brother was on the board of directors.
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i worked in the furniture dept in the seventies fred turton was my boss, the other salesman were alf skeels, horace lee, kein warr and mr. Quinn. The warehouseman was wilf coley, lovely man reminded me of father christmas never went anywhere without his bogey.
 
To commemorate Holyoake, a pioneer, this plaque was installed at the High Street branch. The link is to Manchester , but may give some clues of what appeared on the plaque, although the Birmingham may have have differed of course. Was the bronze plaque saved, or does anyone remember it on the front of the old Co-op building ? Viv

Screenshot_20230219_135942_Chrome.jpg
Source: British Newspaper Archive

 
Chris B said:
Hi Frankf,
Here are some pics' of the Big Top Site Basement in the Hardware and Gardening Dept where I was the Gardening Buyer and the basement Supervisor. In the background of pic' 1 & 3 you can just see the subway entrance leading to the Restaurant and the old building across the the other side of High street. These photos were taken when I was leaving in about February 1979. The person in the grey/blue suit was Mr Eric Preece the Hardware Officer, he had worked for the
Co-op for getting on for 40 years
Regards Chris B
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Can't see pictures. Are they attached ?
 
Frankf said:
Hi, I too am looking for pics of the high st coop - big top site - pref in the 70's but any are good - esp if anyone has interiors.

I worked there in early 70's and remember lots of people and events.

Thanks in advance

Frank
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Does anyone know` what the colour of signage on outside of Co-op High street Birmingham was ? Better still are there any colour photos ?
 
Don't know if this helps at all - posted by another member on the thread link given below. Photo looks a bit washed out ! But the Co-op sign at the time of the photo looks to be white lettering on blue background (looks greyish in this photo). Viv.

Screenshot_20230527_072729_Chrome.jpg

High Street Birmingham

Find it hard to believe we don't have a High Street (City Centre) thread, but have been unable to find one. If anyone finds it, please let me know. Two images of High Street. The first from Historic England site showing #84 and #85 High Street. The second showing a view down towards St Martin's...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Does anyone remember the meat processing factory manager George Izatt , this was probably early 1980,s , he was Scottish , he interviewed me for a butchery apprentice role which I got , he was a very scary character to me as an 18 year old.
 
changinman1 said:
Does anyone remember the meat processing factory manager George Izatt , this was probably early 1980,s , he was Scottish , he interviewed me for a butchery apprentice role which I got , he was a very scary character to me as an 18 year old.
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A bit of a fearsome character, his wife was not very well I think it may have been altzheimers but we hadn't heard of it in those days. I think he died in 2011
 
Chris B said:
A bit of a fearsome character, his wife was not very well I think it may have been altzheimers but we hadn't heard of it in those days. I think he died in 2011
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Hi thats amazed me that someone actually remembers him, can I ask you how you knew him please and if you have any stories / anecdotes about him or any background information on him or anyone that worked for him. Thankyou .
 
I was a Manager / Floor Walker in the High Street Store and Mr Izatt or his wife purchased goods from my departments, so I only knew him in passing. So sorry no stories etc about him.
 
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