• 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

Cope's pearl buttons Villa St Lozells.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Little Duck
  • Start date Start date
L

Little Duck

Guest
I used to work at Cope's in Villa St.
round about 1954-1956.
They used to make pearl buttons.
Does any one remember this company ?
I still have a shell that was polished for me
by a man called Jim

Tat Tar
 
hi little duck. i used to live at 118 villa street. 1958 to 1972. is this where you mean. wales if the pic dont come up i will try again
 
Hi Wales,

Thank you so much for the great photo's.
Yes that is Cope's. I worked at the front
of the building on the ground floor.
Happy times I had there.
Also the back yard on the left the men used to
work in there cutting and polishing the pearl shells.

Thank you again.
 
no probs little duck. it makes a change for me to be able to help out. im new to this putting pics on the site. i must practice more. ive got quite a few photos including one of the crown pub on the corner of villa st and nursery road and one of the post office. let me know if you want me to put them on for you. the one i have been trying to get for months is one of the vine inn villa street. i lived opposite there. i wont give up. will get it one day. cheers wales.
 
Hello again Wales,

Would be very interested in any of your photo's.
I have one of The Angle Pub on the corner of
Wills ST and if I can remember right that part of the road
going towards Lozells Rd was George St.

Trouble is I have not got a clue how to put the photo on here.

By the way I used to live in Carpenters Rd, so did not have far to
go to work.

Tat Tar
 
hi little duck. im still practising putting pics on the site. i had to get my son to explain it to me. all very technical for me. ive got the one of the angel. so you lived in carpenters road. well you are luckly because they never pulled that down. are you still living local. right i will try putting on a couple more for you. do you rember the garage just up from copes's it was called padmores garage when this was took in 1960.
 
got 2 more for you little duck. the crown on the corner of villa st and nursery road. and the post office opposite the crown. wales
 
o dear mike. im becoming snap happy now ive got the hang of putting pics on the site. ive got lots of nursery road from the 50s 60s and 70s but 1st i need to get them on my lap top(will do that later) can i take it you come from that neck of the woods. wales
 
I worked at Watsons Garage in Villa Street which was opposite Padmores, Padmores was an engineering workshop, lathes, capstans etc. when I first started at Watsons, I watched the Padmores add the petrol forecourt.

Mr Padmore died from blood poisoning after he pumped grease into his finger with a high pressure grease gun whilst sevicing a car and his missus carried on alone afterwards.

We used to sell petrol at Watsons from a very old hand operated pump with an arm that swung out over the footpath.

Our foreman John Rice and his family lived in the house alongside the workshop with the service ramp in what would have been their front garden. E.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
hi eric. nice to talk to you. will keep me eyes open for any pics of watsons. as you have prob read i will be posting more pics of the area later on today. what a sad end mr padmore had. im in touch with someone who worked opposite padmores and lived in the big house behind it. that was in the early 70s. dont know when you were there but his name is reginald cook. ring any bells. where about did you live and what years. ps ive had so much help from members on this site and its nice that i have got the hang of posting photos so that i can share them with others. cheers wales.
 
Hello Wales, I worked there from 1951 until about 1958, I still worked for Watsons after that but moved to their newly acquired workshop in Granville Street off Broad Street.

I think the Villa Street garage stayed open until the council killed off the area with the redevelopment. E.
 
Good morning Wales.

Nice to see some other's join in with this thread.

My friend that I went to Lozells St school with lived next door to the Angle Pub,
she still lives in Birmingham but the Handsworth Wood part now.
As for me I left Birmingham in January 1962 and live in Leicestershire.

Did go and have a look at Carpenters Rd about 8 years ago. The house I lived in is still there.

Nice to see your photo's and this old brain box is still in working order for me
to remember places.

Did try last night to sort out how to get photo's on here. But did not get it right. So will have to wait for my granddaughter to come to help me.

Have a nice day all.

Tat Tar Little Duck
 
hi.little duck and all. ok ive just posted 13 photos. if you go to the geneology thread. and click on to nursery road newsagents thats where you will find them. ive put them on there so that more members who are interested in the area will be know i have put pics on. hope you all enjoy looking at them. if you have any problems let me know and we can get confused together. little duck. bet your grandaughter will put you right. wales
 
Nice to see a photo of Copes, Wales. My grandfather worked there all of his workng life, he died in the 1940's. He made my mom a butterfly brooch, and I think my sister still has it.
 
Hi Wales,

Sorry not been on here for a while, my computer took a turn
and went out in the wide blue yonder, with me not being up
to speed with all this high tech stuff, it took me a while to get back.
I have had a go again re the photo's, but I must be thick as I cant put
them on here.
Found an old photo of me and my friend Barb it was taken in the back
yard of Copes, this is going back abit as I was only 18 years old. ha ha.
So just a couple of years ago (I WISH) laughter.
Hope you and yours are well.
Tat tar Little Duck
 
hi eric. just got back from a weeks holiday. hope you manage to put your pic on the site. did you manage to see the nursery road pics i put on. wales.
 
Lovely to see a pic of the Crown on Villa St./Nursery Road corner as I used to work there a long time ago. I used to live in Nursery Road right opposite the bottom of Brougham Street.The house was knocked down years ago and nothing was ever done to the site and it is now,and has been for a long time,part of the factory next door.When I was at the pub the gaffer was named Harold,I can't remember his surname but I used to take him to see some relatives on Yardley Wood Road because I don't think he could drive himself.When he left he was replaced by Dave Williams but as he was new to the job and I had been there for some time the brewery said I had to leave because I had more experience and I don't doubt that that thought I would probably be fiddling or something.I remember when Hey Jude by the Beatles came out and I played it time and time again on the jukebox and because I had the key it didn't cost me a penny!!I also used the Vine and remember one day there was a wake bieng held there and me and my mate Andy got absolutely plastered and it didn't cost us anything.Ah,happy days!!!!
 
hi bob. nice to hear from someone from the old end. i lived more or less oppostite the vine pub between 58 to 72. i used to hang around with the daughter of the crown linda lowk was her name. we used to pretend we we singers and mess around on the little stage upstairs. me and my bro have also been to christmas parties there. dad was always in the vine. used to play darts for them and he was the local window cleaner. cleaned most of the pubs in the area. i seem to remember he took longer cleaning the insides than the outside ha ha. anyway i have many pics of villa street and nursery road. inclucing a couple of the houses opp brougham st. i have put just a few on the site. if you have not seen them go to search at the top of the page and type in nursery road newsagents. they are there. what num nursery road did you live. i may have it. as most know on the site the one photo i cant seem to get hold of is of the vine. dont surpose you have one have you. all the best wales.
 
Hi,Wales,BobS here again.How come that you didn't take any photos of the Vine,which is what you want,when you took loads of photos,which are great,of other parts of Villa Street/Nursery Road.???
 
Hi Wales & Bobs,

Reading your items re Villa Street and also the Vine Pub with interest, brings back to mind
the paper shop called Gowers just round the corner from Barker St.
I did a paper round from there, used to cover Heathfield Rd, Radnor Road right down to Handsworth Park.
Also my grandparents used to live in Barker Street.
Used to go past the Vine Pub most days, but never went in to it (much to young at the time) smile.

Tat Tar Little Duck.
 
hi there again bob. simple answer to that is i didnt take them. i left villa st aged 18 and of course if id have known then that in years to come i would have this interest in history you can be certain i would have taken my own pics. its the classic one. we never think that far ahead when we are young. by the way you didnt say what number nursery road you lived at. wales.
 
hi bob. ive just read your post under the nursery road newsagents thread. i am so pleased your house at number 25 was there. i had a feeling they were the ones opposite brougham st. no probs with taking a copy. wales
 
Little Duck said:
I used to work at Cope's in Villa St.
round about 1954-1956.
They used to make pearl buttons.
Does any one remember this company ?
I still have a shell that was polished for me
by a man called Jim

Tat Tar
Click to expand...

Hello Little Duck,

I've just joined after a long period of consideration but after reading some of the posts felt I should do so.
I read your post with great interest as both my Mom (Lily) & Grandmother (Alice) worked there around the same time.
I'll never forget the smell that used to greet you from that factory, which I think was the acids used for cleaning.
Names I recall were Cliff Welsh, Cissie Leather, Amy ? (had a son David).

Lozellian.
 
hi folks just replacing some lost photos i posted of copes pearl button factory villa st...i lived just a little way down the street from there..all dated 1981 by which time i would think there was not much left of the street..happy days..the last but oneVilla Street No 152-154 - December 1981 2.jpgVilla Street No 152-154 - December 1981 3.jpgVilla Street No 152-154 - December 1981 4.jpgVilla Street No 152-154 - December 1981.jpgVilla Street No 152-154 - October 1981.jpgVilla Street No152-154 Aston December 1981.jpg photo is of the front of copes the rest are all the little workshops behind...

lyn
 
Thank you for the pictures. My great grandfather was a pearl button worker in Birmingham and lived in Edgbaston in the late nineteenth century, I don’t know if he worked at Copes’ but I presume where he worked would have been similar.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top