A postcard inviting potential customers to send in for their clothes patterns and styles. Is it Mr Lilly in the cart with his two dalmations patiently waiting underneath ? I’d guess this image to be around 1910. Viv.
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Coventry Road, Small Heath
- Thread starter SteveBland
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Very surprised to find that the buildings in this view are mostly still there. The nearest building still has its lovely decorative ironwork. Pity the shop fronts have changed with their line of awnings.
The biggest ‘then and now’ difference for me being, that little lad would definitely not be strolling leisurely across the Coventry Road today.
Sorry no date but must be early 1900s.
Viv.
The biggest ‘then and now’ difference for me being, that little lad would definitely not be strolling leisurely across the Coventry Road today.
Sorry no date but must be early 1900s.
Viv.
This photo is of Coventry Road at the junction with St Oswald’s Road. Although the ground floor frontages have changed from domestic to residential, there are still some recognisable features such as the gables in the roof of each property.
The 1913 photo shows the houses having front gardens, but today’s view tells us they were removed to convert downstairs to retail units. I wondered if you can see the demarcation in the paving bricks at the front of the property (ie where the gardens used to be). Presumably the owners still own that section of the pavement.
And another little boy roaming the streets - this time chasing the car !
Viv.
The 1913 photo shows the houses having front gardens, but today’s view tells us they were removed to convert downstairs to retail units. I wondered if you can see the demarcation in the paving bricks at the front of the property (ie where the gardens used to be). Presumably the owners still own that section of the pavement.
And another little boy roaming the streets - this time chasing the car !
Viv.
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Would have loved this draper’s shop on Coventry Road. Bursting with materials and ribbons. The shop is still there. Even the ghost of the large sign above the entrance can still be seen.
The Coventry Road road sign on the wall seems to have changed Viv.
The Coventry Road road sign on the wall seems to have changed Viv.
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These shops are still there today, near the junction with Wordsworth Road. Viv.
The shops in the older photo looked familiar to me as being near to the gates of Small Heath Park. I remember going for ice cream cornets, after my Dad taking me to the park on Sunday mornings, from a shop there. About 1952.
Yes, the shop where you bought your ice cream cornets was Devoti's. The family also had a shop in the Bull Ring, opposite the Market Hall, if I remember correctly.
PA739
I can even remember the texture and taste of the ice cream.
This view is opposite the park. There’s a sign on the wall two tram poles along on the left. Today’s view shows very faint marks of a ghost sign. Viv.
There used to be another fine drapers shop somewhere between the Coronet cinema and Muntz Street.It was double fronted and had an island display cabinet in the entrance way which meant that there were two ways round to the main entrance. It had one of those cash systems where the money was sent through a pipe system .
pjmburns
master brummie
From 1915 Kelly's sign on wall is, I think, advertising - and on the side of the premises of
The last shop on the left is W R Green - so here are the shops inbetween
Radiorails
master brummie
The Home & Colonial Stores history is here:
Home and Colonial Stores - Graces Guide
This is the whole image of that posted by Kieran in post #22. It’s was showing the effects of the 1931 tornado. Viv.
Thanks for researching the sign Janice. Don’t know if any of the faint writing in the modern view is that shown in the earlier image but a good chance some may have survived. Viv.
I’d say the modern sign must have been attached Janice (or could it have been pasted ?) I can’t imagine someone individually painting all those dishes onto the wall. But I could be wrong. Viv.
Many elements have changed in this view, but a few remain enabling identification of its precise location. In the distance is Small Heath Park, to the right is the turning into Golden Hillock Road. Viv.
on cov rd the house fell down
Does anyone know the original purpose of this building on the Coventry Road at the corner of Henshaw St? I think this was a welfare clinic when I was a child and can remember going for supplies of orange juice and cod liver oil. That would be just after the war.
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Thanks Mikejee. It seems quite big for that. Do you know if it was operating for a large area before there were more local pharmacies?
There were a number scattered over the Birmingham area. The first was originally in Temple Row, and was established in 1792 in a private house, being supported by Matthew Bolton , later moving to Union St. It later developed the branches around the city, when pharmacies as we know them were nonexistent
I can remember going to the welfare clinic for my children in the mid 1960s for orange juice, roseship syrup and milk formula. Also getting babies weighed. I loved the orange juice and roseship syrup myself!!
I think this maybe have been Hawkins. My sister worked there after she left school. I had forgotten about the pipe system for cash handling. Hawkins sold dressmaking materials as well as drapery.
I recall another shop, perhaps Home and Colonial who also used the pipe system for cash handling. The shop had a lovely distinctive smell when you walked in ... coffee and freshly cooked bacon which was sliced while you waited , and sugar in blue bags.
My Mother did a lot of dressmaking. She had taken night classes at somewhere in Jenkins St. We lived in Grange Rd not far from the cinema. We moved when I was about 6yrs old.