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Digbeth Cold Storage, High Street Deritend

Shortie

Shortie

master brummie
I hope someone can assist me with a bit of unravelling.

I wrote asking my Aunt, who is 80 and has lived in Coventry since 1954, a few questions about her uncles and aunts.

She wrote saying she can remember someone being an ice seller, he used to get the ice from somewhere in Digbeth. Can anyone assist on this please - where in Digbeth would ice be stored, or even made?

She also writes about a black and white pub in Digbeth (obviously The Old Crown), and said it went into Chancery, and if anyone could pay the debt, the pub would be theirs. Is there any information about this available? I think the family name she is speaking about may be Jefcoate, and if not, it would be Hemms. She is not very clear and I think it is only a vague memory. I hope someone can assist here. Shortie
 
Shortie
I think the ice co would be the Lightfoot Refridgeration co , opposite side of allison St to the police station (shown in red)
Mike

map_showing_lightfoot_Refr__co_ltd_c_1912.jpg
 
Thanks Mike. I sort of remember seeing something in Digbeth from when I was young, but the word 'refrigeration' to me at the time probably meant somewhere meat was kept. I had never given ice a thought. Thanks - Shortie
 
Hey there, I was wondering if anybody had any information on the former Digbeth Cold Storage building behind the bullring? The building is currently being worked on by DSM (demolition contractors) and I managed to sneak a look around to get some interior photos, although unfortunately there wasn't much left to inform me of the history of the business's involved with the building.

Does anyone know anything about it?

Thank you in advance for anyone who takes the time to reply. :)
 
I've uploaded my photos with a little bit of history (and future) on here if anyone's interested in seeing.
www.28dayslater.co.uk

Report - - Digbeth Cold Storage, Birmingham - March 2011 | Industrial Sites

This brick giant has been the subject of many conversation whilst walking past into the ghetto-charmed backstreets of Digbeth. Built in 1899 under the watchful eye of Ernest C. Bewlay, this Cold Storage provided goods for the local markets as well as distribution to other companies. It spans...
www.28dayslater.co.uk www.28dayslater.co.uk
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Found this on British Listed Buildings. Seems to be listed under Orwell Passage.

Former Ice Factory and Cold Store 123-135

997/1/10433 DIGBETH
09-JAN-06 123-135
Former ice factory and cold store

II
Ice Factory and Cold Store. Designed in 1899 by Ernest Bewlay for the Linde British Refrigeration Company and completed in 1900, by which time Bewlay had joined Cossins and Peacock of Colmore Row. Red brick with a slate roof. Four storeys and a basement.
Exterior: The front to Digbeth Road has a distinct architectural treatment. There are 10 bays: At ground floor level these have semi-circular relieving arches and the 7 bays at left are blind but at right the 3 metal-framed windows have cambered heads. The first floor is blind, but the second and third floor windows are paired and the third floor has lunettes, save to the 2 right-hand bays which are blind. The left flank abuts No. 135 Digbeth. The right flank has 2 shaped gables with a loading bay to the ground floor which has a raised platform and 4 iron columns with bollards. The second and third floors here have a wall arcade but no windows. To the tops of the gables are large circular air inlets. A wall to ground floor level at right has been demolished and the 1937 Goad Insurance plan of the site indicates that this is probably where the boilerhouse chimney once stood. The rear has the boilerhouse at right with arched heads to the metal-framed windows and pilaster buttresses and a louvre to the roof.
Interior: the building has a tall ground floor and lesser height to the three upper floors. The loading bay is at the eastern end of the building, giving onto a courtyard which is entered from Digbeth and Orwell Passage. Immediately behind are a staircase and two lifts leading to each floor. The floors are supported by a grid of evenly spaced iron columns with moulded caps supporting steel beams. At each level there are 4 main chambers. These have heavy, insulated doors and the walls and ceiling are lined with wood panelling behind which is cork insulation. There are metal ducts of rectangular section across the ceilings, which are also covered with cork insulation and boxed-in with wood panels. To the top of the building there are replaced fans which circulate cold air. The roof structure has been replaced to the original pattern.
Opposite the loading bay, on the other side of a courtyard, is a lower building with shaped gables housing the office, stores and canteen, built in 1920 to designs by Cossins, Peacock and Cooke, which is not included in this item.
Click to expand...
 
The ex Digbeth Cold Storage building now fully restored. It's being converted into offices for The Prince's Trust. This view from Moor Street Car Park.
There used to be an Orwell Passage but when the Aparthotel got built, it got blocked off!




The Adagio Aparthotel was completed in 2015.

This view from 2017.

 
thanks ell nice to see the building has been restored...always cheers me up to read of the odd building being saved not demolished:):)

lyn
 
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