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Erdington

wallyb71

wallyb71

master brummie
I can remember as a very young child we lived in a yard somewhere in Erdington and it was next to a large Commercial Laundry and I think there was a bridge over the road and a lot of traffic. By this discription can anyone tell me what Road it was. This was probably back in the early 30s.

Have a nice day,,,, Wally.
 
Hello WallyB71:

I think it must have been at the junction of South Road and Summer Road.
There was a laundry there at one time and then it became a bakery. There were several homes in that area as well.
 
If my memory serves me right, wasn't their a laundry on Kingsbury road where the Showcase Cinema is now? Their is a canal bridge there.
 
Frothblower, There was a laundry as you move from Perry Barr, ( Harris's the cleaners) towards the College road there was also a bridge that went over the Thame before Lucas sports ground...Cat
 
Thankyou All for your replys. The bridge wasn't over water it was a railway bridge over the road.

Have a nice day, Wally.
 
hi there was a laundry by a road junction it was called eagle laundry i remember the road had a slope sorry i cannot remember the names
cheers

33bus
tom
 
Wally,it was opposite Machin road in Summer road.I can remember the huge bags of laundry being unloaded on to large platforms at the front of the building.When it closed I think it became Pickfords removals.
I had a friend who lived in the Yard which ran along one side of the laundry.
I think they call it Dorsheath Gardens now.
The New Inns is opposite.
 
Isn't it marvellous how local problems can be solved by people who are hundreds or thousands of miles away.
More wonderful still is the fact that we can all communicate with each other through this website.
WE MUST SUPPORT IT!
Peter
 
Totally agree Peter....it is just great when people put their heads together
in a positive way.

Now, if it is the Summer Road area that we are looking at to find the right place for Wally....I have some second thoughts thanks to Alberta that the laundry was probably on Summer Road at the end of Machin Road. Saxon's the Printers were at the left hand end of Machin Road. That would make more sense especially if there was housing close by to the laundry. The place I was thinking about was the other side of the railway bridge and at the end of South Road.

There is a shot of film on Youtube.com if you enter in the search
"Erdington floods" showing the flooded underpass on Summer Road
with a shot or two of the building at the end of South Road and Summer Road junction. This would be the other side of the railway bridge from Machin Road.
 
Hi Jennyann,I remember the printers.

The laundry was directly facing you when coming down Machin road from the village, it now new housing,I think the Alleyway and yard behind was called Gwalia Grove.
I got it wrong about the Laundry becoming removal company the removals was always there.
There was South road, the bridge,Bakers removals(later Pickfords),the Laundry then the small terraced houses some of them along a walkway at right angles with the laundry and some in an area behind.
 
Sorry,incorrect,just spoken to my sister who walks that way to work from her house in Robin road.
Gwalia grove is in south road,the terraced houses ,which my sister says are still there amongst the new housing ,are in Poplar Avenue,but we are not sure if that was the name years ago.
The building is still there where Saxons was but she says it is now some sort of packaging company.
 
I still live in Erdington but been ages since I was over that way. Is the printers still there? I remember the stone plaque on the wall,stating the building was bombed during the war.
 
Hi Wally......I was born and lived in South Rd until i was nearly six.......
The lovelly old steam engines rattled the old house and i believe the laundry was at Station St/Summer rd....
 
View attachment 55974

Hello Everyone

I remember the Laundry on Summer Road, near to the Railway Bridge, and down from The New Inns. I came across a book recently on the Birmingham Fire & Ambulance Service, called "The Fight Against Fire" by Harry Klopper, published in 1955, in Charring Cross Road London, of all places. It records a large fire at the Erdington Laundry in Summer Road on March 2, 1954 - one of the coldest nights of that winter - with a snowstorm in progress. The fire destroyed most of the building and tons of family laundry. At the height of the fire, families from nearby houses had to be evacuated. The book also contains the picture I hope I've attached correctly. I think the laundry must have been rebuilt, because I recognised the building from the photograph - but I only came along a few years later!

Best Wishes

Dick
 
Does anyone have any memories of Downside Road, off Wheelwright Road; my grandfather lived at 39 up until the early sixties.
 
Hello Dick" Thanks for posting the photo of the huge fire at Erdington Laundry. I can, now that you have reminded me, remember the fire.
I had never seen a photo if it although one must have been in the "Erdington News". Not much left of the building. Wonder how it started?
 
Hi Wally
In 1930 per birmingham voters list at no 4 chestnut cottages,summer road was a walter john and jessie may beech
cheers
Paul Herrmann
 
Hi Paul,
Thankyou for that, those are my parents. So it was the Chestnut Cottages on Summer Rd.

Thankyou again, Have a nice day, Wally.
 
I was recently asked to find out what I could about the laundry in Erdington and, although it doesn't amount to much, I thought I would share it here.
The Erdington Laundry Co. Ltd was based at 48 Summer Road - where the line of trees is now just next to the railway bridge.
It must have been a sizeable concern as it had six receiving offices (at 145 Sladefield Road, Ward End; 17 Lincoln Street, Balsall Heath; St Margaret’s Road, Ward End; 90 New Spring Street; 113 Church Lane, Aston; and 124 Great Brook Street).
Most of the building was destroyed by fire in 1954.
Opposite the laundry were railway offices, Saxton, the printing company and, a little farther up the hill, the New Inns.

Gudrun Limbrick
 
Thats an interesting piece of info there were a few of these large laundries around Brum I suppose a busy business at the time.
 
Hi Gudrun: I remember the laundry in Summer Road very well and have vague memories of the fire. I used to walk down Marsh Lane through a right of way (now blocked off) into Summer Road decades ago on my way to Erdington Parish Church. I would go under the Railway Bridge turn up Machin Road after passing the Saxton Press building, cross Sutton New Road, up Barnabas Road and around to the High Street. There used to be a bakery on the corner of South Road (now a Chinese Takeaway). I can remember walking back from Choir practice in the 1950's and seeing the mounds of bread waiting to be shaped into loaves. The workers would have the doors open because it got so hot in the summer when the ovens were working full time.

You may be able to find out more about The Erdington Laundry Co. from the local history group at Erdington Library. Here is a link for them: https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Sa...092730756&pagename=BCC/Common/Wrapper/Wrapper
 
I certainly remember the laundry in Summer Road, and the row of terraced houses that ran adjacent to Summer Road. I am quite sure the houses were pulled down around the time they demolished the laundry. I can remember the houses being empty; a magnet for kids like me.

You could look in the place through the open door and see all the industrial washing machines spinning around, driven by line shafts and belts form the roof. There are some machines just like these in Manchester museum.

There was also another laundry just as you turn into Goosemore lane from Gravelly Lane, Cousins the furniture store was built on the site. I am quite sure it was called ‘The Snow Drift laundry’. At the front was the coin opp laundry, was quite a modern place with a coffee bar and electric steam irons. My mom used it quite a lot.

Also at the rear there were still air raid shelters we would play down when we were kids.

Both these laundry’s had a delivery and collection vans that came around each week, along with milk, bread, beer at home, insurance, provident man, a mobile grocery shop, news papers, cigarette machine man, window cleaner....

Mom would put the sheets etc in a pillow case, and they would come back the following week in a brown paper parcel ties with string. The Council house we lived in did not have a hot water system, so with out a washing machine, washing large items like sheets was quite difficult.
 
Hi Moturn: You were right about there being a Laundry in Goosemoor Lane,Erdington. The Old Stone Laundry according to the attached link became a Co-op, not sure if it was a warehouse or a shop after the laundry left. The old Co-op place there was turned into Cooke's Furniture Store in the l980's. Cooke's is now a huge furniture business. Amazing since it's quite off the beaten track for shopping in Erdington.https://www.cookesfurniture.co.uk/1946topresentday.php

Thanks for the photo Bob. It would be nice to know where their other depots were for the Erdington Laundry Co.
 
Jennyann
In 1949 Kellys listed the following for Erdington Laundry:

48 summer Rd Erdington,
331 Monument Rd
17 Lincoln ST Balsall Heath
86 George St West
22 Asylum rd Aston
227 Lichfield Rd
208 Alum Rock Rd
93 Gt Barr St
76 Gt Lister St
254 Wheeler St
69 Camp hill
111 Park Road, hockley
103 Walford Rd Sparkbrook
259 Witton Rd
387 Dudley Rd
166 Belgrave Rd
244 Sherlock St
217 Warwick Rd
 
Thanks very much Mike. They certainly had a lot of depots. They must have had a fleet of vans to pick up and deliver the laundry to the
main laundry.
 
jennyann said:
Hi Moturn: You were right about there being a Laundry in Goosemoor Lane,Erdington. The Old Stone Laundry according to the attached link became a Co-op, not sure if it was a warehouse or a shop after the laundry left. The old Co-op place there was turned into Cooke's Furniture Store in the l980's. Cooke's is now a huge furniture business. Amazing since it's quite off the beaten track for shopping in Erdington.https://www.cookesfurniture.co.uk/1946topresentday.php

Thanks for the photo Bob. It would be nice to know where their other depots were for the Erdington Laundry Co.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, you’ve clarified a few old memories; the Summer Road laundry was called the Snowdrift Laundry, the one in Goosmore Lane we would call the Co-op Laundry.

I have a feeling that the Snowdrift Laundry Company may be still trading.
 
Since I started this thread back in May 2008, I have read all your posts with your memories of this area and I thankyou all for your contributions. I was only Three years old when I lived there,but Two memories remain in my mind from that time. (1) Do any of you remember Gobstoppers, it was a Candy Ball about half the size of a Golf Ball. Anyway I was sucking on this thing and it got stuck in my throat and I was choking on it. My Mother came running out and picked me up under her arm and went running to a neighbors house shouting, " Me baby's chokin". But all the shaking dislodged it and it dropped out. ( 2 ) I was playing out in the yard one day and this neighbor man came running up the yard waveing a shovel over his head and running in front of him was a giant Rat. Needless to say the Rat lost the race and I felt very upset about it, infact I think I cried.....
Thankyou for your interest.
Have a nice day. Wally.
 
Hi Wally: Glad to see you on the Forum again. The gobstoppers were on sale for years back in the l950's onward until ?... Looks like you can still buy them at old fashioned type sweet shops. I had a similar experience because we used to suck them and play around at the same time...very dangerous. You were very lucky to have survived the choking by one of these gobstoppers. They turned all different colours if I remember and had an aniseed ball in the middle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobstopper

I also remember my father chasing a rat with a shovel. During WW2 our neighbours kept chickens and that attracted the rats due mainly to the fact that they could smell the chicken feed and also they used to burrow through the soil to get into the chicken house. Only saw Dad chase a rat a couple of times though.
 
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