• 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

Erdington

gingerjon

gingerjon

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN R.I.P.
This thread deals with Erdington High Street and the old Village Green. There are other specific threads with links below which may be of interest.

St Barnabas Church https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/st-barnabas-church-erdington.9445/page-17

Erdington Post Office on the Green https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...dington-post-office-on-the-green.44035/page-4

Erdington Picture House https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/erdington-picture-house.47214/page-2

Reservoir Road Erdington
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/reservoir-road-erdington.49127/

Station Road Erdington
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/station-road-erdington.34058/

Pype Hayes https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/pype-hayes.33062/


..........................................................................................................................


Erdington High street

Replacement image - may vary from original


2B6760D8-A1A3-4A2D-B4A5-13A08CC54AE1.jpeg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
John,is that looking down to Six ways,the church St Barnabas behind the trees and the round building the Acorn pub where I had my wedding reception?.

Erdington High street always called the 'village'.Mom was always 'going along the village' to shop and my sister who lives in Dare road(built by Harry Dare) still says the same.

Just opposite the church was Hazels undertakers.Old Mr. Hazel was very tall and thin,he always made me think of Uriah Heap.
He would stand in front of the funeral parlour in his top hat with the ribbons down the back and as kids he used to frighten us, although in fact he was a lovely man.
 
Used to go dancing at the palace and the Abbey years ago - are they still there???
 
Did you notice the cycle parked on theside of curb?
just imagine doing that to-day,it would soon be nicked
a nice photo John, maybe of better times????
 
Erdington High Street was my complete "universe" growing up. I started attending St. Barnabas Children's Church services on Sunday mornings when I was eight. Before that I attended the Baptist chapel in George Road and was entered on the Cradle Role when I was born. My Mother thought the Baptists were too strict and so we, my youngest brother and I, went to Erdington Parish, as we knew it. We could have gone to St.Mark's at Stockland Green where I was christened but the Minister at the time was quite strange.

That photo, which I imagine was taken in the early l950's, was typical of the High Street on Saturday, packed tight. As Alberta said, "Going to the Village" was the thing to do on Saturdays. Sundays, the street was totally empty. The High Street was also known as the local "Monkey Run" for quite a few decades. My father talked about walking over to Erdington Village from the Witton area with his brother and often mentioned what a lovely village Erdington was. This would have been in the early l920's.

I believe Littlewoods is still there, at least it was in 2004. My friend and I used to look under the sweet counter on Saturdays to find the wrapped sweets that had been dropped by the assistants. :P I can remember the old National School that was across the road from Littlewoods, long gone now, a small precinct now stands on the site.

I also remember Hazel's the Undertakers, which is still there and also Mr. Hazel, who used to march down the High Street wearing a fly-away collar and as Alberta says he was very tall and thin. He had an assistant who dressed in the same style. Mr. Snape was his name.

I ended up going to St. Barnabas three times on some Sundays, well, to the Church House, which you can just see in the photograph opposite the Church, on Sunday afternoons to Sunday School and when I was in my teens I went to the evening service. Many of my friends from school used to go as well so it was my out of school social life in a way. My parents were very strict about where I went and what I did in that respect. I attended Discoverer's on Thursday nights, it was a mixed group and I learned how to dance the Gay Gordans and the Valeta! Lovely memories of dancing in the Carlton Ballroom above the furniture shop that eventually became the famous "Mother's" Rock Club. Things were great until the Teds arrived and the fights started! Good entertainment. :knuppel2:

I remember going to the Ladies in the Acorn pub on the corner of Church Lane and the High Street, visible in the photo but never going into the pub itself. Went to The Roebuck pub later on. The Palace Cinema, The Palace Ballroom and the Erdington Picture House were well attended. I also remember when the El Toro Coffee House opened up in the late l950's. It was a great hang out and people used to line up to go in. Espresso Coffee was all the rage then for teenagers. They had a juke box on the ground floor. I met my first serious boyfriend in there. :smitten:

The shoe shops in the High Street got a lot of my wages years ago and I remember my Mother taking me and my brother to Dick's Coffee House. Upstairs they had a tea room and downstairs they sold coffee and coffee beans. The smell was heavenly. We were only allowed to have one cream cake even though a cake tier was brought to the table with several cakes on it. :-\

The High Street is much changed now, of course. The trees in front of the church are still there.
The wall was lowered many years ago so that the churchyard could be seen. The old Vicarage was pulled down and a new one built. So many memories in that High Street for me.
 
Great memories Jennyann.I went to all the same places and when we were short of money we just walked along the village and always met someone we knew to have a chat with.
Bought our first bedroom suite from the furniture shop under Carlton club, was it Hearns?

Shoe shops were fantastic,had my first pair of High(ish) heels from Dolcis.

Cinema was so affordable we went 2 or 3 times a week.

The Palace,Erdington Picture house,the Pavilion,the Plaza.

Remember the National school most of the children from Erdington Cottage homes went there.

Had a Saturday job in Woollies.

My exhusband worked in Wrensons,the one at the Six Ways end of the High street,there was another on the Green opposite the library.
 
Its great to see Erdington Village once again. Dave and I were married at Erdington Parish Church forty years ago.Do you remember to market Hall opposit Woolies I think, and we used to end up drinking coffee from Mr and Mrs Lorenzons stall. I used to go tap dancing at Ann Harris's in them days. That was in the high street. The library and the swimming baths were at the end of the street, and we frequented them quite often.I met Mr Hazel a few years ago, I'm not sure whether it was the original or his son, but he was quite old and had retired here in Newtown in Powys. Small world.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
:angel: I often went dancing on a Sunday afternoon in a Hall at the back of 'The Acorn' pub. It was part of the pub but only served soft drinks, the dances were for underage teens. This was when we lived in Pype Hayes.

Like the others I also bought shoes from the High St shops, it was a great shopping centre. Went again in 1986, things had changed then and probably changed again now.

Chris :angel:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Chris,The hall at the back of the pub was where I had my wedding.

The old market hall is still there plus the Wilton Market at the Green and of the high street.
The library is still there and hasn't changed much.

Lynda,unfortunately I have had to visit Mr. Hazel Jnr. (Ian) on 3 occassions over the past 10 years.
The original business in Erdington was taken over by a large European chain of funeral directors (although they kept the name)

Ian Hazel has his own business in Mere Green.

As for the village itself, I feel sad when i go there because it has a shabby, rundown, look about it.
 
My Mom & Dad arranged Pam's & My Engagment party at the Church Hall just up on the right opposite the Church, back in 1960.There was a dance hall called THE CALTON BALLROOM on the second floor in a building next to the Church Hall, Pam danced there for a number of years before we met.
ASTON
 
Thanks for clearing up the Hazel's funeral business history, Alberta. I was confused I must admit but as most long time funeral companies have now been marged into large companies in the Western world, it's not surprising that Hazels were swallowed up. I can imagine Ian Hazel didn't like that idea and went out on his own. Hope it is working out for him.

My friend Margaret lives in Wilton Road across the by-pass near to Osborne Road and
she laments often about all the changes to Erdington. Especially the fountain that was installed about four years ago. A not too bad looking fountain except the municipals didn't put a fence around it and it wasn't long before the soap suds and graffitti arrived. Last time I was there in 2004 I walked the whole length of the High Street both ways. It was a holiday and all the shops were closed. It was indeed sad to see the state of the street especially towards Six Ways Erdington. I went on a short tour of St. Barnabas Church, saying nothing bout my connections and learned more about the history than I ever knew after years of attending services there. The balcony had gone and the back of the church was different but the rest of it remains the same.

I know that the Municipal Council have plans to renovate Six Ways and the burnt out buildings but to date no work has begun on it. I tried to concentrate my mind on the days when it was much pleasanter place. I think the the name of the furniture shop located under The Carlton Ballroom was called Hilton's. They sold some pretty jazzy stuff back then.

Aston, that would have been the hall at the back of The Acorn where your Engagement party was held and where Pom went dancing as a teenager.

Lynda. Ann Harris was my dancing teacher for tap and ballet. Mom had to buy a tambourine for me which we put ribbons on and my first pair of pink satin ballet slippers I wasn't very good but at that time I wanted to be Moira Shearer!. I used to go to Cecil Road for lessons on Saturday mornings. I remember being in a show at the YMCA on Reservoir Road and singing Happy Days are Here Again.
 
I was just looking through these Virtual Brum Photo Galleries (there are so many), and noticed these of north B'ham/Erdington High St. and the church.
https://gallery.virtualbrum.co.uk/Mostly-North-Brum

I worked in Tescos on Erdington High. St. in '76/'77 and lived in a flat above a TV/Electrical shop which was on the corner of the High St. and Coton lane (which is pictured).
 
Thanks for the link to the Erdington photos Mazbeth. My brother and his wife lived above
Dorothy Perkins just along from where you lived in the mid l960's. My friend Margaret sent me a calendar last Xmas of old black and white photos of Erdington. These are very old photos going back to l907. There is one of Tram 270 waiting at the terminus at Chester Road, The top of the tram is completely open and the sides are made of wrought iron. There is no number on it and the destination sign says Erdington. The driver and conductor are posing for the photo. There is a photo of the corner of Coton Lane. The copyright restrictions are well spelled out so the photos can't be scanned,
however, you can go to Erdington Calendar site for more information. Also, there is a set of 25 Erdington photos recently photographed and posted to the Flickr photo site
at https://www.flickr.com/ Just type in Erdington on Search.
 
Lovely photograph of Erdington High Street and so many shops to choose from, this was where i would spend my dinner breaks when i was at school, i went to Erdington Abbey both Junior and senior and when i left school i would go to the Roebuck dancing and i think, it was called the Cavendish on top of the furniture shop, bopping the night away.
I have also just thought about a very modern cafe two doors away they had stools to sit on at the bar and you could bye knickerbocker glories yummy.
 
Catlin, The cafe was called the Snack Bar and was really the only place that you could get refreshments in Erdington High Street for many years after about l950. There was a wonderful shop called Dick's in Erdington just about where Thornton's is now. They roasted their own coffee and baked their own cakes which were sold on the premises and delivered to private clubs, etc. in the area. They had a Tea Room upstairs with waitress service and tea in little silver pots Mother used to take us to Dick's sometimes after shopping. We were only ever allowed to have one cream cake although the waitress would bring a cake tree with several cakes on it. This is going back to the early to the late l940's. The small market on Barnabas Road had a place where you could buy a cup of tea and a cake but later on. The Wilton market also appeared much later on where you could buy a snack and a cuppa.
 
Old Photo's Erdington Area

Another couple of postcards/photo's from my borrowed collection off the internet somewhere,
The man on the bike would this day and age would be taking his life in his hands, with amount of traffic that now uses this road.....also the kids of this day would be throwing stones at him......

Replacement image - may vary from original

FE9D4FB6-327D-4E77-8618-060BC955CE3A.jpeg
High Street 1912
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The post cards are, once again, great JK. Don't you just love the trees, which are always so noticablle on old Bimingham photos. :)
 
Jennyann,the memories come flooding back.

The Snack Bar,you could get cold Horlicks(don't knock it til you've tried it,gorgeous)

Dicks ,oh heaven.

There was a coffee bar we frequented in the late 50s on the opposite side of the High street than the Palace but further up towards the green.
 
Hi Alberta: I am so glad that you remember Dick's in the High Street. The only other person other than locals of my era who knew about Dick's was a
lady whom I met here in Vancouver when we had a mini Fentham Girls reunion with four of us who had come together through the Internet after our Centenary Reunion at Sutton Town Hall in April 2004 which I was lucky enough to attend. Beryl lived in Reservoir Road across from the Cottage Homes and went to the National School located in the High Street. Beryl's Aunt and Uncle were Manager's of a club located close to the Pavillion Cinema at Wylde Green, called the Anstey Club. The Club used to order all their cakes from Dick's which were served at dinners and dances, etc. The quality was excellent if I remember....Cream Horns and Merangues were my favourite.

The Coffee Bar that you have mentioned was called El Toro and it came
into being after the expresso coffee bars in town got going. They have been mentioned on this site before. It was very close to the Church House and the Dolcis shoe shop. It was always a squeeze to get in there. Basically, it was a residential house that had been converted. The coffee was 9d per cup and was made in the traditional espresso machines.
We all thought it was a very special scene. The music came from
a juke box which played all the hits of the time. There was an upstairs
area as well. One night in l958 I met my first serious boyfriend in there and we went out for four years. Lovely memories Alberta.
 
The first job i eve has was a holiday job in Tesco's in Erdington HIgh St. I used to go into t Chruchyard to eat my lunch sometimes on the gravestones.I always thought it was a fabulous Churchyard.
 
Great memories indeed Jennyann.
Before we married in 1961 my exhusband lived in Milverton Rd off Reservoir rd, I lived with my family in marsh lane but they then moved to Dare rd off Milverton and my sister now lives in Robin rd off Dare rd.
My sister started Fentham rd in 1956 but sat a 13+ and went to Holte Grammar(Aston Commercial).I went to Erdington grammar.
My Dad was a policeman and before he went on to the motor bikes his beat was around the roads above and occasionally the High street.
When I was 16 in 1958 I had a job as a Saturday assistant in Woolies on the High Street.

El Toro, crikey, we thought we were the bees-knees , fluorescent socks and our flatties shoes ,how modern were we.
 
Hi the club your thinking about was the Carlton and it was on top of Cavendish's the furniture shop, many of the top groups of the 60's played there and the Tyburn House too, El Riot and the Rebels (Moody Blues) Carl Wayne & The Vikings (The move) to name just a couple. Anyone remember Mothers at the Queens Head 6 ways?
 
High Street Erdington c 1930.
Replacement image - may vary from original


ADE2AC81-517E-4EA8-B996-D3368620FCB1.jpeg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thought I'd seen most photos of Erdington High St, I've not seen this one.
Do you know where in the High street it was taken?
 
Hi Frothblower, I was given some postcard albums last year. I am trying to post as many as possible for the family of the person who gave them to me (sadley passed away). The photo was taken just below where Woolworths was or is, in the location of the trams. Sorry I have not been to Erdington for a few years. Both my brother and sister worked in shops on the high street in the 60's and 70's.
 
Fantastic, thank you Moma P. Yes Woolworths is still there. I wait with baited breath for more photos
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top