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Geach Arms, Summer Lane

hello cliff and welcome......i was born in paddington st...you maybe interested in our geach st thread where many old photos of the street have been posted..if you click on the link below it will take you straight to the thread....it is best to start reading it from post 1 as you dont want to miss anything...along the way you may find that you cant view some of the images this is due to the forum being hacked some years back but most of the missing photos have been re posted further down the thread...enjoy

lyn

Geach Street

so pleased to find this one...its the first pic i have come accross of geach st(i was born in the next st which was paddington and i still cant find any pics of there)...the geach arms pub would have been on the right on the corner of the street where it meets with summer lane... geach st from...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
astoniandennisbird said:
Hi Lyn.my spelling was awful.should have been geach street and rodway street.My father was a barmen for years at the three horse shoes when the gaffer was Ernie round.
I worked as a part time window cleaner with Ted leatherbarrow I also had a paper round at groves paper shop in summer lane and many people will remember me selling the sports Argus
around all the streets in that area.I also worked at Bailey Brothers on the corner of Hospital Street and Tower Street.I am still married to my wife who was Valerie George from Park Lane.People will remember her dad Erniewho always had his scotch terrier with him

dennis bird
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Hello I'm here with Peter Round. Son of Enoch Round. My dad is 79. His name is Peter Round. My grandad was the gaffer of the three horse shoes from 1947 - 53. Please say hi if you have any memories. Richard Round
 
hello peter and welcome...click on link below which will take you to the pubs on summer lane thread...pretty long thread so read from post 1...there are photos of all the pubs that were on the lane including the horseshoes which you may find of interest

lyn

Summer Lane Pubs

hi folks...well at last i have had the time to repost the pics of all the pubs that were on the lane:):)the red lion that was on the corner of bridge st west and summer lane was demolished in the early 1920s and so far a pic of this pub has never been found...the police station now stands on the...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Alf said:
The Geach had a good Sunday Football Side in the 1960s I played for them.
It was called Alexandra Suppiles renamed Newtown Unity out of the Newtown Club.

My Dad drank there Astonian:)
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My Mom and Dad ran the Geach for a few years back in the early 60s. Paddy and Betty Hanna. I went to St Chad's School. My best friend was Michael Scott. His Mom was a tall woman we knew as Big Joan Scott.
Betty passed away in 2006 and Paddy just passed away Sept 26 2021 here in Canada.
 

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Astonian said:
Hi pub crawlers
how many of you summer laners remember the
the geach arms
there was a good few characters that frequented the place
but names i will not mention ,as i know they do have relatives still alive today and the pub was on the corner of geach st.
John did you ever go in there ,or your father i found it smokey
but in them days most pubs was especialy in the bars
even thou they called rooms smoke rooms most of them was nt to bad ,it was always the bars and now we have no smoking at all in these pubs the smoking population was highly hughes in them days
with the park drives , woody wood bines my old man smoked two
per week with out fail poor old chap died at 42 years old in 1957
and there was the pipe smoking brigade , =how many smoke a pipe these days i wonder cleaner air less pubs these pipes didnt
half throw out smoke especial ols condor or twist and black shagg. [if i am allowed to say that would and i am not political
minded about it but it was a tobaco used by pipe smokers in those days best wishes astonian ;;
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Here's a pic of an Ansells' Babycham glass
 

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Horslips said:
My Mom and Dad ran the Geach for a few years back in the early 60s. Paddy and Betty Hanna. I went to St Chad's School. My best friend was Michael Scott. His Mom was a tall woman we knew as Big Joan Scott.
Betty passed away in 2006 and Paddy just passed away Sept 26 2021 here in Canada.
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any idea,s what the £5 reward was for?
 
pamela floyd said:
my dad harry floyd used to drink in the geach,as our uncle sid used to live in geach street, i remember a macadori who used to live rough, some times my dad would bring him home and let him sleep in his van, i used to sit out side the geach some times selling fruit / veg or other items while my dad was in side ,good old days ,..........
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The good old days we 2/17 geach st
 
I made use of the free Census 21 access this weekend (remembrance weekend) and discovered that my great grandmother lived next door to the Geach Arms on Summer Lane side. Her remaining family at home were now bakers.
My GGM lived in many streets over the years around here. Great Barr St, Gt Russell St etc and from the sound of it in squalid accommodation in many of the courts. It’s a bit of a shock to discover that she had many children after widowhood and likely to be different fathers. It seems that women were at risk when working in the factories. Those that were illiterate being more so as jobs were menial. I read a report by Joseph Corbett on the risk for women in manufacturing in the 19th c.

I found it on this interesting blogsite
Mapping Birmingham. The report on families in manufacturing that could have been describing the life of my GGM!

The Employment of Children in the Button Trade: Statement from Joseph Corbett

Taken from the ‘Commission on Child Labour’ of 1841, looking at the employment of children in the button trade . Folios 129 to 133. Evidence...
mappingbirmingham.blogspot.com mappingbirmingham.blogspot.com
 
Astoness said:
hi jan what was your gt grans address

lyn
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In 1901 she lived at 218 Summer Lane. On the census the entries before are Geach Arms and 210. Across the road it appears to be 223 Corner Cowper St as the entry. Suggesting that Geach Arms is on the even side ( but having done the census I know numbering order of houses is not always logical)
 
JanSmith said:
In 1901 she lived at 218 Summer Lane. On the census the entries before are Geach Arms and 210. Across the road it appears to be 223 Corner Cowper St as the entry. Suggesting that Geach Arms is on the even side ( but having done the census I know numbering order of houses is not always logical)
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Map showing numbers for Geach Arms and Three Horse Shoes i.e. 217 & 232. Difficult to pinpoint No. 218 exactly as there appears to be insufficient buildings between these two numbers but 218 is either part of the building shown as No. 217 or immediately next door
 

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It is a bit unclear, but the Geach arms seems to be a double unit space on the map. The photo shown previously shows an almost empty space to the left, and next to that a factory with entrances. I feel that this must be Henry Vale and Sons , which would be the are marked in red on the map below and is listed in the 1950 and earlier Kellys as 219/220. and in the electoral rolls as belonging to a. Vale. An earlier picture below shows a shop between Vales and the pub. this must be 218. I would suggest that this is in the area marked in blue, which apparently from the map seems to be part of the pub. Only a suggestion, but cannot see any other possibility at the moment.

1880s nmap showing 218 summer lane.jpggeach arms.jpg
 
thanks mike...from memory the geach pubs address should be in geach st as there was only one pub on summer lane where the address was in summer lane...does this photo help taken in the 60s

lyn

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mikejee said:
It is a bit unclear, but the Geach arms seems to be a double unit space on the map. The photo shown previously shows an almost empty space to the left, and next to that a factory with entrances. I feel that this must be Henry Vale and Sons , which would be the are marked in red on the map below and is listed in the 1950 and earlier Kellys as 219/220. and in the electoral rolls as belonging to a. Vale. An earlier picture below shows a shop between Vales and the pub. this must be 218. I would suggest that this is in the area marked in blue, which apparently from the map seems to be part of the pub. Only a suggestion, but cannot see any other possibility at the moment.

View attachment 196560View attachment 196561
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It makes sense that it was a shop as in the census my ancestors family were bakers.
 
Astoness said:
well in that case jan the photo on post 45 must show their shop/business i would think..lucky find as gone by the 1960s

lyn
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By1968 The Geach Arms had gone and we had moved from William St Lozells to a new house off Geach St. this is the first time I knew of a connection here. My family never talked about it so I don’t think they knew. It’s going into my new photo book Who Do You Think You Are!
Amazingly my GF must have decided to get himself away from a future in Summer Lane. He was baptised into Roman Catholic faith at the age of 13 (I never knew that) this gave him legitimacy. He changed his forname and birthdate. He then went onto join the army fighting in the Boer War and WW1.
All of this I learned from a little prompt by Lyn that Find My Past was free this weekend! I had been stuck on a few questions until then!
 
mikejee said:
I should have added that the 1921 Kellys lists 218 as Fisher & Son, bakers
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Interesting - Fred Fisher is from Cirencester and run the shop in 1921. Prior to that he ran a baker/confectioner shop in Station Rd, Erdington in 1911, Gravelly Hill in 1901 and Holte Rd 1891 Listed as a Baker in every census. I wonder if he was acquiring shops . Maybe a descendent of this family will find this post :) I am assuming he lived above the premises as all these streets had shop fronts at the time.
 
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