• 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

Ghost signs of Birmingham

Viv, I can't remember what it was but it wasn't an off-licence. These properties change hands so many times that I forget what was there. When I moved here in 1969 there were at least 4 grocery shops, a butchers, a chemists, a hairdressers and a haberdashers not to mention the Post Office. Now there's a florist, two hairdressers, a nail bar, some offices, a beauty shop, a pub, a barbers and a glass cutters. Not quite so useful. I'm pretty sure that the green door lead to the old bakery but it was gone before my time.
 
The “Gold Label” shop was also a mystery to me too. It caught my eye years ago as it always had the blinds shut and did not appear open for business.

It looks like its been converted to a dwelling now
 
It looks closed but the website suggests commercial sales not retail so perhaps it still operates. Still listed in current phone book with several numbers at that address.
 
Last edited:
Penny - all the "titles" in the phone book are fishing tackle!! A search on google seems to show "Gold Label" is a recognised fishing brand. They are listed at Companies House - Terry Eustace seems to be the founder.
 

Attachments

  • upload_2018-9-11_13-0-55.png
    upload_2018-9-11_13-0-55.png
    8 KB · Views: 4
Last edited:
Janice, we have a long standing fishing tackle shop not far away. I don't ever remember seeing 'Gold Label' open for business so it may have just been mail order.

Mike, sorry to disappoint you, with Christmas coming up, but it's a boxing shop called Box Clever run by (a very nice young man) named Wayne Elcock. I went in to talk to him when it first opened and had a nice chat. He was telling me about the resurgence of interest in boxing and boxing clubs.
 
An out of date sign above Perry Barr Station. Might even disappear before long as the station gets a makeover for the 2022 Games. Not a particularly attractive sign, and certainly not one to grab your attention, but one of its time I suppose. Looks almost temporary, like the signs on cinemas announcing this weeks films ! Viv.

94508F69-C453-406F-A384-206D27EEADFD.jpeg
 
The Golden Cross on the corner of Lichfield Road and Rocky Lane (Aston). No longer a pub, but some tell-tale signs of its history remain, including the ‘cross’ design in several of the window glasses and a number of ornamental crosses in the gables. Surprising that this and the short row of buildings along Lichfield Road has survived whilst the surrounding area was decimated in the name of progress. Viv.

6F42D938-00CF-43A2-87D9-3804E5A714DC.jpeg
 
viv i believe that it was a lovely pub inside and back in the day very popular for dancing....shame its closed but with very little housing close by now it did not really stand a chance

lyn
 
The ghost signs on the old buildings along that stretch Lyn give us a nice glimpse of how it once was. There’s the Golden Cross, the Bank and the public library (still in use ? Somehow doubt it as the letters are dropping off). There’s a later addition of York House in 1904. These are all signs of a once thriving community. Glad these are still there. But for how long ? Viv.

B63B3DCB-5284-4CA7-9A6F-B032CD75C331.jpeg
 
yes viv they wont last much longer.... apart from the 3 pub buildings further down and the little line of old shops next to the brittania pub all of that long stretch of lichfield road is now pretty much obliterated..last time i was down that way the library was closed for good i reckon...not enough people there to use it..a very sad souless area to look at compered to how many of us remember it

lyn
 
Last edited:
Ah, those were the days in the late 1950s, and you would quite often find me and many other Brum musicians upstairs in the Golden Cross on a Sunday evening, and for certain if Ronnie Scott and/or Tubby Hayes were playing. Good memories!

Maurice
 
Presumably this was once a pub on Moseley Road. Lovely beehive carving on two walls. (So was it called the Beehive ?). Viv,

175FCEE3-DEB8-45C2-9E06-53EA3A869638.jpeg
 
Vivienne14 said:
Presumably this was once a pub on Moseley Road. Lovely beehive carving on two walls. (So was it called the Beehive ?). Viv,
Click to expand...
In the 1905 Kelly's 320 Moseley Road was a branch of Lloyds Bank. It was still that in 1940.
In 1899 it was a provision dealers. It appears as Lloyds Bank in 1955 phone book.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Janice. So it was never a pub. The architecture doesn’t look much like a pub. Below explains the origin of the Lloyd Bank beehive. Don’t recall ever seeing these on their bank buildings anywhere else. Viv.

97CC72B8-7F64-4C31-AF5C-7D039E0391BF.jpeg
FBE72114-3B41-4298-B7D8-E0C3D946BCB2.jpeg
 
Viv - The building looks like several other "corner" banks in the area but, like you, I don't remember seeing a beehive before.
 
It’s nice when an old photo turns up telling us what was originally written on signs. Here’s an almost obliterated sign over a shop doorway on Coventry Road at the junction with Charles Road (full Streetview attached below)

F37DCCF3-A5DA-4389-80E6-8E6C0AA8D112.jpeg


Now all is revealed in this 1922 image. Viv.
EEBBEC2A-2985-43C8-9F11-6FFA1240AC9B.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • 494E5780-6795-470D-858B-E8A24E57D529.jpeg
    494E5780-6795-470D-858B-E8A24E57D529.jpeg
    297.1 KB · Views: 15
Vivienne14 said:
Presumably this was once a pub on Moseley Road. Lovely beehive carving on two walls. (So was it called the Beehive ?). Viv,

View attachment 127457
Click to expand...

Viv, This could have been a branch of Lloyds Bank as the Beehive was the trade mark of the bank long before the Black Horse. I know that there are several buildings in Birmingham with the Lloyds Bank beehive as, after all, Lloyds was a Birmingham bank.

This taken from the Lloyds Banking Group website
1822.jpg

1822 LLOYDS
HIGHWAY ROBBERY AND THE BEEHIVE
The original symbol of Lloyds Bank was a beehive. It was introduced in 1822, following a highway robbery in which £4,002 of Taylors & Lloyds’ banknotes were stolen.

The notes were taken from a mail coach, en route from London to Birmingham. Their loss prompted the partners to make their banknotes more distinctive, so that they would be more easily recognised. The symbol of the beehive was chosen, for its connotations of thrift and industry. From that point on, it appeared on banknotes, furniture and stationery.
 
viv i am sure i have seen a lloyds bank beehive somewhere else some years back...will have a think

lyn
 
I expect this has been posted before but a reminder that both Lloyds (Taylor & Lloyds) 1765 and Midland Bank (1836) originated in the city. The Birmingham Municipal Bank (became part of the former TSB I believe) also had roots there.
Those with memories of trams will recall the sliding doors screening driver from passengers that had a large advert, with a key design on the glass, that promoted the Birmingham Municipal Bank. I guess the most famous former Municipal branch, still not demolished, is that grand building (dwarfed by its surroundings) in Broad Street.
 
I was in Kings Heath and looking up at The Goose (formerly the Goose and Granite and before that the Cross Guns) on the High Street as someone had told me it is going to be refurbished and have another name change to The Courts. (or Court). I suddenly realised that the upper windows were etched - Billiard Room. (marked in red on Street View).
I did ask why "The Court" and was told because the upper room used to be Kings Heath Court Room - apparently the floor is now rotten and all that might be left is the Judge's Chair but I have no evidence to support this at the moment.
 

Attachments

  • upload_2018-9-19_19-30-15.png
    upload_2018-9-19_19-30-15.png
    275.2 KB · Views: 25
  • Billiard Room left.jpg
    Billiard Room left.jpg
    96.4 KB · Views: 25
  • Billiard room right.jpg
    Billiard room right.jpg
    102.6 KB · Views: 24
Janice,

I only remember it as the Cross Guns during the time I lived in Albert Road, Kings Heath from 1950-1961. Why must they keep changing the names of pubs I wonder, especially to silly names like The Slug & Lettuce ?

Maurice
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top