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Grand Casino Dance hall Corporation Street

M

Maria Magenta

master brummie
Not a night club, but I didn't know where else to post.

This morning on Saturday Live (Radio 4) a Battle of Britain pilot who lives in Solihull was being interviewed. He said that he had met his wife in a dance hall in Corporation Street, and I wondered where it would have been. It was in 1943, I think he said.

maria
 
Probably the Casino - or The Grand Mecca Casino which was in Corporation Street facing the Old Square. I used go in there loads, both in the evenings and for the lunchtime dances when I was a teenager and worked just down the road from there.

Judy
 
Jayell said:
Probably the Casino - or The Grand Mecca Casino which was in Corporation Street facing the Old Square. I used go in there loads, both in the evenings and for the lunchtime dances when I was a teenager and worked just down the road from there.

Judy
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There was a Hawkins Shell Fish bar next door and also an amusement arcade..They were my choices..

Dave A
 
What a great photo. Was the building turned into something else or was it bombed? I can't quite visualise what would be there now - I haven't been in that part of town for such a long time.
 
Maria Magenta said:
What a great photo. Was the building turned into something else or was it bombed? I can't quite visualise what would be there now - I haven't been in that part of town for such a long time.
Click to expand...

From around 1963 it became one side of the dual carriageway from what was (until 1990) the Gaumont Cinema Steelhouse Lane to the Masshouse Roundabout. (Is THAT there anymore even?)

https://www.photobydjnorton.com/OldSquare.html

If you look at the whole page of that link you will get a 'today' comparison. Sad, ain't it?
 
It is, yes! Thank you.
When I visited a few years ago, it was a real shock that the underground shops at the back of Lewis's (a sort of oval with shops round it) wasn't there as it had been filled in. I think there's a picture of it somewhere on the forum.

maria
 
Maria Magenta said:
It is, yes! Thank you.
When I visited a few years ago, it was a real shock that the underground shops at the back of Lewis's (a sort of oval with shops round it) wasn't there as it had been filled in. I think there's a picture of it somewhere on the forum.

maria
Click to expand...

Which is here, Maria. I hope the shoppers weren't buried in the rubble when it was filled in-having tried to find their way out of there for 35 years!

https://www.architecture.com/image-...tre-square-birmingham/posterid/RIBA62700.html

By the way, the particular image library lists this as the Bull Ring. But what do these Southerners know, hey?
 
Quite a place, the old Grand Casino Ballroom. In the fifties I played there as resident drummer with a couple of bands.

One week we had the Jack Parnell Band appearing for a whole week, followed by the Ray Ellington Quartet, with Marion Ryan., for a further week. The evening sessions would get very crowded, and the Casino was very popular. The evening clientele was very different from the afternoon clientele.

Afternoon tea dances were most popular, and was a meeting place for bored businessmen, and the local ladies, but in the evening it was couples and friends out for a dance and a chance to meet up.

The balcony would always be filled with people just watching the dancing, or the band. The last band that I worked with was Billy Walker, and when it became known that the Grand Casino was on its last legs, I left Birmingham to work with other bands around the UK. That was in the late fifties.
Billy Walker Band 001.jpgSadly, this is the only photograph I have of the Billy Walker Band, at the Grand Casino, which shows his brother, Jimmy Walker on piano (great jazz pianist), Billy Walker, Ross Neville (really Neville Rosborough), & Reg Lennox. The singer is Jill Emburey The drummer is not shown, but it would been either myself, or Garry Allcock. The drummer was tucked in at the rear of the band, on the right hand side, so either Garry or I got missed out here! The photo would have been taken in the latter part of the fifties.

Eddie
 
When I was a very young girl during the war, my best friend cut her head badly in a table shelter and had to attend the General Hospital on many occasions. I was looked after by her mother whilst my mother was working, she often took us to the Casino in the afternoon, I loved it, we at in the balcony which had small tables with pink cloths and table lamps, we would watch the dancers -magical to us war time kids.
 
sylviasayers said:
When I was a very young girl during the war, my best friend cut her head badly in a table shelter and had to attend the General Hospital on many occasions. I was looked after by her mother whilst my mother was working, she often took us to the Casino in the afternoon, I loved it, we at in the balcony which had small tables with pink cloths and table lamps, we would watch the dancers -magical to us war time kids.
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smashing memories sylvia....

lyn
 
I thought you might like that one Judy. Looks good fun, set you up for an afternoon of work. Viv.
 
norfolk brummie said:
Quite a place, the old Grand Casino Ballroom. In the fifties I played there as resident drummer with a couple of bands.

One week we had the Jack Parnell Band appearing for a whole week, followed by the Ray Ellington Quartet, with Marion Ryan., for a further week. The evening sessions would get very crowded, and the Casino was very popular. The evening clientele was very different from the afternoon clientele.

Afternoon tea dances were most popular, and was a meeting place for bored businessmen, and the local ladies, but in the evening it was couples and friends out for a dance and a chance to meet up.

The balcony would always be filled with people just watching the dancing, or the band. The last band that I worked with was Billy Walker, and when it became known that the Grand Casino was on its last legs, I left Birmingham to work with other bands around the UK. That was in the late fifties.
Billy Walker Band 001.jpgSadly, this is the only photograph I have of the Billy Walker Band, at the Grand Casino, which shows his brother, Jimmy Walker on piano (great jazz pianist), Billy Walker, Ross Neville (really Neville Rosborough), & Reg Lennox. The singer is Jill Emburey The drummer is not shown, but it would been either myself, or Garry Allcock. The drummer was tucked in at the rear of the band, on the right hand side, so either Garry or I got missed out here! The photo would have been taken in the latter part of the fifties.

Eddie
Click to expand...
Wow Eddie, this sounds amazing, what memories! I'd love to step back in time and see this, I love jazz. I'm wondering now if you knew Tony Levin. His son drums in a local Be Bop band, I'd love to have witnessed the originals.
 
Waxy
You will see that against Eddie's name is "gone but not forgotten", which means he is unfortunately no longer with us other than in memories
 
mikejee said:
Waxy
You will see that against Eddie's name is "gone but not forgotten", which means he is unfortunately no longer with us other than in memories
Click to expand...
Hi Mikejee, I did think that was an odd quote under his name and hoped it didn't mean that. He sounds like he was an amazing character. Sad to hear that.. :innocent:
 
Hey there, I totally agree with you! Grand Casino Dance Hall on Corporation Street is lit! It's the perfect spot to have a good time with your friends and dance the night away. The thing I'll never forget is their music. It's great. I'm new on this forum, but I gotta say, I'm loving the vibe here. By the way, have you checked out the online casino bonus list? It's got some sick deals that you don't wanna miss out on. Anyway, back to the topic, Grand Casino is definitely one of my favorite spots in Birmingham. I've had some of my best nights out there. Can't wait to go back soon!
 
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A few of us 5th formers used to sneak out of school on Wednesday lunchtimes to get a bus into the city centre then running to the Casino for the one hour jiving session for which we paid three pence and was given a magazine too. It was always crowded and the live music was amazing.
 
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