Good afternoon TimMy late uncle was a dentist in Handsworth - he lived and practised in Hampstead Road as B A Latham. I now live in Adelaide, Australia, but still have a strong memory of the house and the dental surgery (which was actually on the corner of Hampstead and Gibson Roads - does anyone have any memories this.
We actually lived in Hall Green ( in much more modest circumstances!) and I can remember catching the 29A from Kedleston Road to somewhere north of the cirt centre and then transferring to the 16A because it travelled along Hampstead Road.
I’ve only just seen your post from some years ago and I do recall your uncle’s dental practice from the early to mid seventies. My mother was one of his patients and we used to travel there from our own home close to Handsworth Grammar.
The most striking memory of the inside of the surgery was it’s black wooden beams decorated with numerous horse brasses and white painted walls. The external entrance had a wooden canopy with a seating area. On entering, there was also wooden seating built in to the wall on the left hand side (possibly with a window), followed by a whitewashed hall (possibly with further beams) that led to the waiting area on the left. The flooring throughout was highly varnished wood and the waiting area consisted of settees (Laura Ashley-style) which were placed to make it look more like a living room, rather than rows of plastic chairs.
The treatment rooms were on the right hand side of the waiting area and the entrance doors were a combination of Louvre-windowed opaque glass and white wood to allow light in to the rear of the surgery.
I don’t remember the name of the dentist as being Mr Latham, but can recall a very tall, slender gentleman with red hair (almost matching moms) and she was always praising his workmanship even though she hated having to go to a dentist.