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Handsworth

Judy I don't think we ever appreciate things like that as youngsters, there are more important things to do! I can imagine Boulton's bedroom being able to cope easily with quite a few beds, as you say, it is a very large room. I didn't know about Lady Hamilton though, I suspect they only tell you what is actually documented, it may just be a myth. I was not lucky enough to go to the lecture when you had a trip to the house, how marvellous that would have been! Does it not in any way resemble your old home now?
 
Thanks for posting the map Bordesley. It's fascinating to see the area how it used to be, and to see the outline of Soho in its entirety.

Shortie - when I lived at Soho, there was a parking area and about 20 lock-up garages to the right hand side of the entrance drive. The drive was a beautiful sweeping one, curving round to the front door with flower beds and trees on a raised bank to one side. There was also a large garage for several cars with an inspection pit in the floor, on the house side of the driveway. At the front of the house there was a lovely raised garden with a cherry tree and lawn, behind the lawn was a vegetable garden hidden by a pergola of roses. At the side of the lawn there was the remains of once was a tennis court, and we had a chicken run, with chickens which supplied eggs for the hotel, plus we had a couple of ducks as well. The gardens were one-quarter of an acre. These have all been changed now - levelled out, and the Information/Entrance block has been built to the side.

In the main house going through the front door, to the right hand side was a Writing Room for the reps to do their work/reports in the evenings and leading from there was a large Billiards Room which was very popular with them in the evenings. This Billiards Room no longer exists as it was removed when the house was renovate (or before when the Police or GEC had it) as it was an extension to the original house. When they opened up the boarded up fireplace in the Writing Room in the early 1990's, they found a besom (witch's broom) in the fireplace - placed there to ward off evil spirits!

I could go on ......

Judy
 
Does anyone remember the blokes who used to walk up and down with the huge placard type advertisment on there back and fronts.
Hung over there shoulders on bracers. Im sure that was on Soho Rd but it might have been town.
 
I travelled up Alfred Rd last night where there used to be "Flights" coaches on the one corner, church on the other.
That garage still has coaches there - I rememeber it being quite posh in the day, and us going on day trips.

I also remember the shop front which was next to the Co-op and they had miniature cars for sale in the window (c1963 ?).
Just the right size for a kid - really fancied one of those but slightly outside our price range.
 
Stephen,I can remember Sugdens coaches being stationed there before Flights,this was just after the war,Mr Cart was one of the drivers, the fishing club (Cross Guns) hired them for the day.
Alan
 
Denise Lewis did a real good mini-section on Handsworth in the Olympics BBC prog last night.
There was a view down Soho Rd at the start and her and her mums take on their early life in Handsworth. It was a really interesting. I knew she had a slight Birmingham accent but I didnt know she was from good old Handsworth.
 
She was born in West Bromwich, but lived in Tettenhall as a child. Handsworth was later.
 
I'm still going to count her as Handsworthian Mike, altho I might be a bit out.

Does anyone remember Wilkinsons ?
I was told it was the first Wilko's in the UK, but Im unsure if that was 100% correct - perhaps one of the first ones.
 
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Yes I think thats right Bernard. And Shorty thanks for that I'll take that as confirmation :fat:

And we all know British is best ( well thats my feeling and Im sticking to it ).
I like Wilko's - still seems like a "peoples" shop to me, just wished they wouldnt keep moving everything around.
 
Hi - I'm just reading the same book.
Definitely artistic license! Also she refers to the Dartmouth family living at Sandwell Priory "a hundred times the size . . ." of the principal character's home - whereas Dartmouth acquired the priory house (all that remained of the ancient priory) and began rebuilding it in 1705. By the end of the 18th century the building had "at least 66 rooms" and it was known as Sandwell Hall.
The Handsworth (Soho) of the the time the author is writing was a little 'dark and satanic' - and therefore the perfect location for a grim, unforgiving place of penal servitude.
I lived in Murdock Road, by the way - but why I am reading women's pulp-fiction is another story . . .
(Hope you're still around!)
 
Hi Vivinne
Handsworth;was formerly part of stafford and was incorporatrated in 1911 .
Handsworth council was built between1878 and 1879;
The building also housed the libary and the fire station. and there was a butcher by the name of F Swadkings whom had a horse and cart
Of 18 and 19 lodge road
And there was another ocupant with his own premises whom was a publisher of cards and he publish his own premises in a series of cards
He was mr A Charles savage of 73 hamstead road handsworth
99 per cent these house are still standing today i was a milk man for midland counties dairies many moons ago in there days and i deliverd mlk to most of the population of handsworh some of them houses are very huge in deed within the area of hamstead rd and surrounding street i used to go inside some of them with there big high ceilings and dark rooms along with rthere big wide stair cases
my mother used to tell me of the stories of those uge houses and it would have been her grand fathers house with servants and there bells
just like up stairs and down stairs when she was a little girl ; and alot of the relations with in that family all used to live close like birchfield rd ;
best wishes astonian;;
 
You must know a lot about the lesser known parts of the area then Alan if you had a milk round there. I was just re-reading this thread and it really brings it home how much history there is. I only ever visited it when I went to my dentist in Hamstead Road or if I went through on the bus up to town. So never really explored the area. The more modern history did a lot of damage to its reputation, but like the article on the heritage trail says, things can change. I hope it's a success as it's a little gem with the Boulton, Watt, Lunar Society etc connection. Viv.
 
Hi Alan. He was Mr Mammott and was German. It was a bungalow, I think where Welford School now stands. In the waiting room he had a sculpture of himself, well only his head. And on the shelf above the fireplace was a little ornament of a rabbit with a hankie tied around its head, as though it had toothache! He was a very good dentist. I went there a lot as I had braces. Viv.
 
My Mum (passed away in '90) was a tenant of the King Edwards Schools Estate. She lived in two houses in Hall Road and two on Hamstead Road before being rescued and moved out to Bournebrook not long before she died. She'd moved up from South Wales in 1942 to work in a munitions factory. She forgot her way home(!) and worked at the same factory in Aston till she was eventually laid off in the 80's. The poor love was burgled three times in not many more years. There was so little left to steal that the thieves were reduced to nicking bananas from her fruit bowl at the end! And that's not some kind of racist cliche either.

I have so many sensory memories of the Park and the Public Library in particular that I can smell them now as I'm typing this, and I'm glad your Mum was so happy there. We were driven out, however, and I will always be resentful of what was allowed to become of a delightful leafy suburb. I don't know where you moved from when you went up to Great Barr (as did my wife as it happens) but I'll bet it was from a nicer house!

I was named after Austen Chamberlain whose 'Seat' was Birmingham West that took in Aston and Ladywood. He held the seat at 7 General Elections - 5 of which saw him as the only candidate! How politics change.

Nice to chat - all the best.
 
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Hi i lived in Wretham Rd (junction of Soho Rd & Hamstead Rd) until 1966, and worked at Wilkinsons at Villa Cross where Mr Wikinson srn and son David Wilkinson (son) formed part of the managment with a Mr Durham (director?) they also had a store in Soho Rd and opened a new store in Great Barr (still there i belive) , Mr Wilkinson' s srn brother had an hardware business in Thurmaston Leicester.Today i belive the head office is in Nottingham and stiil and as a couple the Wilkinsons family on the board.In those days it was not known as Wilko that came some years latter on paper bags etc it stated Wilkinsons For Value.Anybody out there ex employee from 1964-1967 ?happy days eh
 
graham002 sorry mate that store in Great Barr closed last year,I did, before moving to Great Barr use the Wilkinson shop on the Main Road many times,never went in there and they hadn't got what I wanted lovely shop and very helpful.
 
Hi Graham002 - I grew up in Handsworth and when I was at school (Soho College on Soho Hill) we always used to have our weekly PE lessons at a church hall at the bottom of Wretham Road on the right hand side going down. We used to march in a crocodile from school to the hall as my school didn't have its own facilities.

Judy
 
Hi Viv: What a photo.....A great day for all those people. It must have been a bit chilly that day on the top deck of the tram. OK if you were dressed warmly though.
The magnificent old building on the left is the Handsworth Library. Still standing today and that is good news indeed. Thanks for posting Viv.
 
Stephen0002002 said:
I liked Wilkinson on the Soho Rd. We always thought that was the original/first shop - but I'm unsure if that was correct. We lived on Babington Rd and when my mum and dad were there from c1950 it was a lovely place to be too.I have very many happy memories.

I am sorry to hear about the problems your mum had Austen its a pity that the local police could not give her more protection in some way.
Or maybe even the neighbours. We do live in a cynical and harsh world sometimes. But things will change.
Click to expand...
It was a long time ago, Stephen; she's been gone for 25 years - perhaps things have changed already.

I can't for the life of me picture Wilkinson's on Soho Road; I remember their great supermarket-type store at Villa Cross - everything from a tenon-saw to a pot of yoghurt!
I remember Woolworth and Marks & Spencer being next door to each other on Soho Road. I remember Foster's clothing shop, Casey's Camping Centre, Darlington's. Broadmore the fish monger (his daughter Betty was in my class at Grove Lane) Tibbets the grocer, Arthur Haynes the butcher. Nelson House was there in the 60s; a lot of my poor Dad's money got spent on 'trendy gear' from there.
But I can't place Wilkinson's . . . or can I? Was it a little shop on the same side as Woolies with wooden floors and smelling of paraffin? See what you've done now!!
(I know Babington Road - off a road off Boulton Road; knocked about with a lad called Alan Smith from there for a while. I remember it as being well-kept neat little houses that contrasted so much with those larger but singularly unkempt houses of Murdock Road where I lived. They just seemed to get grimier and more decrepit as the years went by).
Nice to 'chat'.
 
Austen, Wilkinsons on Soho Road was near the junction with Linwood Road. On the corner of Linwood there was a wine shop, then Henry Playfair shoes, next to which was a greengrocers. Next to that was Wilkinsons. I lived at 10 Linwood Road (the paint and wallpaper shop) for four years from November 1960 although I was away at school for at least two years of that time. I worked for six months at Playfair shoes, so had first hand experience of the shops nearby. It was not Marks and Spencer next to Woolworths, it was Littlewoods. Going upwards towards Linwood there was Robinsons cakes, Freeman Hardy Willis and a brilliant chemist shop but cannot remember the name - they had lovely cosmetics at a time when I was just experimenting and so it was like Aladdin's Cave to me.
 
Shortie, Woolworths wasn't quite next door to Littlewoods - Freeman, Hardy and Willis shoe shop was.
Then next to that was an electrical goods shop, then the driveway that led to the back of the shops and another shop the other side of the drive (possibly mens clothing) between Woolies and Littlewoods.

The Littlewoods shop closed down and later became a supermarket although the name of that escapes me for now.

According to Google street view the former Littlewoods is now home to three shops Badial, BX and another Badial while Woolworths is occupied by Iceland.

Greggs set back in the corner to the left of Iceland was formerly Pimms pet stores which moved around the corner into Grove Lane and the old Pimms was knocked through and became a sort of haberdashery annex of Woolworths.
Next door to that Robinsons bakers sold the most fabulous lemon, orange and coffee iced cream buns.

I think the shoe shop further up towards Linwood was Timpsons.

Nelson House (my first pair of jeans!!!) was the last shop before The Pump Tavern which was set back from the pavement, and a butchers the first one the after it (I think it was Barratts - definitely not Haynes, that was over the road) further up near Wilkinsons there was a shop that sold cooked meats etc which sported a full size plaster pig that the little children all played on, British Relay tv rental shop and a Wimbush's bakers - probably best remembered for their trial of different coloured bread wrappers named with the day of the week which I don't think was very popular as they reverted to the ordinary wrappers soon after..
 
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