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High Street Erdington

thanks micky i can see the palace ballroom on the left of pens photo so would that be the cinema marked on your map...looks about the right distance

lyn
 
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thanks micky i can see the palace ballroom on the left of pens photo so would that be the cinema marked on your map...looks about the right distance

lyn
Yes Lyn,that's the Palace Ballroom and Cinema at the top of the map..It also shows the Roebuck pub ,next to the National School and in the bottom left corner is St. Barnabas Church.
 
Thanks Micky. Definitely Roebuck (I used to wait outside on a Saturday morning for my Dad till Mom put a stop to it.) I had misplaced the buildings I was referring to. Facing Woolies, they were the other side of the school, the three in a row slighter further back from the road.
 
Thanks Lyn, it was the right hand side I used to wait by. Down the side entrance. Dad took me in to see the clock once, I mentioned it some time ago. I think the face revolved rather than it having hands and it appeared to go backwards. No-one else remembers it but then I don't think many of my friends stood outside on a Saturday morning!
 
Thanks Pedrocut, that seems much more likely. Also, the flags would have been for Edward VII's coronation wouldn't they? August 1902 - so typical English summer weather. Good picture.
 
This image has been discussed elsewhere and location confirmed. I'm trying to find it.
 
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here it is Viv
 
High St, Erdington
From 1962 to 1968 ...
my dad was the manager of Carlines supermarket at 106 High St Erdington.
It was close to the ABC Palace where I attended most Saturday matinees for
6d in the stalls or 9d in the circle ... we were ABC Minors.
I also watched many new movies there ... Dirty Dozen, How The West Was Won,
Magnificent Seven, Fist Full Of Dollars etc.

Our family lived 2 levels above the shop in the large flat, accessed by climbing
two flight of fire escape stairs at the rear. Our balcony at the rear had a
great view for miles with Fort Dunlop on the horizon.

The ABC Palace cinema was number 98-100 and moving along the street was Curry's
Radio shop, then a fresh fish shop then Carlines (owned by Wm Cussons). My mother
worked on the checkout and got RSI in her hand due to punching in prices as
customers came through - no scanners then.
A little further on was Pugh's Stationery and further again Sainsbury's which I
think replaced the Elmos site but I'm not sure.

Our flat had windows looking out over High Street and we looked across at a
meat shop called Rowbothams and also Boots Chemist. I remember in the early
Rolling Stones days they played at Mother's as did Tom Jones who arrived in
a parade on the back of a tray top lorry ... he waved at us.

I went to school at Marsh Hill Boys School, Stockland Green, and every
school day I walked the length of High St to the Six Ways intersection and caught
the number 11 Outer Circle bus. 'Penny a'pny choild' was the fare, smokers upstairs.

I remember saving up and buying records from the Music Box, the first single I
bought was Telstar by the Tornados and the first LP was Aftermath ...
I've still got them !
In 1968 we emigrated to Adelaide ... never been back to England, I'm 75.
 
This is a 1961 view looking up High Street with Six Ways Erdington behind the photographer. The steeple must have gone not long adapter this photo. The road off to the right by the steeple is Newman Road.

In the modern view, the concrete (faced) and brick building on the corner of Newman Road/High Street was Taylors/Owen Owen departmental store.

Screenshot_20250603_085446_Chrome.jpgScreenshot_20250603_101117_Maps.jpg
 
We have two threads about Erdington High Street. They have now been merged into this one. There is a third thread named simply 'Erdington', which largely deals with the High Street as well as other aspects of Erdington. I shall extract out Erdington High Street material and move it to this thread in due course. Together, it gives a very good history of a suburban High Street.

Consequently, there may be some duplication of images and information.
 
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Posts have now been moved across.. As I thought, there's quite a lot of duplication, but decided it best to leave any duplicated material. It's better to have the photos repeated than none at all, as happened when BHF was hacked and lost all photos. The early part of this thread suffered as a result of the hack. Hopefully many photos since that time have now been reposted.
 
Yes, looks like the Swan Inn on the left, that lamp was quite iconic. The Abbey steeple in the distance. Looks like just before the wall around the village green was built, but the monument commemorating of the jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 is there with its lamppost. I did not know it had a lamp on it.
 
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