Ladywood 2
master brummie
We think we know all the moles in MI6, but who were the moles in MI5, the people responsible for monitoring illegal radio transmissions.
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Kardomah
- Thread starter Di.Poppitt
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Ladywood 2
master brummie
We think we know all the moles in MI6, but who were the moles in MI5? They wee responsible for monitoring illegal radio transmissions.
lmr3103
master brummie
Thanks for posting that. It’s a very interesting article!
Ladywood 2
master brummie
Opps! sorry Fuchs of course.
Thanks for your appropriate correction
An easy slip! But it is interesting that Fuchs was spying so early in the war 1941-1943 when he was in Birmingham and working on the 'Tube Alloys' project. (The British origins of the atomic bomb).
Richard Dye
master brummie
Magnificent building!
Richard Dye
master brummie
Very interesting…….
Some of mosaics which featured in the New Street Kardomah are now upstairs in Charles Tyrwhitt a men's clothes shop. When the building was refurbished some mosaics were moved to the lobby of Newton Chambers in Cannon Street. Link posted up thread, but no harm in repeating it as this certainly is a remaining magnificent building:
https://ruthmillington.co.uk/surrea...m-surrealists-a-kardomah-cafe-a-mosaic-mural/
https://ruthmillington.co.uk/surrea...m-surrealists-a-kardomah-cafe-a-mosaic-mural/
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I'm too young to have used the New Street Kardomah, but looking at the photos it's clear that the cafe had a corner entrance under the sign, while Gail's has a window there and opens onto New Street. Gail's occupies 42A, while the Kardomah was bigger and had the basement as well. Downstairs Gail's is rather cramped and if you go upstairs take care as there's no handrail at the top. There's nothing to see except the view across New Street.
A question for those who used either of the Birmingham Kardomahs - was music played there, live or on records?
Newton Chambers was built c. 1899 by Essex, Goodman and Nicol. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1343367?section=official-list-entry
A question for those who used either of the Birmingham Kardomahs - was music played there, live or on records?
Newton Chambers was built c. 1899 by Essex, Goodman and Nicol. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1343367?section=official-list-entry
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Richard Dye
master brummie
The one near Snow Hill that I used was definitely not live, I assumed records that would be late 50’s easily 60’s. However it would be interesting to know that of earlier times!
Thanks Richard! It would be interesting to hear about earlier times.
I am not sure the mosaics were moved. They look far too delicate to me to survive such a thing, and why would you do it anyway? The ones in the shirt shop are against a wall well over half way across the first floor. They were behind a false wall before being revealed. I suspect that floor was occupied mainly by a different business, and only the bit directly above the Kardomah was theirs. The mosaics are really beautiful, probably art nouveau. Well worth going to see. I asked an Ecco staff member about mosaics, and she said they had some, but wouldn't let me upstairs. A newspaper article about the Kardomah mosaics was printed in the Birmingham Mail on 7th September 1906. Maybe Gail's would let someone else have a look?
They had the Mosaic Room and 'Exhibition Depot' for their teas.
Yes, I have of course read this article. It doesn't mean the other occupants of the first floor didn't have any mosaics, and that is where the ones in the Millington article actually are. Time for someone to get into Gail's, I think, to see if the Kardomah mosaics are still there in their staff area. All the maps up to 1969 show 42A occupying only one quarter only of the building. 42 is still separate from 41 in 1969, but has been absorbed into it since. So the mosaics in the planning application from 2017 are in what used to be number 42, not in the Kardomah.
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There are none in the public areas of Gail’s, I seem to remember some in Cannon St. The Dispatch article suggests ‘the lobby.’
lmr3103
master brummie
I wonder if you can even go upstairs in Gail’s?
Yes, you can. But I don’t know if there are any staff areas. The main room has an oven or autoclave at the far end.
If those are the mosaics, they do not look the same to me.
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The 2017 planning application is for 41 New Street, Charles Tyrwhitt, not the ex-Kardomah corner unit to the left as you look at the building. See the attached.
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The 'ghost' that's been resurrected on Birmingham's busiest street
There's something familiar back on Birmingham New Street that hearkens back to the city we were 125 years ago
Is this not the ground floor? The Charles Tyrwhitt space is much bigger than this, and the mosaics are opposite the stairs not under them.
Richard Dye
master brummie
Great article!The 'ghost' that's been resurrected on Birmingham's busiest street
There's something familiar back on Birmingham New Street that hearkens back to the city we were 125 years agowww.birminghammail.co.uk