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Lichfield Road Aston

Elmdon Boy, the butcher's shop you visited in 1968 could have been that of William Whitehouse who is listed in Kelly's 1965 at 262 Lichfield Road. The shop was immediately next to the opening to Lovers Walk alongside the station. It is shown on the attached image (around 1950) and was still there after the station was re-modelled (late sixties?). The third image identifies the other shops in that block in the mid 1960s.Aston Station c1950.jpg Aston Station.JPG
264 to 282 Lichfield Road mid sixties.JPG
 
Brasscaster , I don't recall the butchers being that close to the railway station, and I notice from the map that there are no second hand shops in the row of shops that in my mind would have been in the said shop area 1969.
Could there have been a butchers further down the Lichfield on the same side, but passed the station.
Could the second hand shop have been further up the Lichfield towards city centre, or was love so blind that it played tricks on my memory?
 
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The area and roads in post 112# have certainly changed. The upper photo, b and w, has a sign above the side entrance to the railway station which states LMS Aston. The LMS became British Railways (Midland) in January 1948; the bus in the photograph appears to be a 1948 - 1950 vehicle.
Tram 678, built 1924, withdrawn 1952/53 has post 1946 livery with new style numerals. Car 706 built 1925, withdrawn 1952 again in post 1946 livery but with old style numerals.
The pedestrian crossing has moved in the coloured photo, probably where the traffic signal is. A present day view shows the signals further along from the bridge. Also in the coloured photo, in front of the Whitehouse shop, appears a .pillar alarm or some traffic control or similar. I do not believe it is a street fire alarm. which were usually painted red. Of curiosity I do not know when those fire alarms were removed from the streets.
 
there was not another butchers shop passed the station the last butchers shop on lichfield road was just before grovenor street westabout five or six before you reached the corner and on the very corner was an old shop which had bits and bobs and a couple of old fashioned bikes with a huge penny farthing stuck right out side of the shop there was three old antiques shop if you can call them coming down the lichfield road heading towards the station first one a big huge double fronted shop full of antiques and junk of every discription this was before you reach the corner of victoria road and forty yards before taylors toy shop continue down along crossing church land the car sales compond a acouple of shops thrre or for shops down before the post office was the dolls hospital shop for dolls continue down the shop with the huge penny farthing shop out side crossing over in continuing down to the station there was a smaller version of second hand antiques goods shop with a couple of items out side they could not compete with the larger one back up the lichfield road passing the station for about eight yards bthats where the other shop window with all junk in but rarely openend but directly facing on the other side of the lichfield road was another bigger shop selling second hand goods and antiques there was a varity of shops passing all these shops then you came to a coffee shop with curtains around but contine a little further thirty yards was where the last chance cafe opened up Astonian;;;
 
Lyn, Thompson's was there for a time after other buildings were demolished wasn't it? Or am I imagining that? Mom used to work at Clifford's Cafe and if they were running low she used to have to walk from St Stephen St to buy more sausages.
 
hi pen i have no idea as this is not really my neck o the woods...hopefully someone can confirm that for you...oh hang on that photo was taken around1971 i believe...

lyn
 
Lady Penelope said:
Lyn, Thompson's was there for a time after other buildings were demolished wasn't it? Or am I imagining that? Mom used to work at Clifford's Cafe and if they were running low she used to have to walk from St Stephen St to buy more sausages.
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Yes, I recall it was still there as a stand alone shop for a time. Used to pass it on the 65 bus. Did they also have a branch on Erdington High Street too.
 
Would that butchers shop be up near Ansells brewery then Lyn , looking at the numbers, if so then it wasn't that one. Thanks everyone for trying to help me out.
 
Lady Penelope said:
Joe 90, I remember that man so he must have been there in the 1960's. I thought he worked at the ironmongers but I could be wrong. He used to stand on the step.
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Yes it could be him l remember him just standing watching.l maybe wrong about butchers shop but it was by Ansells........Joe90
 
Looking through some Aston pics I noticed one with a tram and decided to add some colour to it but there was a puzzle !
aston lad said:
This photo of Lichfield Road may or may not have been posted before on here...if so...sorry .....
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Looking closely I noticed a four storey steelwork structure on the corner of Upper Portland Street and wondered whether it was a building being erected or demolished. Trams finished on the No 2 route in 1953 so the date of the pic was earlier. Six tall chimneys stand behind the steelwork with Ansell's brewery building in the distance.
ZBTram692.jpg

An aerial photo dated 1952 shows one of the chimneys partially demolished and no steelwork. It appears that the 'steelwork' building was being demolished in the colour pic. Ansells Brewery is far left, Upper Portland Street is centre and a red star marks where the tram was in the coloured pic.
LichfieldRd1953.jpg

An aerial photo dated 1939 shows no tall chimneys and a row of shops where the 'steelwork' building would be built.
LichfieldRd`939.jpg
It seems doubtful that the four storey building and six chimneys would have been built in WW2 so it seems they could have been built postwar but then demolished by the early 1950s, but this seems very unusual.
It is possible that the 1939 date on the aerial photo is wrong and the 6 chimneys were actually built before WW2 ... does anyone know when they were built?
 
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A photo exists, dated 4th. July,1953, which was the very last day the old style Birmingham trams ran, which does show the steel structure. So whatever happened to is obviously was after that date.
 
Radiorails said:
A photo exists, dated 4th. July,1953, which was the very last day the old style Birmingham trams ran, which does show the steel structure. So whatever happened to is obviously was after that date.
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Thanks, can you give me a link to the photo I would like to have a look at it. It seems that the 'bfa' dates on their photos may be wrong.
 
oldMohawk said:
Thanks, can you give me a link to the photo I would like to have a look at it. It seems that the 'bfa' dates on their photos may be wrong.
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iu

This is the photo. The copy I have is, in fact, in a book by David Harvey. However this one, along with lots of others, can be found on the net. Note the words 'the end' daubed on the dash of the car 616, which was ostensibly the last car to operate on the 2 route.
 
Thanks for the photo, I suppose it is one which has a definite confirmed date. It seems that the date of 1952 on the ‘bfa’ aerial view is wrong. The street colour photo shows the ‘steelwork’ with 6 chimneys behind, while the ‘bfa’ view shows no steelwork and only 5 complete chimneys.
 
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It is hard, sometimes, to date photos especially as so many were taken a long time ago, in fact before many members here were born, so approximate dates, limited to year and sometimes month, are not uncommon
However, as the date of the last Birmingham tram is well recorded and the graffitti 'THE END' was put there on that day, it is one that can be given a definite date of day, month and year.
 
With the streetview photo showing the 'steelwork' and six complete chimneys, it seems that the steelwork must have been removed by the time the 'bfa' aerial view was taken and one chimney partially demolished. Perhaps someone might know what the 'steelwork' building was when it was complete. There might even be a photo of it ...:)
 
I've found photos of the building before demolition but unfortunately no dates.
Pic 1 it is a Ansells Building but the chimneys look different to the previous street view
AnsellsBuilding.jpg

Pic 2 the name Ansells has been removed and no date but some of those cars might give a clue.
AnsellsBuildingNoName.jpg

Pic 3 An 'improved version' of the pic in post#128 and which had a definite date 4 July 1954.
LastTramLichfieldRd.jpg
Does this last pic show demolition or construction of the buillding ?
I'm confused so will try and determine a 'timeline' ...
 
I've just looked at post#35 in this thread and there is no pic there. There is one post by Stars but it does not contain this pic. It might be elsewhere on the forum but I'm more interested in dates.

edit ps: It's in the 'other' Lichfield Road thread but no date or any information with it.
 
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oldMohawk said:
I've just looked at post#35 in this thread and there is no pic there. There is one post by Stars but it does not contain this pic. It might be elsewhere on the forum but I'm more interested in dates.
The picture showing the tram,which incidentally is July 4, 1953, must show construction of the building.Picture 1 which shows the building complete,is taken at a later date,as there are no tram tracks visible in Lichfield road.The last picture,showing all the parked cars,will be from around the mid 1960's as ther are several cars from around that date ( Vauxhall Cresta, Austin Maxi )…..Mal
edit ps: It's in the 'other' Lichfield Road thread but no date or any information with it.
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After a closer look, picture 1 is taken after 1959,as there is an Austin or Morris 'Mini' parked on the corner opposite 'Rumbellow's', this car was not introduced until 1959 ………………..Mal
 
Thanks Mal. So with the photo in post#128 having a definite date of July 1953 and showing the building as just steel girders it seems that maybe the building was being built in in that year which would put the date of the aerial pic many years out of date ... I'm more confused than ever now ... :)
 
The aerial photo dated 1952 is probably correct if it is showing the chimneys being built,and not being demolished.I would also say that the 1939 photograph is correct,as construction would not have started,or probably even been planned at that date...……..Mal
 
I've just looked at the aerial pic again and would have thought there would be some scaffolding around the chimney if it was being built but hard to be sure. Will have to have a think about it ... I'm happy with the 1939 pic ...
 
I would put money on the basis the chimneys were under construction, they even look brand new,no staining or weathering, If you blow up the picture,there appears to be a workman working from inside the chimney...………………..Mal
 
Yes I've just been Googling into how to build tall brick chimneys and whether there were scaffolds and supports inside the chimneys.
 
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