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Lichfield Road Aston

I tell you what I have shed some tears this week with all the memories and fotos, I wish my mom was still alive to read and see them.
 
Too young and innocent to know about things like that,was there a sign in the shop saying buy me and stop one.
 
ha ha yea brilliant. do you remember greens the papershop on the corner by the chippy use to wait for the evening mail and despatch van to turn up saturday night at six oclock to buy the sports argus, think it cost threepence then.
 
I remember the news agents and Beebee's clothes shop.I never managed to prise a discount out of him even though he was next door
 
Hi Astonian
Am doing my family tree at present and when I read your last entry I noticed you mentioned Colin Fisher, I have a Colin M Fisher who married Ingrid McConnell, his parents were James E Fisher who married my granddads sister Vaughney Pugh from 2/96 Lichfield Road, could this be the same Colin Fisher ? I know you said he married Jenny but did they divorce, just a thought.
Denise
 
GOD MORNING CHESTERMAN
Nice to hear from you about colin and jenny yes these are the same couple i am on about indeed
i cannot say thou about the state of there marrige ;as i have not heard any think nor even seen them in thirty years at least;
the last time i seen jenny and colin after there marige ws down winson green rd ; it was an evening of the summer ;
and they was visting a friend down or above pimms the pet shop or the abve the butchers shop which was next door
i have been trying for years to track hem down ;as i would dearly love to make contact with them ;
i have mentioned previously over the years on this forum but failed
some one recentl said she or boh e living some where in lichfield ;
but are the together i do not know ; as i have sid i would dearly make contact
i also have not seen elsie gammage [ carols mother ] whom are cousins for about the same time
i last seen her at the bingo hall in bordesly green;
elsie is the aunt and carol the cousin;
have a nice day chesterman even thou the weather is terrible down here in worcesteshire best wishes astonian;;
 
In response to mal205 post #19.This picture shows Betty's Cafe.moss
 

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HI MOSSY
Have you got any pics of the other cafes such as the last chance cafe which was a bigger one which stayed open to late
or even the bee hive cafe across the rd from there it was next to the gangesters pub , the bee hive
have a nice day best wishes astoinian ;
 
hi paul ;
many thanks for that great picture of the last chance
yes there was a small one just on the bridge for the tram drives to ill thee jerry cans if i recall but i would not be able to recall its name
me and my mate ron ; known as cowboy whom worked on the gaff ; [ meaning the fair ]spent many hours on the machines in the bee hive and the last chance and walked many a girl back down lovers walk those were the days paul best wishes aston ian;; al;an;
 
I think the cafe near Salford bridge was called the Bird cage and if my memory serves me well someone was stabbed to death in there in the early 60s.
 
Hi Astonian
Should have mentioned I'm Denise Hodson nee Barry, I was on the Forum before but had lots of trouble logging on, just kept being turned away so have rejoined as chesterbirman.
Right down to Jenny and Colin. Thomas Pugh junior of 2/96 Lichfield Road his sister Vaughney Pugh married James E Fisher, their son was Colin M Fisher who married Jenny, they had 4 children but did get divorced. Colin remarried and his second wife has been in touch with me thats where I have got the info from. Haven't made a note of the names of their children but if you want to know I will go back to her email.
Hope you are keeping well.
Denise
 
Hi all
Yes you are right Astonite, the cafe was called the Bird Cage and like Astonian
i used it and the last chance cafe when i to was on the gaff (the Fair). I remember
there was a boating lake by there and the fairground was the otherside of the lake.
To save walking all the way round to the ground a gaff lad called cheeky charlie
suggested some lads get in one of the boats, about 4 lads did and some of the lads give the boat a big push,
but not before cheeky charlie pull the oars out of the boat. Wonder what happened to those poor lads,
last i seen of them they were heading out to the middle, it was about 11.30pm pitch black and they had no oars.
By the way i was not in the boat, and i did not help to push the boat out honest.

regards Stars
 
Astonian said:
HI MOSSES
FROM Aston cross itself from where the front offices on aston cross walking along the lichfield rd if heading towards the aston resovoir
right from that very corner there was very old and tiny shops if you image the very front door of ansells head office door which was facing the clock its
very central there was about four or five of these shops ; i cannot recall there names or trade at the moment ;
but walk around the corner to where they built an drive in for the horse and cart dray men in and out all day on the lichfield rd
and thats where they started again a series of little shops possible about eight in total ; and thats where the little houses and the big old victorian yards
was placed all along lichfield rd right up to upper portland street where you seen the front of ansells building in those days all those was big courts and prior to them back towards aston cross in and betwen those eight shops was these litle house before the big yards thats where no,13 was
facing them on the opersite side of lichfield rd was a couple of houses that fell betwen hercules bikes lorry entrance and the aston picture houst the astorian picture house and they showed billy hayley in concert and they danced and wrecked the seationg the manager went barmy ;
as i said all along that frontage of ansells up to upper portland stret was the houses and then just crossing the rd to continue was matys and a old butchers shop then old mr parkes where you would get the butter patter out of the barrel then there wasthe opening of a terrace where mandy grand father used to live then anothershop old mrs oxo we called her because she gave us all conkers in the oxo tins hence her name then a mrs barnes bought it off her then it was our rerrace listed as cromwell sqaure we was 5/ 92 lichfield rd ;aston; birmingham 6;
i beleive there is photographs of these house and the courts in one or two maggs and books are knocking about some where
i also recall the side entrance to ansel when they moderen ised that gate for the out exit for the horse befor they rebuilt the yatd whicn is in the beginnig of upper portland street i think i may have a picture book some where of it i can recall all of ansells being bult ack and front and in park road leadig up to
good old victoria rd ; best wishes astonian;
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One of those small shops was a hardware shop that had a very large bass broom hanging above the shop front, these was acquired by Ansells in 1950's and pulled down to expand it's brewey works.
 
I remember that there was a hardware shop with a big broom on the wall in the sixties,it was near to Startins Motors
 
Hi 205mal: The hardware shop was called The Big Broom. There are references on the forum about it. They are brief and basically say that it was a rather large hardware shop that sold many hardware items. There was a very large brass broom in the style of a yard brush with long bristles which hung above the outside of the shop. I remember seeing it when I went by on the bus. Unfortunately, I don't remember ever seeing a photo of the shop with the broom.
 
Sorry, didn't see Ray's answer about the Big Broom shop and the quote of Astonian's answer from sometime ago.
 
HI MAL ; Yes you are correct it was startins motor show rooms before premier motors and it was on the corner of hollond rd ; and just afew yards passing there was the big broom with it s huge giant brush afix to the exterior wall way abbove the shop frontage
i mentionioned this about four years agp and there was a photoraph of the shop as well and since then other people from time to time have also mentionioned it from time to time as this site was hi jacked we lost all the pics along with the big broom and facing the big broom shop was my grand fathers family
r unning the two coffee shops one just past the broom and one directly facing the shop and the one on the corner of rocky lane
on the corner also was the post office of hollond rd and oppersite as you are walking past the hollond rd was the car show room;
best wishes astonian;;
 
HI GUYS ;
I Hope you will excuse my follow on to the thread that i have just done before this info;
i just want to clarify a couple of things ;
firstly yes i did put it on about the big broom i started it about four years ago and secondly ; i said startins was the first car show room
but the fact it was premier motors first then startins and they gave discounts charges for the car workers of drew lane and the rover car workers at longbridge ; they had special discount cards to take to the motor factors ; and startins was one of the first ;
and i had just notice our and my dear old mate ray; grithis whom i have not spoken to in a long while stated on an thread that the shop was the big broom ; yes it was called the big broom ; but it was not where he said it was it was not commissioniond by ansells for there extention of the brewery frontage ;
because the big broom hard ware store was the oppersite way towards the city but yes it was in the fifties they closed down ;
there was a rake of shops on the lichfieldfrom the cross frontage of ansells and where mossis family kept the tiny shops ; yes they was tiny shops ; heading
towards old matys radio shop and upper portland street right along that section to the corner of upper portland street and on that corner is where they brought the big shire horse in and outfor and after duty ; wearing all therebig medals ;and walked them up to vicage rd ; stables
they revamp the car show room and built and revamped the building of the big broom hardwawre shop and replaced them with others shop frontage
just short of the avenue the hard ware shop called the big broom and yes it was up high above the shop it must ave been about three foot in lengh and a huge hard brissel hed which we call a yard broom ; just around on that corner of the avenue was mr fletchers house with his sort of attempt to give the premier , and startins competition in the sales of the car parts which he had placed in orange boxes in the pavement just in front of his house widows and by his front steps ;
my old grand father whom had the coffe shops on the cross was a tight skin flint he knew old mrfletcher they gre up together
and he said he would never buy anythink offhim as he was to expessive ; but like him old fletch made his mark in brum with there family of sons and grand sons
fletchers of dartmouth street ; fletchers auto parts i thought fletchers was highly competitive in prices
sorry to go abit but i thought i would just put ray right on the broom ; ray as always true he knows what he says is correct and some time in the past ray
my dear old friend some times put me right ; but this time its me putting him right ; ray will not mind me doing it ;
best wishes to you all astonian;;
 
If I remember correctly,the Premier Motor Company had a number of those A40 pedal cars on display.I used to stand at the window drooling over them when I was a kid.Alas I never got to own one.Who would have believed that they would become such an expensive collectors item
 
Is this the Big Broom we are looking for?I can't remember it being in Summer Lane, though i may be wrong.moss
 

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Astonian said:
HI MAL ; Yes you are correct it was startins motor show rooms before premier motors and it was on the corner of hollond rd ; and just afew yards passing there was the big broom with it s huge giant brush afix to the exterior wall way abbove the shop frontage
i mentionioned this about four years agp and there was a photoraph of the shop as well and since then other people from time to time have also mentionioned it from time to time as this site was hi jacked we lost all the pics along with the big broom and facing the big broom shop was my grand fathers family
r unning the two coffee shops one just past the broom and one directly facing the shop and the one on the corner of rocky lane
on the corner also was the post office of hollond rd and oppersite as you are walking past the hollond rd was the car show room;
best wishes astonian;;
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Aston Manor PO,Startins,and The Big Broom,all premise's i have had to visit running errands in days gone by,The Big Broom was like an alladins cave,Startins was where my old boy would send me for spares for his minivan,then his Austin Cambridge,and i used to collect my mom's family allowance from the post office.
 
Startins was where I bought my first car, a 1 year old 1961 A40 Farina, an old school friend of mine Frank Padgett worked there and reccomended it. Eric
 
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hi mossy ;
hope you are well as we do not hear much of you lately ;
regarding the big broom ; or if you like the call it the big broom as that what it was there was a brush factory down summer lane end as it was
in the 1800s to he very early 1900s i am trying to think of its name as my old lady worked there when she was very young
before getting married and i beleive the hardware shop which was massive bought it from themwhen the brush factory closed dow n
i actualy beleive it was inthe lower end of newtown ; end not far from the elkinton street or aston brook street end
passing the old parade of shops by the astonhippodrome and the house of jack built

it seems most of the young girls of that era and the area of aston Either at ansells or HP sauces where Ansells girls and the men would wear brown overalls
and wooden cloggs and alot at the lucas family in grt king street hockley summer lane oh of course woolworths ;
best wishes astonian;;
 
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