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Lozells Road Co-op

col we have said that many times on the forum...and i would say that some had to come down as they were realy unfit to live in but there were so many that would have lasted a whole lot longer....and then to replace them with properties with a life span of no longer than 50 years....another reason why pics are so important to find....

lyn...
 
silhouette53 said:
Oh yes !! You know I'd totally forgotten those flats on that side of the road !! The ugly rubbish ( flats, maisonettes and houses ) which they threw up to replace all the old back to backs just never registered with me, they were just . . . . there !!! LOL And how shabby and run down they became and how quickly !!! People can say what they will about the old back to backs but they were built to last and people took a pride in them years ago, as poor as they may have been !! Scrubbing front steps and swilling down the pavement in front of the house - daily !
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I think the youngsters today could well do with a spot of step-washing tuition. If you didn't do it properly you didn't half go a cropper on the back of yer head if you slipped off them!
 
When the time came for the replacement of the back to backs the solution was handed to "The Experts" and "The Consultants". As any person who has had dealings with these groups knows they will cost you a lot of money,give you a result that causes other un foreseen problems , and leave it for someone else to clean up the mess.
Thankfully we are not so trusting now and make our voice heard. OK we sometimes get steam rollered but we see less tower blocks and those are built for people who want to live in them.Planners can do a good job just make sure you are looking over their shoulder.
Many photos were taken before the Clean Air Act and would probably look even more grimy in colour. Just imagine if we could see some of the facades, that have been destroyed, un marked by pollution. Have any of our "photoshoppers" a solution? I bet the results would be stunning.
 
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Thanks for the kind words Colin. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the Lozells Road Co-op photographs. The copyright actually belongs to Midlands Co-operative Society who kindly gave me permission to send them to you.
Tony Chew
 
hi tony...isnt it great when folk are willing to share their pics....i was chatting to our mom the other day about the co ops on the lozells road and she was telling that 60 years ago to earn a bit of extra cash she waited tables for a wedding do at one of them....they must have had rooms at the back or upstairs i would imagine..mom couldnt quite recall which.....

lyn
 
Lyn, I went to a wedding reception in a room above the Co-op in Alum Rock Road, opposite the church where they married, a red brick church - very ordinary among a row of shops, may have been a Methodist church, can't remember now as it must have been almost 50 years ago.
 
hi syliva..looks like the co op must have done that sort of thing in some of their shops years back then....ive got a pic of one in town somewhere..will sort it out and post it...


Lyn
 
silhouette53 said:
Its me again - the William Street kid !! LOL Actually I'm over the moon because Lyn ( Astoness ) very kindly hunted down some amazing photos of William Street Lozells for me ( I was born there in 1953 ) and I never thought I would find any. Turns out that we began Alma St infants at the same time !! She was only there for about 6 months though and then moved house and school. What a coincidence though, and therefore it was highly appropriate that it was she who found the photos and I can't thank her enough. It looks to me from scouring this wonderful site that she has provided a similar service for lots of people and GOOD ON YER Lyn !!!! Anyway, I digress - William St came out onto Lozells Rd just across from the Royal Oak pub, now VERY sadly a Bangladeshi supermarket - what a travesty :( :( and there was a Co-op on both sides of the road. I've managed to obtain photos of them and here they are. The one at the corner of William St has a butchers dept and I clearly recall going in there with my mom as a small child. From the clothes in the window on the side of the shop which is in William St, I'd guess that the pic dates from around 1920 or earlier. My memory of it is of a fruit and vegetable dept and not clothing so it must have changed at some point. The other pic is of the other shop on the opposite side of Lozells Rd and was a grocery and provisions store - it remained thus as I remember it to be the same when I was a child. My mom used to buy me a pineapple tart from there :) :) There appears to be a mirror or something on the front of the shop and if you look you can see the reflection of a small boy who was presumably standing near the photographer across the road as he took the shot. The boys dress would also suggest a date of 1920 or even earlier. I hope these pics bring back memories to some of you - I only wish I could get similar quality pics of these Co-ops in the 50s/60s as they were when I was growing up and going into them. Both these photos were very kindly sent to me by a gentleman named Tony Chew who I met at the Radisson Hotel last Sunday at the Carl Chinn local history event

Colin
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Hi Colin, my great uncle Edwin james Doidge was Branch Manager at the Lozells Road Co-op for thirty years and retired in 1950. I'm writing up my family history and would love to see a photo of the branch but I can't find the ones you mentioned, is it me or have they been removed from the site?
Thanks in anticipation,
Shelagh Fox (nee Doidge)
 
hi shelagh and welcome...click on the link below start reading the thread from post 1 as its a very long thread but should contain photo of the co op shops ..pretty sure there are photos of the co ops near to the church on lozells road..if you have any problems get back to me..oh do you have the branch number of the one your gt uncle worked at ? also i wonder if someone could look up to see how many co op shops there was along the lozells road as i am not sure many thanks

lyn

J

Thread 'Lozells Road, Shops, Pubs, Businesses etc'

As a child I can remember Lozells Road very well. This was in the 1970's/80's. A very different place to now. We had a Woolworths (where I bought my very first record), Fine Fare, Boots The Chemist, A Wool Shop (cannot remember the name), a Pet Shop. At the far end there was The House of Holland. There was Wilkinsons at the other end of Lozells Road, probably Villa Road. As for pubs there was the Lozells Inn and was it the Bell Inn and of course The Royal Oak.

Has anyone got a photographs of Lozells Road around this time. I have seen more upto date ones of Lozells Road as it is now...
  • Appreciate
 
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