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Monkey run

B

barryjohn

proper brummie kid
My mom and dad met on the 'monkey run' one Sunday evening in the mid 1930's. Does anyone know where the term 'monkey run' came from?
Where were the most popular monkey runs?
 
The ‘Monkey Run’ I knew was at the bottom of Common Lane,Bromford, it used to run alongside the river Tame, by the tubes factory.

It may be called ‘Monkey Run’ because it was used as a shortcut to Bromford Lane, as I have heard the expression used to dash across town.
 
Morturn said:
The ‘Monkey Run’ I knew was at the bottom of Common Lane,Bromford, it used to run alongside the river Tame, by the tubes factory.

It may be called ‘Monkey Run’ because it was used as a shortcut to Bromford Lane, as I have heard the expression used to dash across town.
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Spent most of my growing up years on that monkey run Morturn. Cycling down the hill from the advertising hording across the flat part up the little hill at the other side, just stopping before you ended up in the river.
 
I think I read somewhere that the origin of the English monkey run was used to describe a place where the young men would dress up in all their finery to attract the young ladies, hence there are many "monkey runs" around.
The American HowardCassell used it in a racially abusive way, to describe a black baseball player, when he said "see that monkey run",so take your pick!
Sue
 
It was definitely a place for young men and women to walk up and down a street trying to attract someone from the opposite sex (nothing to do with baseball!). I just don't see the connection with the term 'monkey run'.
 
My mom used to tell me that as a teenager, she and her girl friends would go to the monkey run. In this case, she was referring to the area of the A45 Coventry Road which ran alongside Small Heath Park. She said that girls would walk up and down one side of the road, and boys would walk up and down the other side. Each side eying up the other. LOL!
 
Our monkey run was High St Aston...just known as "The Run", no idea where the term came from but it was the place to look for the opposite sex.
Dave A
 
Actually, Pete, poor old Redford looks more like me now than I looked like him years ago! He's actually 5 months older than me. In this picture below taken last year, he's still got most of the colour in his hair and a darned sight more hair than me in that avatar picture which was cropped out of picture taken in 1996. So that's what money does for you! :) It buys a lifetime's subscription to Grecian 2000 !!

Maurice

132720
 
Agreed, Pete, but people age at different rates and I think if I shaved my beard off, Heaven forbid, I would look a lot older than him. A large number of Greek men have beards, most a lot longer than mine, so I fit in OK here until I open my mouth!

Maurice 8-)
 
impis said:
My mom used to tell me that as a teenager, she and her girl friends would go to the monkey run. In this case, she was referring to the area of the A45 Coventry Road which ran alongside Small Heath Park. She said that girls would walk up and down one side of the road, and boys would walk up and down the other side. Each side eying up the other. LOL!
Click to expand...
That Coventry Road monkey run was just about surviving in the late 1940's. It had gone by the time I might have been interested. The last one I saw was somewhere in Wales in the 60's.

The Spanish and Italians still have their promenades on Sunday afternoons. They are more elegant affairs for all the family, with grannies showing off their latest grandchild.
 
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