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Nechells

Sorry Alf i just thought some of the newer members may have missed them from when the update was instigated .Dek
 
I lived in Queens Tower between 1958 and 1966, on the eigth floor next door to BazzM. I remember the Rocket and Duddeston Manor Bi-Lateral school being built, as well as the community centre. Anyway, and I may well be very wrong here but, wasn't the Rocket built right next door to an existing boozer. I'm fairly sure it had the word Train in its title. Down past the community centre, just under the Saltley railway bridge was a pub called The George. Right next door to the George was the best little chippy I've ever been in. Either that or the beer made the Fish and Chips taste a lot better. I can remember when fish and chips doubled in price overnight, from 3d to 6d. The Tom Thumb if I remember was up Duddeston Manor Road, halfway between Queens Tower and the Church. I must stop this now its making me seem like a boozehound.
 
Hi Brian,

The Rocket was indeed built next door to where the Train stood on Great Francis St before it became Little Hall Rd, and as an added bonus if you look between the pub and the tower block you can just make out the Tom Thumb. I drank in them all. The Tom Thumb, The Train and The Rocket. Though not as a regular, my pubs were the Adelaide & the Hamlet.

The photo is from Carl Chinns excellent site Birmingham Lives

Phil

Nechells The-Train-Tavern-Great-Francis-Street-7-1-1963-[1].jpg
 
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There you go Brian. Told you it wouldnt take too long before someone would drop in and help with anything you want to recall about Brum. I see the reply took 16 minutes. WHAT KEPT YOU PHIL ?
 
Where Did All the big familys move too from the old days i would like to know
from long acre ; nechells park rd and clements rd crawford street and rupert street
and many more ;
ones that spring to my mind is the whills family ; the cunningams the nottingham; the blackburns
and the courtneys and bullivants drapers ; etc
yes they was the good days i remember the guy whom stood on the corner by bulpitts in the rain
selling the mail ; whom lived up the terrace in long acre
best wishes astonion ;;
 
Hello Astonian my old mate. How are you ? Havent seen you for ages. You must be on when Im at work. Hope you are well.
 
HI BAZZ
What a great surprize to see and hear from you indeed i was only thinking of you last week
i had planned to em to you and i thought you might be working to hard your self
but like wise here myself i am working hard and around the clock
as my son and myself are travelling around the country and working from home 24 hrs unfortunelately
we have a big bussiness in technolgy wjhere we do travell to customers
and excepting orders by telex and posting out 24 hrs a day to the 4 corners of the globe now
we are deling with big companies now
apart frm that i am trying to keep up with the forum my family and myslf are fine and i hope your family is well as well how is hat little grand child now must be getting big now
i see you are busy than ever now at the airport thats good news surely
bazz i have to close here as we are off line dancing now but i will send you a em in the next couple of days
take care and do not work to hard all the best alan ;
 
pmc1947 thanks mate. I seem to remember that the beer in the Train was a hell of a lot better than the Rocket. Maybe because the Rocket started selling keg beers whereas the Train used proper pumps. Is my memory playing me tricks, or do I remember smelling the brewery when the wind was right. It was only up the road, by the swimming baths as I recall. I still love the smell of hops and yeast and I am a fan of real beer.
 
pmc1947 just had a closer look at that picture you put up. You wouldn't know, by any chance, the name of the pub that was across the road from the tall block of flats in the background, between The Train and South Tower would you mate.
 
Brian as I said in my post, it is the Tom Thumb, there are not many photos of this pub about and I have only seen one other that was too poor a copy to bother with. Here is the one from the train photo enlarged a little.

Phil

Nechells The Tom Thumb Duddeston Manor Rd 1963.jpg
 
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Hi Phil.
the pub I was thinking about you had to get to by going under the duel carriageway. It was on the corner opposite a row of shops and that block of flats was only across the road. By the way, love the old photo's. Never been one to take photo's myself, shame now I think about it.
 
The only duel carriageway in that area was Nechells Parkway and the Pub would probably have been the Oliver Cromwell. Dek
 
Yeah, thanks Dek. The Oliver Cromwell thats it. The underpass that had to be used to get under the carriageway was up by the church if I remember right, the number 14 bus stop was just there as well. The other way of getting to it was by crossing Great Lister St at the bottom, right by Queens Tower and walking up the road past the Doctors surgery. Can't remember the name of that road, ran at an angle to Great Lister St.
 
I've been wracking my brains, or whats left of them, for donkeys about that boozer. I used to go out with a girl from that tower block, can't remember its name either. I used to meet her dad in the Cromwell and have a quick pint with him before picking her up. Rosemary Scowen was her name, beautiful girl but we didn't last too long. When we split I moved away for work.
 
Thanks Dek, its funny how you can remember some small inconsequential things and yet, others just slip past like strangers in a fog.
 
Hi there would it be one of the following Nechells Park Road, Bloomsbury St, Oliver St or Rupert Street?
 
Brian Powell said:
Yeah, thanks Dek. The Oliver Cromwell thats it. The underpass that had to be used to get under the carriageway was up by the church if I remember right, the number 14 bus stop was just there as well. The other way of getting to it was by crossing Great Lister St at the bottom, right by Queens Tower and walking up the road past the Doctors surgery. Can't remember the name of that road, ran at an angle to Great Lister St.
Click to expand...

Are we talking about the street with the bank on the corner ?
I think it was Bloomsbury Street but dont know of any doctor's along there ( could well have been. )
Sorry I read the quote again and now seem to think it was Scoldfield Street
 
Ernie The Municipal Bank i believe was on the corner Of Gt Lister St and Oliver St , The Turks Head was on the corner of Bloomsbury St. I think the doctors was in Oliver St . If i remember right Oliver St ran at an angle to Gt Lister St and junction with Bloomsbury st by the bank. Dek
 
Brian, and the tower blocks were either Thames, Medway or Severn Tower with Victor Tower being the larger one further towards the gas works.
 
The attached picture was in a book I read, can't remember what it was called though. I was attracted to it, not because of any particular merit of the photo, but by the bricklayers skills. What I dont understand is Saltley Rd, Bellmouth? Anyone heard of it?

Terry
 
This could be from Victor Skipp's book on Birmingham. It is thanks to Thomas Avery, in part, who after retiring from making scales became a City Alderman (or Town as it was then), and was largely responsible for sewerage.
 
It could have been Shortie, but I really cannot remember. I did'nt know that about T.Avery, something else I've learnt. Cheers


Terry
 
dek carr said:
Ernie The Municipal Bank i believe was on the corner Of Gt Lister St and Oliver St , The Turks Head was on the corner of Bloomsbury St. I think the doctors was in Oliver St . If i remember right Oliver St ran at an angle to Gt Lister St and junction with Bloomsbury st by the bank. Dek
Click to expand...

Dek

The Birmingham Municipal Bank was on the corner of Little Francis St and Great Lister St and the Lister Tavern was on the other corner. Little Francis St was opposite Scholefield St.

Phil
 
Am I correct in thinking there is - or was - a Salvation Army on Duddeston Manor Road? If so, could anyone tell me where it is/was, and does anyone have a photograph of it? Many thanks.
 
could,nt resist it.
we were in York railway museum a couple of weeks ago,
used to train spot off the wall in melvina rd, went to locko, lived in Cromwell st.
happy days..dereklcg
 
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