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Old street pics..

Having never been a Business man in my time in Birmingham I didn't know about that, but as a lad was forbidden to go to either Chinese or Indian restaurants by my Dad who was convinced like a lot of people in the late 50's early 60's that they used cat meat. This was of course rubbish, so I missed out on some ruddy good meals. Paul
 
norfolk brummie said:
Yes. Walking UP Snow Hill. I worked in Kay Westworths Music Shop around that time, and sometimes I would also have lunch in there. They did quite q cheap lunch. It was the first Chinese restaurant that I had been in. Eddie.
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hi eddie if you walked up snow hill i bet this photo brings back memories...its the best one ive ever seen..you can just see the salutation pub on the left...click on it twice for full screen..

lyn
 

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paul stacey said:
What a great photo Lyn, makes my old heart ache for "Old Birmingham".Paul
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hello paul...i have to say that that photo does it for me too..what a hive of activity snow hill used to be......the view today is so very bland and boring....

lyn
 
Kingstanding Rd Erdington, perhaps somebody with a better knowledge of the area than myself will be able to locate just where?
 

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hi phil i live a min from kingstanding road cant be sure here but as the road on the left is on an incline it could be going past goodway road heading towards the lights on the hawthorn road...i think the buildings you see in the distance could be the cluster of shops we have here on the junctions with kingstanding..hawthorn and warren farm roads...

lyn
 
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Lyn:

What a great photo of Snow Hill. I loved working in Snow Hill. Lots of people, traffic, shops, activity. All summed up nicely in that photo, and so much detail.

Lunch times were great. Within a couple of minutes I could be in a restaurant, coffee shop (Kardomah - Colmore Row), big store, sit in the cathedral grounds, or catch a bus to any part of Brum.

On Saturdays, Snow Hill would be alive with musicians. As well as Kay Westworths, there was Yardleys, who were, then, on the same side of the road as Westworths, and they used the slogan "THE BIG SHOP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL". There was also a pub around the Snow Hill/Great Charles Street area, where many of the musicians would meet of a Saturday lunchtime. I don't think it was the Salutation. Could be wrong. Perhaps Maurice or John could answer that one.
Some Saturdays, Charlie Hewitt, the manager at Yardleys, would walk up the hill, and look into Westworths window just to see how much trade we were doing!

Sadly now all gone. I have not been back for a few years, but no atmosphere there now. Eddie
 
what great memories you have there eddie thanks for sharing them with us and keep them coming....if you look again at the snow hill photo you can just see the salutation pub on the left...yardleys building is still there but im not sure if it is still called yardleys...you may have already seen this but if not here it is....

all the best eddie

lyn
 

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Lyn,

Another great photo of Yardley's before they changed the name to Musical Exchange. I note that there have been lots of queries over this shop on the websites. Locations, name etcetera.

To put the records straight, the ORIGINAL Yarldey's shop was on the OTHER side of the road, and was demolished for the Inner Ring Road scheme, as indeed, was Wesworths, and all the other shops and business'. Eddie
 
ahh thanks eddie...to be honest i always thought yardleys was always where it is in that photo so i have just learned something new..

lyn
 
Hi Eddie,

The "Archer Street" pub was the Chapel Tavern in Great Charles Street. It was a free-for-all, and, of course, no one got paid. That was fine for a year or so until the MU got to hear of it and then, in agreement with them, we charged a shilling on the door, which was donated to MU funds. Then everyone was happy! Amongst the regular performers there were Johnny Patrick, Colin Willetts, and Johnny Beck, and the whole proceedings took place upstairs where the piano was. It was a place to have a beer, sit in if you wanted to, exchange gig details, and generally make useful contacts. I remember going in one Saturday and mentioning that four of us had a wedding reception on that night at a schoolroom out near the edge of town. You could book those rooms in those days. Instead of the booked quartet nine musicians turned up, mostly blowing jazz. But everyone was happy (and mostly drunk) and they got a bigger band than they paid for. Likewise all the musicians had a chance to blow. The MU wouldn't have approved of that arrangement, but who was going to tell them?

Maurice
 
I remember the Kam Ling Chinese Restaurant opposite the side entrance to Snow Hill Station on Livery Street. They were there in the early 1960's.
The food was excellent and I had been known to go there twice in one day, at lunch time and then in the evening.Kam Ling2.jpg
 
I had my first Chinese meal there when I was 20.

Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk
 
Jennyann,

From memory I went to Kam Lings on a number of occasions. But I seem to remember it was downstairs. Is that correct?
 
They had an upstairs and a downstairs Koppite I am pretty sure of that.
 
Well Koppite this forum enabled me to finally prove to folk that my memory was correct about the 'Kam Ling' as members of my family would not believe me about it when I used to mention the Chines Opposite Snow Hill Station.
 
BernardR,

The history of Birmingham has always been of interest to me, and the 'old days' that I remember are ingrained, but with a 'yellow aged tint' attached to them. Seeing this picture again reminded me that I had posted it onto another forum 'Small Heath Circle' some 4 years ago, but seeing it again on this forum caused my brain cells to go into my old pictures and there it was. What I could not remember clearly was my notion that I always went downstairs. Thanks to you this proves I was correct. Thank you for your help.
 
Back in 1959/60 I went to work for The Vulcan Finance Co Near the cnr of Livery St and Gt Charles St (in my hazy memory).
On my first day I was being shown the ropes and we were being interrupted by me being asked such questions as "Are you going to have tuppence a week deducted from your pay for The Saturday Fund, which was explained to me as being a form of insurance against ill health and I could possibly go to Switzerland for two weeks if I got TB.
The pertinent question was would I be going to The Chapel at lunchtime, which I declined as I preferred a pub lunch. It was later explained by a fellow worker John Cooper (and fellow heavy drinker who later joined me in Australia) as a great pub next to The Dental Hospital.
Here we drank shoulder to shoulder with dental students and the young ladies who joined them. It was crowded but we had a regular pitch in the hallway where we thrived on beautiful beef sandwiches ( dripping instead of butter! and rare beef) washed down with as many pints as we could fit into our limited lunch break.
 
A great shot of Snow Hill in 1959 not long before they demolished it by the look of it, also a poorer photo of a Chinese restaurant at 15 Snow Hill that took the place of the Victory Restaurant that I believe has been mentioned.
 

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More good photos of Snow Hill. Thanks Phil.

Kay Wesworths Music Shop was approximately where the two sun blinds, and the two buses are seen. Just past Westworths there was also a short opening where Sid Evans had his violin shop. Yardley's Music Shop was further down the hill, but on the same side of the road. Eddie
 
Some stonking photo's, real oldies, walked down Raddlebarn Road a few times in my life, thought the #4916 was great. just like home, using driping instead of butter, and "getting as many pints down that lunch break would allow", very un PC today but a thing of its time, great.Paul
 
A nice early view of Aston High Street.
 

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