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Old street pics..

paul stacey said:
Great photo of an early horse bus Dennis, do not have clue where "The Tivoli", was or is, unless you mean the great park in the middle of Copenhagen, went with my wife and kids to that one loads of times.Paul
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I never knew them at all as I never used the Mermaid on the Stratford Road. Before my time, but Phil did and knew them well! Allegedly.....They knocked this one down and rebuilt it of course....!


Tram 2.jpg
 
Looks as if Phil is right. "The Mermaid on the junction of Warwick Road and Stratford Road was completely rebuilt in the 1880s when the Tivoli Gardens to the rear were an attraction for town dwellers who could now take the tram". Source, William Dargue, A History of Birmingham Places and place-names; Sparkbrook. Can't say that I ever spotted them from the bus in the 1950s onwards. Dave
 
Dave it was a little earlier than the 1950's, I believe it was back in the 1880's when they rebuilt the Mermaid Hotel, Dennis you are right about me being around then it was our company that won the contract to demolish the old Inn.
 
Phil said:
Dave it was a little earlier than the 1950's, I believe it was back in the 1880's when they rebuilt the Mermaid Hotel, Dennis you are right about me being around then it was our company that won the contract to demolish the old Inn.
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Phil, it does say that the Mermaid was rebuilt in the 1880s in my post. Were the Tivoli Gardens demolished in the 1880s or did they stay on until much later? Dave.
 
Phil said:
Dave it was a little earlier than the 1950's, I believe it was back in the 1880's when they rebuilt the Mermaid Hotel, Dennis you are right about me being around then it was our company that won the contract to demolish the old Inn.
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Sorry old mate...I thought it looked a bit like you in that pony and trap in the original photo....?
 
farmerdave said:
Phil, it does say that the Mermaid was rebuilt in the 1880s in my post. Were the Tivoli Gardens demolished in the 1880s or did they stay on until much later? Dave.
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Dave,

Sorry mate my memory is not that good, but I would imagine that they went the same time as the pub was rebuilt as it had a much larger footprint and it would have encroached onto the grounds, anyway parks like this were becoming surplus to requirements by the end of the 19th century as public parks opened.
 
It seems they were still there, and quite extensive by the look of it when this map (c1889 but probably surveyed 1886) was made

map_c_1889_mermaid_stratford_road_showing_tivoli_gardens.jpg
 
Mike

To be honest I was surprised in fact how small they were after seeing the layout on your map. I thought that they might have at least extended to as far as Weatheroak Rd, whereas they don't even measure up to the size of the gardens of some of the larger houses in the vicinity.
 
mikejee said:
It seems they were still there, and quite extensive by the look of it when this map (c1889 but probably surveyed 1886) was made


Super map mike...never realised what was there.....wonder if the Mermaid was a purpose built Inn or Coach stop, or a private residence converted..? From what Phil said it might have been a big house once?
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Dennis

The Mermaid was a purpose built coaching inn built in 1740 and completely rebuilt in the 1880's, my only experience of the pub itself was at weekends in the 60's when they use to hold dances upstairs with live groups and afterwards the fights on the car park for dancing with the wrong girl.
 
For a while, I was in the resident band at the Mermaid Hotel in the very early 1950's. In those days, it was a very pleasant hotel, with the ballroom holding private functions. In fact, I arranged for my sister's wedding reception at the hotel. Never any trouble, and both the band and the patrons always dressed for the occasion. How times change.

We would park at the rear of the hotel, and after the evenings entertainment, we would go out to the car park to leave for home. No fighting, and the only entertainment we saw in the car park, which was a dark area, were couples enjoying an 'After The Ball Was Over' good time.

Say no more, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Eddie
 
mikejee said:
It seems they were still there, and quite extensive by the look of it when this map (c1889 but probably surveyed 1886) was made.
I understand that trams didn't run through Tyseley until 1916. As tracks are clearly shown on your map on the Warwick Rd. did trams run say to River Cole at Greet for a while?
I have a 1908 picture of the smithy opposite Stockfield Rd. and there are certainly no tram tracks. In 1898 Acocks Green was served by horse drawn 'buses
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Often passed the place when working at Tyseley on B.R. end of '71 and through '72. when we went off in the gang lorry to wherever we had to work that day. Often saw a few chaps still hanging around in the hope of someone hiring them for the dy.
 
A busy Hagley Rd, some short time after the turn of the last century.
 

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carolina said:
Phil a great photo. It looks like Laurel and Hardy on the left hand side. I wonder whereabout it is in Edgbaston.
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Carolina

I wouldn't care to even have a guess, that large building off to the right looks like a church, but it's showing chimney stacks on the roof so it could be any one of the many large buildings that abounded the Hagley Rd at the turn of the 19th century.
 
Lovely peaceful photo Phil. Quite different to nowadays! I'd love to know whereabouts on Hagley Road it was, but like you said it could be anywhere along that road. Even when I used to go regularly along that road in the 60s there were lots of lovely old buildings there.

Judy
 
Don't think its St Augustines, but that large Victorian Hotel with the sprawling garden around it, cannot remember the name, Cobden's??.Paul
 
The Cobden Hotel was on the same site as Rackhams, but there could have been another with a similar name. Saint Augustines is not like that at all, and it's just off the Hagley Road in a small 'square'. Its got a large spire. I think an old map might be of use, not sure if I have one of the Hagley Road.
 
The Cobden Hotel was on the same site as Rackhams, but there could have been another with a similar name. Saint Augustines is not like that at all, and it's just off the Hagley Road in a small 'square'. Its got a large spire. I think an old map might be of use, not sure if I have one of the Hagley Road.
 
Here is St Augustines. Definitely not on Hadley road. Hagley Road running along bottom of map.

map_c_1904__showing_St_augustines_church_off_Hagley_Roaf.jpg
 
But it did not move by the time of the photo Carol, it was knocked down around 1958 as they started to build Rackhams in 1959 or thereabouts. It couldn't have been the Cobden in the photo. I have got a map which shows Hagley Road around 1913, but not all of it. There is no building that I can see, apart from the Oratory and further down on the same side a Baptist Church and adjacent buildings that were at right-angles to the Hagley Road, so I am thinking it may have been nearer to the Kings Head than to Five Ways.
 
Shortie, no offence taken as you are correct about Rackhams taking over the site. This is is taken from the GOV.co.uk site The hotel continued in business until around 1959, when the company purchased a property on the Hagley Road and vacated the Corporation Street site.

The only other church would have been The Oratory. But of course, it may not even be a church. It was such a lovely area in times gone by. My Aunt just lived off Station Avenue/Stanmore Road and us living in Hockley, catching the No 9 bus at The Ivy Bush to where she lived seemed very very posh.
 
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