Just looking at this thread again, it's really great to have had the map (thanks to the links from this forum) and to see these pics, I can sort of get a mental image now of how Broad Street (and surrounding area) was.
I had found out lots of info, but it was quite frustrating for me as I just could not picture the 'old' Birmingham. Thankfully that frustration has lifted and I am now going back over my findings and piecing it together as it would have been.
I do feel a 'great' sadness, as the pics and maps give me a sense of the 'atmosphere' of the 'old' Birmingham. I really feel for people that have had to witness the 'old' Brum being replaced. I wish I could have lived in Birmingham with my family and other families living only streets away from each other, it must have been fantastic.
I also feel a bit sorry for myself, as I moved to Redditch in 1974 when I was about 2 years old. I cannot remember growing up knowing places in Birmingham, for example Broad Street. I feel like I have missed out on a lot, but thankfully I can learn about Birmingham now. There is still so much to learn, but it does hurt looking back to my childhood thinking that I was growing up somewhere that was not my hometown. That said, Redditch was a great place to grow up as it was all new and modern, and it provided me with safety.