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Query about bombed pub

J

Jonathan

Guest
Hello all, first post on this forum and I hope someone can help me. A friend of mine who doesn't have internet access is very keen to find out the name of a pub which was destroyed in a bombing raid during WW2. It was located on the corner of Montgomery Street and White Road in Sparkbrook; presumably it was collateral damage from a raid on the then nearby munitions factory on Armoury Road. My friend remembers workers from the factory being served lunch from the canteen of the school on nearby Grace Road. It would mean the world to him to know the pub's name - can anyone help? :) Cheers!
 
Hiya Jonathan and Welcome to the forum..sorry I cant help you on this but I am sure one of the other members will be able to
 
i have searched for injuries & deaths for Montgomery Street & White Road and come up with nothing, BUT
on the night of the 19th November 1940 (The BSA Raid) there were casualties in Grace Road, but alas no mention of a public house.
 
Jonathan

There were beer retailers on either corner of White street. I remember the bomb site you are talking about I think it was on the same side as the school and was never rebuilt on although it may have been recently. Kelly's 1937 Directory does not give a name for the pub only that it was a beer retailer.

159 Fletcher Mrs. Maggie,
beer retlr
here is White rd
161 Burns Herbt. beer retlr

Perhaps armed with these names and numbers you might have better luck with your search.

Phil
 
Jonathan
I thought someone with a better knowledge of the area would have been able to help, so haven't put in my two-pennoth before. Looking at Kellys 1940 directory, there were two establishments marked "beer retailer" on the corner of montgomery st and white road, one on each side of the junction. No 159 was then run by William Albert Shuttleworth and no 161 was run by Mrs Ada Florence Maisey. "Beer retailer" can mean a pub (usually a beerhouse" which sold only/mainly beer) or just premises licensed to sell for consumption off the premises (ie off-licence) . However 1901 census returns show occupants of both 159 and 161 as "Beer house keeper", so probably this was so also in 1940.
Can't find any listing of a pub name on the censuses, or in any directory, but I think i know which was bombed, as in the 1943 directory 159 is still there but 161 (and the other 2 higher numbered houses on that side of the street) have disappeared. so It probably was 161 that was bombed
Sorry i can't find the name though
Mike
 
Thanks for effort guys shame we cant find the name of the pub some people from that area will probably know and this might jog someones memory hopefully :)
 
Guys, I really appreciate your having taken the time to research and reply to my request.

The "beer retailer" you refer to must be the premises my friend is thinking of; he'd only have been a kid during the war so through the mists of time it's quite possible that he came to think of it as having been a pub.

Mike, the additional detail about 161's absence in the 1943 directory is, I would say, a pretty clear indication that this is the location he's thinking of. I'm not going to see him until the New Year so I'll pass this information on to him and see if it prompts any further memories.

Once again, many thanks for your help! J.
 
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