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Royal Naval Reserve Broad Street

H

homerdog

Brummie babby
Hello, my husbands Father was a Chief Petty Officer in the Naval Reserves. For many years he was based out of the building on Broad Street that is now Walkabout.
He and his bothers and sisters visited often and had many a family party there in the late 1960's / 1970's.
I've not been able to find any images of here online and was wondering is any had some they could share ?
Thank you :-)
 
Remember going to the Royal Navy Careers office in Broad Street in March 1972 for tests and Medicals before joining up and collecting Travel Warrents and along with others walking to New Sreet Station for train to London Then Ipswich (Ganges Shotley ) in September 1972
 
The building on the right of this Broad Street photo was later the site of the Walkabout bar.
Unfortunately, it doesn't show a Royal Naval Reserve office .... so either it is just out of shot on the right, or the office was gone by the time of the photo.
NB I see that one of the buildings behind the truck has a flagpole outside .... could that be it?
(The Walkabout Birmingham branch closed last weekend).

Broad Street 30.jpg
 
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I remember the Royal Navy premises very well, at one time there was what I think another recruiting premises next to Salisburys the butchers further up Broad St at one time
. The two windows just passed the lorry is where the Naval offices were which should tie up with my Kelly's entry of 274 & 275
 
for those that do not know we have an extensive thread for broad st with loads of photos that could be of interest...click on link below and read from post 1 so that you do not miss anything

lyn

R

Thread 'Broad Street'

Hi
I'm researching Broad Street history and I'm interested to find out about particular buildings.

The current building is where the Walkabout pub chain is based. My husband said that nearby there was a coin shop and other desolated shops before it was all redisigned as it stands now.

Does anyone know any information where I can find this out please.

Anything helps.

Kind regards Rianne
  • Appreciate
 
Astoness said:
for those that do not know we have an extensive thread for broad st with loads of photos that could be of interest...click on link below and read from post 1 so that you do not miss anything

lyn

R

Thread 'Broad Street'

Hi
I'm researching Broad Street history and I'm interested to find out about particular buildings.

The current building is where the Walkabout pub chain is based. My husband said that nearby there was a coin shop and other desolated shops before it was all redisigned as it stands now.

Does anyone know any information where I can find this out please.

Anything helps.

Kind regards Rianne
  • Appreciate
Click to expand...
Yes there certainly was Rianne ,The Format Coin & Medal Co at 269 Broad Street
I remember this shop very well, as a kid I aquired a medal from somewhere and asked my nother to take it in for valuation . The response to my mother was that it wasn't really worth anything there had been millions distributed for military service, if it was worth anything it would be very little . I thought about it for a vouple of days , I sent mom back to the shop and I ended up with half a crown .
 
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BrummieGeoff said:
The building on the right of this Broad Street photo was later the site of the Walkabout bar.
Unfortunately, it doesn't show a Royal Naval Reserve office .... so either it is just out of shot on the right, or the office was gone by the time of the photo.
NB I see that one of the buildings behind the truck has a flagpole outside .... could that be it?
(The Walkabout Birmingham branch closed last weekend).

View attachment 229521
Click to expand...
Yes that is it, it did have flagpoles outside.
 
Welcome, homerdog. There's only a brief mention of the RNRO on Broad Street in the Broad Street thread, so it's useful to have this dedicated thread about the offices. Thanks for posting your query.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Welcome, homerdog. There's only a brief mention of the RNRO on Broad Street in the Broad Street thread, so it's useful to have this dedicated thread about the offices. Thanks for posting your query.
Click to expand...
Thank you Viv

I have just spent a very pleasant morning reading though the Broad St thread. Much of it before my time but none the less fascinating to read.
Someone in that thread wondered why there were so many Naval people in Birmingham given how far it is from the sea. My husbands Dad was regular Navy and when he left there he worked in HR at the Birmingham Mint and joined the Navy Reserves.

I worked at the Daily News / Metro News at Five Ways for many years in the the late 80's / 90's . Somewhere around 1982 /3 I worked for Marks & Clerk in Alpha Tower
 
This might explain to some extent, although I don't know how accurate the quote is below. Other more informed members may be able to tell us.

"During World War II, Birmingham became home to a regional Naval Communications Training Centre.This base eventually grew into a commissioned "stone frigate" (a shore establishment) known as HMS Forward.It remains the central hub for the Royal Naval Reserve in the West Midlands, meaning thousands of local residents over the decades have served as "maritime reservists" while living landlocked lives". (Source: Wikipedia info)
 
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