See Birmingham by Post Card

[motorman-mike]

A reminder here of the elegant 1930's in prewar Corporation Street. Sadly this postcard which has never been sent is deteriorating from some sort of chemical breakdown causing a 'misting' effect.

 

[Alf]

Richie I lost that site when changed computers about a month ago, thanks I posted it before

Found it here in the Search Box

https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12022&highlight=arthurlloyd

 

[motorman-mike]

A relaxed 1940's summer day at the top of New Street. The driver of the Morris 8 car has opened up his windscreen for a bit of air. Notice how many men are carrying a mac over their arm. Is that the statue in the background that ended up in Highgate Park? Any car buffs, is that a Daimler parked outside Etams? Answers please on a postcard.

 

[Phil]

Hi Mike

Yes thats King Ted that ended up at Highgate Park and soon to be reinstated . Can't help you out with the car though.

Phil

 

[maggs]

My other half, who is a car buff, reckons it is a Daimler.

 

[mikejee]

It looks a bit like an Alvis to me (not that i claim to be an expert) but see https://www.svvs.org/genpics3/1947_Alvis_TA14.jpg
mike

 

[Lloyd]

Any car buffs, is that a Daimler parked outside Etams?

Sure is, Mike, it's a Daimler 'Light 15' of early to mid 30s vintage. Here's a similar one at a rally recently.

 

[Frothblower]

Don't know whether it's the same model, but I like the photo.

 

[The Baron]

Looks to me like some sort of dust cart???

 

[The Baron]

Post 1081, Any one picked up on the sign to the right "REECE BROS YE OLDES TOBCCONYS SHOP IN BERMYCHAM"

Did those brothers live in another city? or my be they were migrants?
Can any one tell me if that was ever the way to spell BIRMINGHAM???

 

[mikejee]

That might be "YE OLDES TOBCCONYS SHOP IN BERMYCHAM", but it wasn't Reece Bros for any length of time. Reece Bros first appear in birmingham directories between
1868 and 1872. when they appear at Snow hill. No 1 bull st is a tobacaonist but under Hyla Smout, and Reeces don't move in there till sometime between 1878 and 1880.
mike

 

[jennyann]

Birmingham seems to have had several pronunciations and spellings:

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/search.aspx?query=Bermycham&rf=pubid:737

Must admit I had never heard of most of them.

 

[motorman-mike]

POST 1101,Any one picked up on the sign to the right "REECE BROS YE OLDES TOBCCONYS SHOP IN BERMYCHAM"

Did those brothers live in another city? or my be they were migrants?
Can any one tell me if that was ever the way to spell BIRMINGHAM???

Took a another look at that photo and it reads to me as "YE OLDEST TOBACCONYST SHOP IN BERMYNGHAM" and sounds like in dialect when you say it. Probably a publicity stunt (or a Black Country signwriter!).

 

[jennyann]

Hi Mike: It seems that Bermyngham was a surname used quite a lot in many places in Britain in the past.I can't even read the sign properly!

 

[motorman-mike]

Thanks jennyann. Come to think of it, I seem to remember hearing Carl Chinn say it was a de Bermyngham family that got the city going in Digbeth in the first place.
Mike

 

[The Baron]

Is this any better Jean???

 

[jennyann]

That's great Baron. Thanks. The ad certainly had a play on words as the spelling of tobacconist is different also.

 

[motorman-mike]

Out to the suburbs now and a look at Harborne High Street in a more laid back time.

 

[motorman-mike]

View attachment 37414View attachment 37413Still in the suburbs and an old card of Ye Old Farm Inn at Bournville. Interesting to see it is still going strong as the Old Farm Hotel these days. Think it looked nicer with the chimneys.

 

[mikejee]

I agree Mike, but inside i think most people would prefer todays version to the early 1900s (non-licensed)

 

[motorman-mike]

You're right there Mikejee - as the old song says: there's nothing so lonesome, morbid or drear than to sit in the bar of a pub with no beer

Mike

 

[motorman-mike]

A few months back I put on a postcard of the Norfolk Hotel on the Hagley Road. Here is another one they used to sell to customers, sorry I mean guests.

 

[Graham]

You're right there Mikejee - as the old song says: there's nothing so lonesome, morbid or drear than to sit in the bar of a pub with no beer

Mike

Mike, any idea when these lyrics were written? There is a Flemish recording by Bobbyjaan Schoepen that has similar words (in Flemish).

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhgN4trjnZU"]YouTube - Bobbejaan Schoepen - a brief history (feat. Theo Mertens)[/ame]​

 

[Graham]

Found it! Written in 1943.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqjjxgHqqM"]YouTube - 350. The Pub With No Beer (Dan Sheahan and Gordon Parsons)[/ame]​

 

[Carolynn]

You might already know this info but the name originally comes from Beorma, founder of Birmingham (Anglo-Saxon for Beorma's Home).
Birm(the ing means young)ham .

 

[motorman-mike]

Mike, any idea when these lyrics were written? There is a Flemish recording by Bobbyjaan Schoepen that has similar words (in Flemish).

YouTube - Bobbejaan Schoepen - a brief history (feat. Theo Mertens)​

'A Pub With No Beer' was a 1960's hit for an Australian called Slim Dusty that I used to enjoy listening to.
Mike

 

[motorman-mike]

Going back to postcards and in time is this view of Colmore Row probably around the 1930's.

 

[Elizabeth Redmond]

Stitcher

Here's a slightly better photo of The Grove for your collection.

Phil

i seem to remember going to a grove cinema when i stayed with my aunt and it was on soho road handsworth

 

[Peter Walker]

On the picture of the tram terminus in Colmore Row by the churchyard, I can confirm that the trams were cut back on Sunday, 4 June 1933, so that routes 23 and 24 to Lozells had to reverse at the top of Snow Hill. The famous one-way traffic system round the city centre was introduced next day. It lasted until the Inner Ring Road was opened in the 1960s.
On the Grove Cinema, it was definitely on the Dudley Road, corner of Grove Lane, just inside the city boundary,
Peter

 

[motorman-mike]

Peter, thank you for confirming the date. Here is another view of Colmore Row showing trams and an open top No12 bus to Bartley Green outside the much missed original Snow Hill Station. The sender of this card to Liverpool in October 1932 wrote "Having nice time, but rotten weather" Sounds about right.