Sheldon

[wendylee]

So many good things have disappeared from Sheldon. I was visiting a few weeks ago. There used to be a general stores/sweetie shop at the Cov Road end of Barrows Lane - it's a private house now. At the junction of Wagon Lane and the New Cov Road used to stand a rather grand, private house with a lot of statuary - now bland offices.

Shame on those that allowed the Wagon & Horses to disappear. There was a public house on that site long before the one that was recently burnt down and demolished.

The Sheldon Cinema is a Tescos. Many a happy and rowdy Saturday matinee took place there. And right next door another sweetie shop, the Bon Bon. A speciality of theirs was frozen Jubblys which, once the orange was sucked out, used to make great ammunition at the matinee. Until they were (unsurprisingly) banned.

Hi, I remember the sweet shop at the Coventry rd end of barrows Lane, my father used to get off the 58 or 60 bus after work and buy sweets for me and my sisters. We lived in Common Lane and sometimes would scooter up to meet him there was an old derelict house nearer the Coventry rd past the sweet shop we always called it the haunted house haha.

 

[oldsheldonian]

Does anyone remember the model railway that used to be at the back of the houses on Horse Shoes Lane.

It was accessed either through someones back garden or via a narrow gulley and into a field behind the houses.

I'm not sure what gauge it would have been but the track was raised off the ground and you sat astride the stock.

I wonder whatever happened to it, would be about 1955 or thereabouts....

I lived at 2158 Coventry Road, my parents owned the shop 'Honeybournes General Stores', I remember the railway in the field at the bottom of our garden
with the railway track but I never went on the trains. We left Birmingham in 1953 and I believe the trains were still operating then. I was very surprised to see your post -
I had been watching a TV programme about old railways and the Sheldon miniature trains came to mind. I looked to the Internet to see if I could find a link but found one to this
website and by coincidence came across your comments!

 

[oldsheldonian]

Hi, I remember the sweet shop at the Coventry rd end of barrows Lane, my father used to get off the 58 or 60 bus after work and buy sweets for me and my sisters. We lived in Common Lane and sometimes would scooter up to meet him there was an old derelict house nearer the Coventry rd past the sweet shop we always called it the haunted house haha.

I lived at 2158 Coventry Road which was the Post office until the late 40s when it was replaced by a new Branch Office in a large rank of shops further along the Coventry Road on the Boundary side of Sheaf Lane. The Post Office became Honeybourne's general Store until 1953. I remember a derelict house near a garage on the corner of Sheaf lane and Coventry Road opposite the Wheatsheaf Pub.

The Post Office at 2158 Coventry Road with the Three Horse Shoes Pub in the distance. The Wheatsheaf was about the same distance in the other direction on the other side of the road. These pictures must be of the same pre-war period. In 1953 The Three Horse Shoes did not look very different, it is now a characterless modern building. In 1953 the Post Office was Honeybourne's Stores but the bungalow next door was demolished and Fellow's Radio and TV shop was where the next door bungalow appears. The next shop along, which was where the house appears was Payne's shoe repairers.

 

[oldbrit]

Quaffed a few at both pubs in the 1950s happy days.

 

[lindyloo]

I lived at 2158 Coventry Road which was the Post office until the late 40s when it was replaced by a new Branch Office in a large rank of shops further along the Coventry Road on the Boundary side of Sheaf Lane. The Post Office became Honeybourne's general Store until 1953. I remember a derelict house near a garage on the corner of Sheaf lane and Coventry Road opposite the Wheatsheaf Pub. View attachment 109174 View attachment 109175 View attachment 109176

The Post Office at 2158 Coventry Road with the Three Horse Shoes Pub in the distance. The Wheatsheaf was about the same distance in the other direction on the other side of the road. These pictures must be of the same pre-war period. In 1953 The Three Horse Shoes did not look very different, it is now a characterless modern building. In 1953 the Post Office was Honeybourne's Stores but the bungalow next door was demolished and Fellow's Radio and TV shop was where the next door bungalow appears. The next shop along, which was where the house appears was Payne's shoe repairers.

Hi oldsheldonian, Thank you so much for posting your wonderful pictures !! especially the last two which I have not seen before. I have always wondered what the Coventry Road looked like before the precinct was built, and your last photo helps tremendously.
I wonder if you could help with a problem I am trying to solve regarding your photo of the Three Horseshoes please... I have for a long time, been trying to work out where the Sheldona Cafe and The Ship Tearooms were. I thought that the Sheldona was possibly by the Wheatsheaf Hotel/Pub and that the Ship was on the corner of Horseshoes Lane, opposite the Three Horseshoes Pub.. but in a discussion on another site, I was told that it was the Sheldona that was by the Horseshoes. The buildings in your photo don't really look like the Sheldona, which had a lighthouse on top of a flat roof ... have you any ideas on this please ?? I have seen a picture of the Ship Tearooms, but can't find it at the moment unfortunately.

 

[oldsheldonian]

Hi Lindyloo, I have been looking at an old thread in Place Related Enquiries and found some interesting entries back in 2011. I can't remember either cafe but have asked my cousin if she can. When were the cafes around?. I left in 1953 and at that time Honeybournes stores was the same as the photo. Towards Sheaf lane there were shops , Fellow's Radio and TV, Payne's shoe repairer, a greengrocer, HG Turners seed merchant (photo on the Birmingham forum)

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pictures+of+Sheldon+birmingham+Coventry+road+in+1950's&biw=1760&bih=862&tbm=isch&imgil=tSWpJoDZZgb73M%3A%3BDzY0Hr1JpnEhEM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.birminghamforum.co.uk%252Findex.php%253Ftopic%25253D3081.88&source=iu&pf=m&fir=tSWpJoDZZgb73M%3A%2CDzY0Hr1JpnEhEM%2C_&usg=__t-M6xf2VEguHO2Giyq7NGTI9RNU=&ved=0ahUKEwjR0aaOo6DQAhVKL8AKHWhgCzsQyjcINA&ei=1H8lWNGXJMregAbowK3YAw#imgrc=tSWpJoDZZgb73M:

then some houses,then Francis's Store, a Butchers (Dewhurst's?) others maybe then a derelict House and a Gararge on the corner of Sheaf Lane. Towards Horse Shoes lane there were houses, then Baker's coal yard and the Midland bank in a Wooden Hut, then houses, some allotments and then the Three Horse shoes. There may be bits missing!! Opposite side of Coventry road was just derelict land which was a wonderful playground to re enact Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy films on the way back from the Sheldon Cinema (think it was One and Threepence upstairs back balcony!) The only cafes I remember were the British Restaurant in Small Heath Park (I went to Waverley GS) and going to Lyons in town as a treat.

The shop opposite the Wheatsheaf was Shakespears - source of those yellow walls ice cream blocks and The Eagle Comic. Across the road in Sheaf lane a rank of shops with a chip shop at the end and I think a Maypole Grocers with a cashiers office and those overhead wired devices with wooden pots in which the cash was whizzed back and forward. Chip shop was possibly the Sea Gull but not sure about that.

So from what's left of my memory there was no cafe in between the Three Horse shoes and the Wheatsheaf up to 1953. But it wouldn't be the first time if I'm wrong!!

Obviously I was - this is from my cousin:-
I have a book on Sheldon which I have borrowed from Vic my brother. with a photo of the Sheldona Cafe with flat roof and lighthouse on the top. It is said to be near the Wheatsheaf. The reason for the lighthouse is unknown. I have phoned my cousin Margaret and she is going to see if she can find out about both, she lived on the Coventry Road Elmdon opposite the old Airport for over 40 years so saw quite a few changes. There was a cafe opposite Coalway Avenue on the Coventry Road but I do not know what it was called, I think it was owned by someone named Vickers. I was bridesmaid at Margaret's sisters Wedding Reception there in 1949. XXXX knows quite a lot about Sheldon perhaps you could e.mail him. The book was published by:- Tempus Publishing Ltd. The Mill, Brimscombe Port, Stroud, Gloustershire GL5 2QG www.tempus-publishing.com and you can place orders on the website. There are about 50 titles on the list for Birmingham. The one I have is called Images of England - Around Sheldon by Margaret D Green. First published 2004.

 

[oldsheldonian]

Lindiloo - not sure if you get notified about amendments to posts - I have added info about the Sheldona cafe to my earlier post

 

[lindyloo]

Lindiloo - not sure if you get notified about amendments to posts - I have added info about the Sheldona cafe to my earlier post

Hi oldsheldonian, I'm not sure if we get notified either, but I have had problems with my emails today, so I haven't looked, however, Ive kept this thread open and updated on my pc to look for a reply this is the first opportunity Ive had to reply though.
Thank you for your wonderful memories, they are most appreciated.
I am not sure when the cafes were there as I can find no reference in the records that I have access to apart from one that I found today for Jn Grayland in 1937. Mr Grayland was a cafe proprietor of 2159 Coventry Road. I discovered his name via a picture that was posted some time back by a member called jukebox. The picture was of the Ship Tearooms. 2159 would have been on the same side of the Coventry Road as The Wheatsheaf Hotel... which disproves my theory of the Sheldona being that side I guess, but if you find out any more information, I would be grateful to receive it.
The position of the Cafe by the Horseshoes would have been across Horseshoes Lane and opposite the Cinema, rather than in the stretch between Honeybournes and the Horseshoes.I have the book you mentioned,(thank you) which is where I saw the Sheldona picture.. it is where it said, "it is said to have been near the Wheatsheaf" that threw me.
Vickers was the name of the other cafe mentioned, the entry in Kelly's Directory read, Vickers, S & E.V.

Here are the pictures I mentioned, hopefully he won't mind me sharing them.
Would you mind if I shared your last 2 photos with the group that I'm in please, I know everyone would be thrilled to see them.

 

[oldsheldonian]

Hello Lindiloo. You are very welcome to copy the photo's I posted. I am waiting to see if my cousin's cousin can add anything about the missing lighthouse!!
When i was in Sheldon my mother ran the Post Office (which became Honeybourne's Stores when the a new Branch Office opened further down the Coventry Road near Coalway Avenue.
On Google maps all I can see is a post box so I guess this is near where the PO was) Funnily enough the Post Box remained outside Honeybournes for many years and at one stage before the precinct opened all that remained to mark our old shop was the Post Box and the dropped curb stones which marked the location of a gulley way which led down alongside our gardens to the back of the houses in Beverley Grove. My Grandad was the actual Postmaster but I never saw him do any work.
So Mom was always working 6 days a week, our treat trips to Lyons were part of a visit to a wharehouse in town, think it was called the Beehive, where she bought things to sell in the shop. So we never visited local tea shops and as you can imagine they were not high on my list of interests - I was usually out on my bike in the countryside, train spotting at Marston Green, going to Stonebridge or Kenilwoth Castle or walking along in Westley Brook wearing my wellies building dams or fishing for sticklebacks etc. Mom ran the Post Office all through the war so she seemed to know everybody and a 2 minute trip to the Greengrocers took half an hour at least. I can remember queues for bananas when the re-appeared. I went to Stanville road school and was surprised to see on Google maps that the school itself still has the same plan as in 1940's although you can only see the Caretakers House from the roadway now. My cousin went to Silvermere and I remember for a time when I was very little having to walk to Silvermere to get our school dinners!
If I get any more info I will post it.

 

[badpenny]

There used to be cafe on the corner of Horse Shoes Lane, they were famous for selling cornish ice cream which didn't seem
to be available anywhere else locally. This, i believe was the Sheldona and somewhere behind the property there was a coal yard.

The tennis courts were from memory about halfway down Horse Shoes Lane on the left side as you walked from Coventry Road.

I cannot remember the Ship tea rooms but i wonder if they were demolished or converted into a house there were one or two
newer properties built on that section of the lane which weren't in keeping with the others.

 

[oldsheldonian]

I suspect house numbering can change but I have just noticed that the Ship Tearooms was numbered 2159. Honeybournes was 2158 and the next door bungalow also owned and built for my grandad was 2160. This would seem to confirm that the Ship was on the Wheatsheaf side. There were no properties opposite at the time.

 

[badpenny]

Number 2159, as far as i remember there were no properties opposite where the precinct is now, not until they built Halfords etc.

I do wonder if the tea rooms are where the old Music Box record shop used to be, or maybe next door which became an Italian restaurant. Is that still there?

 

[mikejee]

Below is a map c1916. The cafe looks definitely older than that, so will appear on this map. At each end of the map are marked what are listed as the positions and numbers (in pink) of buildings on a map c 1950 (there are none numbered between those two) at nos 2109 and 2233. there aee only two sets of buildings between 2109 & 2233 in 1916, and i think, judging by the position , the ones in blue must corresponding to the cafe and shed next door

 

[oldsheldonian]

A family anecdote has it that when my grandad moved to Sheldon he had the opportunity to buy the land which is marked 380 on the Horse Shoes side. He bought 1 acre . I remember the empty land in the 40's/50's opposite our bungalows being very uneven, consistent with buildings having been demolished and the rubble left where it was. The area was usually covered with Rosebay Willowherb which is found on sites which have been built upon. This would appear to tie in with the numbering of the houses.

 

[badpenny]

That would suggest that the Ship tea rooms were demolished well before the second war.

I suspect they were initially popular with passing cyclists who frequented such places and as cycling became
less popular the cafe was less used.

There was definitely a cafe at the top of Horse Shoes Lane at the back of which was a coal yard and further
round some tennis courts. The tennis courts hard standing was still there when i lived in the area but was
now used as a childrens play area with a basketball hoop etc.

 

[oldsheldonian]

I have just looked at an Ordnance survey map of Sheldon produced in 1913 and revised in 1938 with a note saying that new buildings have been added but old ones have not been revised and may no longer exist. It shows the buildings which appear on mikejees map opposite a new rank of housing where Honeybournes was. I think you are right badpenny in thinking that the demolition took place well before WW2

 

[badpenny]

I've changed my mind, i now think that the Sheldona cafe was opposite where the wells shopping centre is now and was demolished.

The Ship tea rooms was on the corner across from the Horse Shoes PH and on the other side of the road from Sheldon cinema.

 

[oldsheldonian]

In post #278 above lindyloo appears to have identified the Ship Tearooms and its proprietor from a photo and established that it was number 2159 which places it on the Wheatsheaf side of the road.
In post #283 mikejee identifies the empty gap between number 2109 and 2233 again on the Wheatsheaf side.
Also in #283 the map shows a building (long since demolished) more or less opposite my old home numbers 2158 and 2160, where it would be.
This seems good evidence to support the location of the Ship but the location of the Sheldonia remains a mystery.
BUT on the map in post #283 there are three separate buildings between the Horse Shoes and the Wheatsheaf. Is it just possible that one of these could have been the Sheldonia? This could account for the Sheldonia being described as close to the Wheatsheaf AND for the Ship being nearer the Horse Shoes but both on the Wheatsheaf side of the road?
What we need is a photo of this remarkable place with the lighthouse on its roof and ideally its number. It sounds quite a unique building its odd that no photos have turned up. This is a very interesting question raised by lindyloo.

 

[mikejee]

The 1932 & 1933 Kellys does list a building at 2201 (which would approximately fit the other of the buildings on that side of the road). It describes it as a temperance hotel being run by Leslie James Wheelwright. In 1936 it is a haulage contractors.

 

[lindyloo]

Hi oldsheldonian, badpenny and mikejee Thank you all so much for your replies, I will sit and study them and reply later, but meantime, here is a picture of The Sheldona Cafe.

 

[Astoness]

ive got this one of the ship tea rooms

lyn

 

[oldsheldonian]

Interesting photo - lots of indistinct writing on the signs and building itself - if you have the original photo they might possibly be readible?

 

[oldsheldonian]

How about this for an idea.

The Sheldonia could be the buildings near the wheatsheaf just above 483 and 482 on mikejees map.

Firstly you have to imagine that you are standing on the opposite side of the road to the Wheatsheaf looking at the buildings from the little f shaped mark on the dotted line on the road.

Immediately opposite you the road area widens into a sort of layby shape.
In the photo you can see the widened strip.

On the map there is a narrow gap alongside the building widening into square area behind the buildings.
In the photo there is the gate and a pathway running alongside the buildings.

On the map there is an oblong section of building alongside what is possibly the main house.
On the photo the cafe is oblong and an extension to the main house.

On the map there is a section of building projecting out into the garden area beyond the extension.
On the photo the timbered building projects out beyond the extension.

Not sure what the two chequered blocks are on the map.

On the picture there is a building in the background beyond the timbered building. I don't think this building is the Wheatsheaf - the angles are wrong.

The map shows an extension on the left of the main house.
On the left hand end of the main house there is a single storey extension.

The map shows a row of long narrow buildings alongside and projecting behind the house.
The photo shows small single storey buildings some way behind the house.

Finally on the map the lay- by strip comes back towards the road at a steep angle.
On the photo the angle from the steps of the building to the gatepost appears to be quite steep.

If this is not the location of the Sheldona there are a large number of co-incidences and there is nothing else on the map that remotely fits the picture!

 

[mikejee]

Sounds reasonable. I understand that the chequered buildings are greenhouses on OS maps

 

[lindyloo]

Hi oldsheldonian, badpenny, mikejee and Astoness,
Sorry for the delay in replying.. Thank you all so much for your help with the Sheldona and The Ship, it is most appreciated.
When I looked at these a long time ago, I had decided that the Sheldona Cafe was by the Wheatsheaf but I hadn't worked out where The Ship was.
A discussion on another site last week, had led me to doubt my decision, but after reading your posts, I am sure I was right in the first place.
After more searching, I have now found mention of both places in Kelly's Directories.
In 1900 there was no mention of either place.
In 1904 both appear.. The Ship Restaurant... Martha Waters.
and The Sheldona Cafe...John E Hammond. Mr Hammond was also recorded in another 1904 Directory at The Ford House, Coventry Road, so I figured that was the house attached to the Cafe. (Mr Hammond and his wife Ann, led me a merry dance once before in trying to locate The Ideal Cafe further up the Coventry Road in Yardley !!!)
The 1908 Kelly's shows both again, but the Sheldona entry is a bit misleading as it doesnt show an occupant as such.
1912 shows only John Grayland, Restaurant (The Ship), there is no mention of The Sheldona or Mr Hammond.
At that time, there were no buildings on the land across the road from The Three Horseshoes Pub, so they definitely weren't there.
In 1932 Ye Olde Wheatsheaf was at 2225 Coventry Road and John Grayland was at 2159.

I agree that the building shapes on the maps, correspond with the pictures and hopefully my following pictures will show that they do.
Thanks again to you all..

 

[OldBrummie]

Apart from the pubs, I was not familiar with any of the other properties in the discussion. I lived in Lyndon Road from 1940-63 and "thought" I knew the area. I was very wrong.
My note here is to say thanks to all who have opened up this topic and to congratulate you all on the lengths you have gone to to solve the problem. Fantastic work.

OldBrummie Port Macquarie NSW Aus.

 

[oldsheldonian]

Lindyloo - Thank you for this additional information. I had followed up my previous post by comparing the Ship photo and the map. I think you have illustrated the situation very clearly.
I lived even closer, as a child, than OldBrummie and probably regularly clambered over the location of the Ship Tea Rooms without any idea of the history beneath my feet. Very rewarding.

 

[badpenny]

Does anyone remember Mundays toy shop?

 

[lindyloo]

Number 2159, as far as i remember there were no properties opposite where the precinct is now, not until they built Halfords etc.

I do wonder if the tea rooms are where the old Music Box record shop used to be, or maybe next door which became an Italian restaurant. Is that still there?

Hi badpenny, regarding your query about the Italian restaurant, it is still there but it has been altered building wise and is now La Caverna Restaurant and Hotel.. as far as I know it is no longer run by the people that were there for many years. I believe those people now have an Italian Restaurant on Arden Oak Road, called La Nonna.

 

[jukebox]

La Caverna is 2327 Coventry Road which is way past the Wheatsheaf near the corner of Wells Road. 2159 is as you (Lindyloo) say near to Halfords. Wasn't the Music Shop in the row of shops almost opposite what is now Aldi, between Lyndon Road and Keswick Road???