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Snow Hill (the Road)

Viv

Im sure we used to catch the 65 from their back to Slade Rd, i remember they were set down below the pavement in an arch formation im going back to the mid eighties i think now, i remember how run down and dingy it all looked.

James
 
OMG that was streetly road! i remember seeing that when i was a kid! Did it run all the way into the city centre on that type of system??
 
No it only ran a few hundred yards I believe, very expensive and did not last long, I lived in Hillside Rd off the Slade Rd at the time remember reading about it in the Evening Mail. I think they have just completed a similar project in Cambridge. Eric
 
cookie273uk said:
No it only ran a few hundred yards I believe, very expensive and did not last long, I lived in Hillside Rd off the Slade Rd at the time remember reading about it in the Evening Mail. I think they have just completed a similar project in Cambridge. Eric
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I believe it ran from the Plaza pic house to Short Heath Rd
 
I thought it didnt extend any further, my doctors were at Streetly Rd Surgery thats how i remember it i lived on Kegworth Rd, i think it was Lennons the supermarket at the time it ran from (now Gala Bingo) down to the short heath rd
 
The guideway for Tracline65 was actually only 600 metres according to Transport link. The Metroline buses had to apply for special permission to go on the regular route. The rollers on the side which were used on the guideway must have folded up somehow. The 65 definitely went all the way into town. Here is a short Youtube film about them which has an info link at the end. I am very glad that the city returned the centre verge on Streetly Road back to the way it was. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmb-IUV6iqE
 
Typical of Birmingham council (assuming they were responsible), boasting of all the jobs it will provide and they will make money selling it world wide - and then its scrapped !!!. This was the same with the overhead link between the airport and railway station, and that was forever breaking down (I speak from experience) and eventuall also scrapped. Must say the replacement Maglev is very reliable and efficient, speaking again from experience Sorry for going of thread but just making comparisions. Eric
 
These photos are making me feel very nostalgic! Like you Shortie I also used to catch the bus outside Snow Hill Station to go to Handsworth. I could get the 70, 72 or 74. And of course there was always meeting your date under the clock at Snow Hill inside the booking office!!
 
Thanks Ragga!

Every other pic I've seen of Snow Hill has been looking the other way.

Does anyone know if the shop called Fields is the same company (Fields Electrical) that is now in Hurst St?

Paul
 
der.jpegPhoto from 1899.
 

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when walking into town this is the view of the station i remember so well...

view from st chads circus..dated 1976

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snow hill....dated 1966

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There is a classic photo of the booking hall at Snow Hill station showing two ladies with a large steamer trunk in the foreground. I don't know if it has been posted on this forum. I am sure I saw it in one of Derek Harrison's books on Snow Hill but I can't find it. I am sure the caption says that the photo has been blown up to show the shipping lables which said Titanic which means that the photo can be dated exactly. Anyone got any ideas as we are at the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster.
 
It does look folorn, and it used to be such a busy thiving and important building.
 
If it was 1970, It was still in use for local trains to Wolverhamptom and I think the one "parliamentary" train a day to West Smethwick. However the main part of the station had probably already been converted into a carpark.
 
I’m looking for anyone with recollections or photographs of Snow Hill (the street) before it was swept away in 1962. Like many streets in Brum, Snow Hill has totally vanished except for a short stretch at the northern end called Old Snow Hill. But once upon a time it has a life of its own outside of the station. Look at any old map of Brum and you’ll see that it was the main thoroughfare connecting the town centre to Handsworth and the north west. As time went on it became a major tram & bus route and was a commercial centre in its own right, bordering the “Gun Quarter”. It gave its name to the magnificent GWR station and even had its own theatre.
Why am I interested? My father had his bookbinding business in no 99 Snow Hill until the building was swept away for Great Charles Street to be widened and as a child I would catch the bus into town, get off at Greys and walk down the hill (looking in on the station) to meet him there & earn a few pence clearing up before we went home.
I’m looking for anyone who has memories of the businesses that lined the east side of Snow Hill between WW2 and 1962.
It is nice to know that the original line of Snow Hill is now between the two office blocks One Snow Hill & Two Snow Hill and the wall of Snow Hill Station. At the moment it is grassed over, but in 2014 metro trams will once again run up the line of Snow Hill. Historically Snow Hill saw steam trams, cable trams and electric trams running out to Handsworth.
I have established a website/blog where I plan to present my findings on the subject of Snow Hill: www.snowhillbirmingham.info take a look!
 
Can't help a lot though I do recall visiting the shops with my mom when a Kid. I used to see them on way to and from Handsworth Tech. I remember one that sold what my mom called Quack medicine. They had a fantastic door with all the remedies they sold.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
 
OuterCircleBus:

I never went down beyond the Jungle Coffee Bar - I have a photograph of that about 1958 somewhere - just the shopfront - when I can dig it out. And right at the top was Brum's first Wimpy Bar. I seem to recollect that there was also a government surplus radio components shop down there (similar to Hurst Street). But that's it. I never went farther than the Jungle.

Maurice
 
Well currently after Old Snow Hill is St Chads Circus Queensway, then Snow Hill Queensway, leading to Colmore Circus Queensway.

Didn't know that the old route of Snow Hill went between 1 and 2 Snowhill and the station!

 
I bought a sweater in 1952 from a shop (Zissmans ?) in Snow Hill - I'm wearing that sweater in a pic I posted elsewhere on the forum .... the shop I bought it from might be in this pic ... :)
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oldMohawk:

Brilliant - the first of Star's pictures in your last reference shows the first Wimpy Bar at the top of Snow Hill that I mentioned earlier. Many thanks.

Maurice
 
sospiri said:
oldMohawk:

Brilliant - the first of Star's pictures in your last reference shows the first Wimpy Bar at the top of Snow Hill that I mentioned earlier. Many thanks.

Maurice
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I used to love their Wimpy Grill with the bendy shaped frankfurter sausage:fat::biggrin::pig:
just discovered nearest Wimpy is in Tamworth:livid:...
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Sorry for going off topic:stupid:
 
Ha ha! Brumgum!

When I worked at BCT, I used to spend my whole lunchtime in there. I was a hungry lad in those days and would frequently devour three Wimpies. It was so busy in there that you ate one, then waited quite a while for your next and so on.

Maurice
 
Found my Snow Hill sweater, my mate bought one as well. I also liked Wimpys very tasty !..
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