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Snow Hill (the Road)

OuterCircleBus said:
Thanks Viv - you do track down some STUFF!!
The buildings in the fore-ground are standing in Weaman Street (I think). If you look to the right of the Weaman Street buildings there is a cluster of buildings in front of the station and I suspect that the darker one is probably the post office. In a sketch however there is always the risk of artistic licence.
I used the 29 bus as a child travelling from Hall Green. We also used the 37, both of these stopped at Greys. In the evening the City Transport had a mobile canteen at the bus stop outside Greys so that the clippies & drivers could get a cuppa! Does anyone remember that?
DAVID
Click to expand...
I remember you had to get the night buses outside Greys and there was a large blue mobile hut selling tea and hot dogs etc late at night.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Love the modern canal photo Brumgum. Could anyone kindly give a position for it in relation to the old Honduras Wharf? Many thanks. Viv.
Click to expand...
Yardleys is to the left and Snow Hill Hostel to the Right, you can just see the post office tower in the background and the Railway arches to Snow Hill.
 
I'm sure you've all seen this before but feel we should see it again at this point:excitement:..
[video=youtube;oxOR0QPq_0c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxOR0QPq_0c[/video]
 
wonderful nostalgia brumgum...i could watch them all day long...actually i do sometimes lol..

lyn
 
Astoness said:
wonderful nostalgia brumgum...i could watch them all day long...actually i do sometimes lol..

lyn
Click to expand...
Did you read the Norman Field post?, he said "Nostalgia is a powerful force" it is in my case anyway:abnormal:..
and i could just do with a wimpy grill now:pig:
 
brumgum said:
I'm sure you've all seen this before but feel we should see it again at this point:excitement:..
[video=youtube;oxOR0QPq_0c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxOR0QPq_0c[/video]
Click to expand...

Once again Brumgum you've found another classic. What was the mortality rate in Bull Street in 1946? Jaywalking seems to be taken to a new level!!!!!
So Many buses, and so many people waiting for them - patiently.
Most of this was filmed in Bull Street where the BCT mobile canteen was in the evenings - referred to in #69.
Thanks
DAVID
 
Vivienne14 said:
There was a bus stop outside the YMCA building next door to Yardley's. And apparently there was a theatre inside the YMCA building. Think it's now apartments or hotel? Viv.
Click to expand...

Thanks Viv. The theatre that you're thinking of was on the site of the YMCA hostel (now called The Snow Hill). The original theatre was built in 1885 as the New Star Theatre of Varieties. It later became the Queen's Theatre and Opera House then The Metropole Theatre which was made into a cinema. It was bombed in 1941 and demolished. The current building was built after the war. I got this information from an excellent website about British theatres https://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Birmingham/MetropoleTheatreBirmingham.htm

Across the road from The Snow Hill (YMCA) you'll find a narrow road called Clive Passage. Honduras Wharf was down there next to the canal. Take a look at #64 I've labelled some locations in this birds eye view, and included Honduras Wharf - this is now apartments on the same site as Cartwrights timber yard.

DAVID

 
brumgum said:
There's a blog here from the family of Norman Field, anyone seen this before ..
https://www.normanfield.com/20snowhill.htm

Brilliant, it made me laugh:biggrin: But on reading it you can perhaps see why the Street didn't survive and clearance was an easy option in those days:dispirited:
Click to expand...

Thanks again for this link. Yes I have read the Norman Field pages - this one about 20 Snow Hill and the photograph is what started me off on this quest. The rest of the site is a good read too, especially if you have an interest in old 78s, brass bands etc. There is a link to recording of Sousa's "Liberty Bell" (Monty Python) which is worth listening to - it goes along at a fantastic rate!!!
DAVID
 
Vivienne14 said:
Love the modern canal photo Brumgum. Could anyone kindly give a position for it in relation to the old Honduras Wharf? Many thanks. Viv.
Click to expand...

This photograph in #65 must have been taken from the back windows of the building that is now "The Green Room" (no 67 Snow Hill?). Honduras Wharf is on the other side of Snow Hill down Clive Passage. See my picture in #64.
DAVID
 
OuterCircleBus said:
This photograph in #65 must have been taken from the back windows of the building that is now "The Green Room" (no 67 Snow Hill?). Honduras Wharf is on the other side of Snow Hill down Clive Passage. See my picture in #64.
DAVID
Click to expand...
Yes it was, the building was for sale once and this was one of the photos the estate agents took.
 
Brumgum:

I love watching those buses outside Greys - excellent clip. I don't think it had changed by 1954 - my memories are very similar. As for jaywalking, I think that the attitude of the pedestrians (they actually used their eyes!) and the drivers was more considerate in those days. Crete is a jaywalker's paradise, but we don't get many pedestrians knocked over however irate the drivers are simply because there is so much paperwork to be filled in. No one wants to be standing talking to a copper for an hour or more!

As regards the hut by the canal, could it have been used by the lockkeeper? There's no room for a lockkeeper's house, which they normally had in Victorian times, but the keeper would have wanted some shelter in inclement weather.

Maurice
 
When I first tasted a "Wimpy", which was in the new arcade which from the end of the horse fair, towards town about 1961, I should think, for 3/6 you got the lot including the ring sausage, I had never seen or tasted anything so excotic. Paul
 
sospiri said:
Brumgum:

I love watching those buses outside Greys - excellent clip. I don't think it had changed by 1954 - my memories are very similar. As for jaywalking, I think that the attitude of the pedestrians (they actually used their eyes!) and the drivers was more considerate in those days. Crete is a jaywalker's paradise, but we don't get many pedestrians knocked over however irate the drivers are simply because there is so much paperwork to be filled in. No one wants to be standing talking to a copper for an hour or more!

As regards the hut by the canal, could it have been used by the lock keeper? There's no room for a lockkeeper's house, which they normally had in Victorian times, but the keeper would have wanted some shelter in inclement weather.

Maurice
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Yes it must have been as you suggest for the lock keeper etc. Regarding Greys it didn't really change in that area until it's demolition in the Eighties i should imagine. It became a Debenhams but in the Eighties every dept store closed in Brum except Rackhams and M&S and Debenhams/Greys was boarded up for a while but i was shocked when it was demolished, it was a Hamley's toy store for a while also but that didn't last either.

I think Brum has about four or five dept stores now if you count Harvey Nicks as one and a John Lewis opening in the New Street Station complex in 2015.

I really don't have great memories of Snow Hill BTW as I'm too young to remember the Station open but the 16 bus took me into town via Snow Hill and i always felt how awful the area looked with a sad looking disused station being used as an NCP car park and then being flattened and it looked an eyesore for years.
 
Once they started the 1960s development and Smallbrook Ringway, the whole place looked like a bombsite! That was the point when I headed for Dorset and stayed there for the next 40 years. Mind you, the wages and salaries down there were a fraction of what they were in Brum - it was tempting to come back, but on the other hand.......

Yes, a relation of mine (BAIZON) was a lockkeeper at Aston and was provided with a house - long since demolished.

Maurice
 
sospiri said:
Once they started the 1960s development and Smallbrook Ringway, the whole place looked like a bombsite! That was the point when I headed for Dorset and stayed there for the next 40 years. Mind you, the wages and salaries down there were a fraction of what they were in Brum - it was tempting to come back, but on the other hand.......

Yes, a relation of mine (BAIZON) was a lockkeeper at Aston and was provided with a house - long since demolished.

Maurice
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I still love Brum and can't say I've considered escaping, my favourite streets to wander around are off Colmore Row, Edmund and Church Street etc where some decent restoration has occurred. Also the Jewellery qtr, Chinatown around Hurst Street and in the Suburbs Moseley and parts of Kings Heath where stunning architecture is still to be found and it's a bit Boho.

I did backpack in your part of the world once and found myself in Heraklion port where we was whisked off in a car by some very dodgy hotelier to his establishment in the markets area. As we arrived other punters were walking out in disgust but we stayed the night as it was only about £7 for the three of us!.. this was in the Eighties, i enjoyed Heraklion.
 
Yes, there's still bits of Brum I like to explore, but don't often get the chance. I can see modern architecture in almost any large city in the world, but it's the old preserved buildings that attract the tourists and moochers like me!

I don't like Heraklion, but they have very much tightened up the regulations on letting property on short term arrangements. I've no doubt there's still the odd rogue landlord, but if their victims speak up, the police and the tax authorities will give the landlord a really hard time.

Maurice
 
sospiri said:
Yes, there's still bits of Brum I like to explore, but don't often get the chance. I can see modern architecture in almost any large city in the world, but it's the old preserved buildings that attract the tourists and moochers like me!

I don't like Heraklion, but they have very much tightened up the regulations on letting property on short term arrangements. I've no doubt there's still the odd rogue landlord, but if their victims speak up, the police and the tax authorities will give the landlord a really hard time.

Maurice
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Here's one of my shots from the J qtr....
https://www.flickr.com/photos/13974995@N02/6176205022/lightbox/
 
That's what you call a building, Brumgum. My only criticism is that those half-basements could be pretty depressing to work in. The Council House extension in Congreve Street was the same and when I worked there at BCT in the 1950s, I was glad to wander off onto the higher floors to get some natural light.

Maurice
 
Thanks David for the suggestions about the sketch post # 69 and about Honduras Wharf. Think I'll now have a closer look on Google Earth along that stretch of the canal.

The theatre I mentioned at the YMCA was, I believe inside the YMCA building. Think it was quite small, but I think we discussed it on another thread. Didn't know it was the site of a theatre pre-WW2. Viv.
 
Hi sospiro...
Lucky you moving to Crete...My favourite place...Ag. Nik. in particular.
Anyway...You remember the Radio Components place, similar to the one in Hurst Street, well so do I. And I do recall it was right next to a Wimpy Bar...But apart from SKF Bearings at the bottom of Snow Hill I cannot remember any other Shops...Pity, the old grey cells are now receeding !!!!

Brian.
 
Hi Brian,

I'm about ten minutes drive from Aghios Nikolaos and will be taking the OH down there in an hour. This bit of Snow Hill was never the liveliest part of town, but the Jungle had some interesting characters. One, Dave, a part-time petty criminal, who used to pronounce all the swearwords back to front, was a very affable chap. He and his mates roamed the back streets of Hockley and guaranteed to have the average car up on bricks with its engine out in 20 minutes. We never put him to the test.

The juke-box was generally playing something by Duane Eddy - it seemed to fit the atmosphere quite well!
 
sospiri said:
Hi Brian,

I'm about ten minutes drive from Aghios Nikolaos and will be taking the OH down there in an hour. This bit of Snow Hill was never the liveliest part of town, but the Jungle had some interesting characters. One, Dave, a part-time petty criminal, who used to pronounce all the swearwords back to front, was a very affable chap. He and his mates roamed the back streets of Hockley and guaranteed to have the average car up on bricks with its engine out in 20 minutes. We never put him to the test.

The juke-box was generally playing something by Duane Eddy - it seemed to fit the atmosphere quite well!
Click to expand...
Snow Hill 1960..

[video=youtube;ECNBIRqESU0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECNBIRqESU0[/video]:emmersed:
 
HI ALL TRAIN BUFFS
Does anybody recall the old penny metal stamping machines for labeling your cases and belongings on the platform;
i wonder did the railway company scrapp them for the metal value or are they in any rail way musuem on show
Any ideas on that one please ;?. when we was kids mooching on the platforms and messing around we would have a go on these machines
it was quite surprizing in those yester years the number of people used them i beleive it was only on snow hill platforms these machines was ; have a great day every body best wishes Astonian;;
 
Yes I remember it well as a child it seemed large. It was red with a large dial with letters and numbers round the outside annd you turned a hand to point at te letter or number you wanted and pulled a lever. It would take some time to stamp your name on the metal strip. I have seen one recently but can not remember if it was at York or Shildon Railway Museum.
 
Good afternoon Alan,

They were quite commonplace on the larger stations and I well remember the one on Snow Hill. If I recollect correctly, you got 40 letters for a penny. There's certainly one at York Railway Museum, probably Didcot as well, but I've no idea what happened to that particular one,

Maurice
 
HI KEITH AND MAURICE
YES KEITH THAT THE ONE I RECALL BIG RED AND THE HANDLE YOU PUSH AROUND TO THE PARTICULAR LETTER OF THE ALPHERBET
NICE TO KNOW MAURICE THEY NEVER SCRAPPED THEM ALL
HAVE A NICE DAY GUYS Alan astonian;;
 
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