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Soho Road Handsworth

Viv, thanks for the two photos of Soho Road - I prefer the old view more than the modern one but I'm glad to see Handsworth Library is still much the same.
 
Viv - Here is the junction of Soho Road/Nineveh Road/Grove Lane, showing the Nineveh Dance Studios - probably around 1955 ish. Just a little down the road from the library.

Judy

Nineveh Dance Studios.jpg
 
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Hi Judy, thanks. 'Nineveh Dancing' does make me wonder whether all main streets had one or more dancing studios/ballrooms. I expect it was in the days when everyone wanted to dance or learn to dance. Or they probably even felt they had to learn to dance as it was a commonplace leisure time activity. Viv.
 
Shortie said:
Sue, I lived on the corner of Linwood (not Lindwood) and Dawson for four years from 1960 to 1964 - I don't remember any bombed areas there, but Baker Street was another story from memory. In Dawson Road there were some terraces at right angles to the road which is the bit I think has been developed. The house I lived in which was a shop, has been demolished, I wish I knew why, it's the only one in the road that has gone.
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Hi,

Do you have any more information about the terraces at right angles to Dawson Road please.
I was born in 1950 at 12,Ashley Place, Dawson Road and I'm trying to find out as much as I can about the area.

Many thanks
Lin
 
Unfortunately Lin, I can't tell you very much at all. For the first two years I was only home during school holidays and so that means I only properly lived there for two years. I remember going into one of the houses, during an evening but why I was there and who I was with completely escapes me. What kind of thing do you wish to know?
 
alanfisher202 said:
Lyn,
I lived at No 12 Dawson Road from when I was born in 1937 till the property was demolished in 1965,if I can help I will.
Alan
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Hi,
Thank you so much for getting back to me.
I was born at Ashley Place in 1950, my parents moved to Perry Barr the following year.
As the 4th child in the family the "two up, two down" house was somewhat cramped!
They swapped house with a couple who wanted to move closer to their daughter.
We moved into a 3 bed semi, with a garden (or field as my 5 year old brother referred to it), across the road from Perry Barr Park.
What a contrast!!
I would now like to find out as much as possible about the area around Ashley Place, Dawson Road.
I understand that there may have been other back-to-back houses.
Any information or better still photos would be great.
Lin
 
Shortie - In answer to your question on the Courtyards and Yards thread: The photo in post #332 shows Broadmeads electrical shop on the right with the Nineveh Dance Studios above it. If you look you will see the words Nineveh Dancing on the windows The dance studios were on the corner of Soho/Nineveh Roads with the entrance in Nineveh Road. There was indeed a staircase up to the first floor for dancing, and there was also a second floor for dancing as well. I spent many happy hours in there from 1953 to 1955 and spent at least twice a week at the Nineveh. Wednesdays were for ballroom lessons for me, but Saturday nights was for bopping and dancing and meeting friends. And the Christmas Eve and New Year's dances were absolutely fab for me as a teenager. There are one or two members on here that used to go regularly. Still have my membership card!

Judy

Judy
 
Hi Judy, I remember going up the stairs, but I was under the impression they were old, and not new - is it possible that the old and new buildings could have been combined? I used to go on Wednesdays too, for lessons, and Saturdays too, but only until I met my husband in August 1963. He does not do dancing (although I do still ask from time to time if he will learn), so I stopped going. I suppose I went there for about a year, perhaps a bit longer. I wonder how long George and Dorothy carried on? Was her name Carless as I seem to remember? A Dorothy Carless used to sing with an orchestra during the war, or so my mother told me. I do wish I had been able to carry on, but it was not to be.
 
Does anyone have an old map of Ninevah Road near its junction with Soho Road? My dad was born in Ninevah Road in 1916. I dont have the address to hand but I think it was something like "4 back of 16". Were there back houses in that part of the road?
 
Hi Shortie. Yes, my memories of the stairs up to the dancing at the Nineveh were that they were old as well! The photograph I posted was sent to me by a friend who also used to go to the Nineveh on Saturday nights. He was at school when he used to go there, as was I, but he became a teacher at William Murdochs (Rookery Road) School, and was there when there was a phone call one day during the lunch hour to say that a spectacular crash had happened at the top of Grove Lane. So he and a couple of other teachers drove up to see what had happened. A van had run into Broadmead's Television Shop (under Nineveh Dance Studios). He can't remember the date but thinks it was between 1961 and 1964. I wonder whether that crash destabilized the building and whether the building was then unfit to use? I must ask him. If so, it was a sad end to the place that held so many happy memories. Here is my membership card from 1953/54.

Judy

Nineveh.jpgNineveh 2.jpg
 
David
Here is a map c 1917 of the top of nineveh road, and a larger scale one from c1889. The larger scale map shows that the only back houses accessable from nineveh road are the rather large ones that sit accross the end of the terraces in louise road, which may have been subdivided by 1917. I cannot exactly work out the numbering on the road. the pub at the end ,The boulton Arms is no 34, but am not quite sure how the other houses that side are numbered (even numbers only that side). The 1920 electoral rolls give the only back houses, all together at the end of nineveh road section , and these must refer to these houses. Those listed are 1 back 4, 2 back 8, 3 back 41, 3 back 12, 4 back 18, 5 back & 5 back 4. Which they refer to i leave you , but 4 back 18 is listed as Henry George Harold & Harriett Grainger.

map_c_1917_showing_houses_top_nineveh_rd.jpg


map_c_1889_back_houses_top_nineveh_road.jpg
 
mikejee said:
David
Here is a map c 1917 of the top of nineveh road, and a larger scale one from c1889. The larger scale map shows that the only back houses accessable from nineveh road are the rather large ones that sit accross the end of the terraces in louise road, which may have been subdivided by 1917. I cannot exactly work out the numbering on the road. the pub at the end ,The boulton Arms is no 34, but am not quite sure how the other houses that side are numbered (even numbers only that side). The 1920 electoral rolls give the only back houses, all together at the end of nineveh road section , and these must refer to these houses. Those listed are 1 back 4, 2 back 8, 3 back 41, 3 back 12, 4 back 18, 5 back & 5 back 4. Which they refer to i leave you , but 4 back 18 is listed as Henry George Harold & Harriett Grainger.
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Thanks Mike The Graingers are my grandparents
 
It would good to know what became of the buildings and Dance studios. Were they on the other corner (across the Nineveh road) to where Nash's coaches used to be ? - the new shops there were set back off the road to allow cars to park in front. If thats in the right place. Its also good to know people remember Handsworth from the good old days :-)
 
Yes, I think the buildings must have been on the corner of the side where the newer shops are as I know there was a Broadmeads there which must have replaced the one in the older building.

I only remember the newer shops from the mid 60's. No idea when the old corner was demolished.
 
Why have you got a picture of the Salutation pub which was in Alma Street in Aston on this article.It totally threw me and I had to look amongst my pictures to find out where it was.
 
BobS said:
Why have you got a picture of the Salutation pub which was in Alma Street in Aston on this article.It totally threw me and I had to look amongst my pictures to find out where it was.
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hi bob ive gone back on the posts to see if the pic of the sally was one of mine in which case i could have given you an explantion and i see that the pic of the sally was posted by stars on post 11..it has no caption and of course you are correct in saying its the one in alma st...could be one of two reasons why he posted it on this thread...either he thought it was a handsworth pub(which is unlikey as he knows the aston area well ) or he posted it by mistake...it happens..

lyn
 
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Great set of postcards Astonite. I particularly liked Picture 5 in #350, showing what was to become the Elite Cinema next to the Library. Looks as though it was a cinema back then - I wonder if it was named the Elite in those days? Do you know the date of the card please?

Judy
 
Thank you David. I used to go the the Elite lots when I lived in Handsworth. The then manager used to come to our hotel for lunch every day, as we didn't live very far away. I can't remember his name, but it would have been in the 1940's. Looks as though the cinema shown in the postcard probably was the Elite when it had first opened.

Judy
 
Thank you, Astonite, I have been trying to find a good picture of the Elite Cinema for ages.

I only remember it from the early 1980s - the man who owned it then was a friend of my husband.
We used to help run the late night films every weekend; they were very popular after the pubs had shut.

It was past its heyday by that time but it was a shame to see it is no longer there the last time we drove through Handsworth.
 
Here's a more up to date one Angela. This might have been from the 30s/40s.

Judy

Elite Cinema.jpg
 
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