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Soho Road Handsworth

None in the 1962 or 1967 Kellys, though there was a P & G Cooke in Lozells road, Newtown Row & Wheeler St
 
My wife worked at Dudley's Furnishings on Soho Road in the late 1960's, and she says she doesn't recall a furniture shop called Cooke's in the vicinity. There's a Cookes Furniture in Goosemoor Lane, Erdington, if that's any help.

G
 
Hi Guys
To be fair to susie there was dozens of furishing shops up along soho road that i do know from one end to another
and with out due respect to mike and the electrol rolls of registration it was a very dodgy road regarding
registrations of business,s so i would dismiss the registration bit no dis respect to you mike when i said that
To be honest the very first shop of furnishings mainly kitchenetts type of furnishing would have been about 600 yards passinng
the old DHSS offices on the same side of the road and there was some boarding of adverts in the middle
OF the pavement so you had to walk around it in continueing walking along the road
selling tables and chairs possible the odd cheap arranged three peice suite with it out side on the pavement
unfortunetaely i do not recall how the numberinn of shop went but also there was a telephone box
and further on long before you pass the very corner of our old Alf,s club upstairs there was another proper
big furnishing shop with big furtiture but as i said there was loads of them
and once you passed the libary on that side there was not one on the opersite side of the road
but i am inclined to think it must well passed the red lion pub that there been one
best wishes to every body Astonian,,, Alan,,,,,,,
 
Hi Folks, It's about 1953 I'm aged 4 and looking like a prince in my new outfit - how come? - Provident cheque, £30 in value (a lot in early 50s) paid back a few bob a week, interest rate must have been up there with pay-day loans. For some reason my mother travelled from Heaton Street, Hockley to an outfitters in Soho Road, Handsworth; don't know why, presumably you couldn't use the provident cheques everywhere (I think Lewis's accepted them,) there was even enough money for me to have a belt whose buckle glowed in the dark! No doubt would have been illegal now due to radiation emissions - would have probably sent a Geiger Counter off the scale - Ah! The good old days.

Peg.

PS I know what you are thinking - Did my mother really spend all of the £30 on my outfit?
 
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our mom like many had the old provvy cheques (not much choice with 6 kids)..i remember at christmas time she would trundle up the soho road to a shop called blundels think they sold most things including toys..one year i got a toy sewing machine from there...happy days

lyn
 
Envious Lyn. I would have adored a toy sewing machine. Had to wait (11 years) until I could use my moms Singer. Viv.
 
yes viv i was very lucky to have it and it worked quite well..creamy yellow in colour if memory serves me right..

lyn
 
Alan you've jogged my memory there. I worked at the DHSS offices on Soho Road for a short while in about 1974. I was there about 6 months I think. The offices were modern, low level (2 storey). There was a garage/shop at one end at ground level. It was almost opposite the Labour Exchange building.

By that time Soho Road was a fairly risky place to hang out. Us DHSS staff were warned not to go out alone along the road but to always go with someone else. Such a great pity as it's clear from old photos what a lovely neighbourhood it had once been. Consequently I never really got to know Soho Road despite having worked there. It was a matter of off the bus, into the office, then back on the bus home. No hanging around. Viv.
 
Astoness said:
our mom like many had the old provvy cheques (not much choice with 6 kids)..i remember at christmas time she would trundle up the soho road to a shop called blundels think they sold most things including toys..one year i got a toy sewing machine from there...happy days

lyn
Click to expand...
Provident are still going although they provide various form of credit (cards and loans) now it seems. Provident cheques were a life saver for many although not every trader accepted them.
John Blundell was one of many credit companies selling all sorts of household goods, toys, clothing on weekly payment terms. A salesman called weekly to collect and encourage you to buy more from the company ensuring, in many cases, a long standing association with the company.
A similar company, still going but in the finance sector now was S&U Stores. They were a midland firm being based in Solihull - as they still are.
Nottidge was another and I am sure throughout the UK many smaller, but similar companies existed. Mail order catalogues, Littlewoods and Kays being just two names of many, were a serious competitors but still are very much in evidence. I believe store cards also provide a similar service but as far as I have heard can have high interest charges.
 
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The policy with all the credit stores was 'keep em in debt' then they would come back because they had no choice. It sounds harsh but it was a fact of life.
 
One good advantage for many folks who lived in the country - often farm labourers families - was as there were no shops, except food, post office and pubs in the nearby village the pack man/tally man was welcomed as he carried a good variety of items and could get, by the following week (or sooner in some cases) a badly needed commodity or present.
 
Hi radiorails
I Can tell you that provident and shopercheck and S U are the same group of people
starting from S U whom grew to be a big multie company and there big office and stores warehouse
was in the city centre next to the rag market and facing the midland red bus depot when it was there
many years ago it closed over some legal wrangle of taxation problems and internal management
so it went into liquidation as the story goes
the company reset itself with provident and shop a check and another car finance company of brand new car dealerships
which at this precise moment i can recall their name they have been around from donkeys years
which backs and gave you finance on a car if you want it on credit
And this SU set up shop business in the market area because the guy and his wife was market traders in the bull ring
for years. Then they decided to go for it big time. This guy was a birmingham city director of the club
many many years ago, as you know we all have to die at some point in our lives.
But cutting the story short, in later years it was his sons who took over all the business they formed
and they had sons to move in to the finance world there is alot more to the story of things they have created
its now in the hands of the old guy ,i think it was bert millership
so now these old guys whom operated these finance and debtors they have on there books is millions
and its a big corporation of sons and grand sons today whom run this multi business
they are also behind the bright homes and the other homes operating today
his information i have obtained from a relative within the company whom went into great deal of information to me
i took on board every thnk he told me and i investigated and researched all the info on all the companies names he told me
and beleive me it bore fruit as facts best wishes Astonian,,,,
 
Thanks Alan for the name as I did wonder who it was (Astonian mentioned a connection with the club in post #434). Viv.
 
A nice photo from blackcountrymuse.com of the Grove Lane/ Soho Road junction. Viv.

Edit. The photo may be incorrectly dated as is more likely to be about 1939. See post #444 below.

image.jpeg
 
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nice one viv....caught the no 75 many times from the bottom of soho hill up to the hawthorns to watch the albion...happy days

lyn
 
Just off-shot to the right of the bus was the sports shop where I worked, and where I met the girl who I've beem married to for 46 years. She worked at Dudley's Furnishings on the far corner of Grove Lane and Soho Road. Doesn't time fly?

I never did find out what the building was with the big circular roundel. Was it a picture-house at one time?

G
 
I have to query the 1950 date of the Soho Road picture Post 441. I The bus has the pre-war coloured roof i.e. cream. They were painted a dark colour during WW2 and khaki post war. Moreover the bus has a destination blind on the rear offside - again noticeable in the picture. This panel was taken out of use as a wartime economy and not re-introduced.
PS: This picture, in my library, is dated April,1939. The bus is EOG 264 (fleet no. 264) and is a Leyland 'gearless' type bus. Actually it has a 'torque convertor' gearbox. This type of bus, introduced in 1939 had this type of gearbox as the transport department felt they would be much more easily adapted by the former tramcar drivers now that buses replaced the trams on the Dudley Road and West Bromwich routes also in 1939. The reason for the low fleet number was that apparently the accounting department financed these and some other EOG Daimler buses from the capital account rather than the revenue account. The bus is very new. The gas showroom of Charltons, in the background later became part of the West Midlands Gas Board.
 
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Does anyone have any pictures of “St. Michael’s Primary School” located on Soho Road and Thornhill Road Corner? I’ve only ever saw one very bad picture of it dated 1906. The school was demolished in the 70’s but I’ve never seen anymore pictures of it.
 
Hello Judy, I am surprised that a Brummie, like myself, you remembered the 70, 74, 75. bus's. but what about the number 72, that took you straight up to the baggies, the best team of all. ! J. Stevens
 
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