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Soho Road Handsworth

I first heard 'Love Me Do' by the Beatles played in the 'Elasona' so that must have been early 1963. We would meet up there

before moving on to the Plaza, Nineveh Road.
 
Little arrows in your clothing little arrows in your hair (cough) ~ first record I ever bought - sorry :)

Thk U for back ground on Little Red shop. Can remember that roof too ~ shops seemed so nice and tidy in those days - but could be wistfull thinking on my part tho.

Nice thoughts Angela ~ good memories there.
Nice to know someone who lived in the Red Lion ~ must have been an excellent hotel/pub in its time.
(We have pics somewhere of the superb interior - not sure if it was on this thread).

Sue - radio rentals and the tunnel yes - I think building still there I know tunnel is.

I remember Handsworth Library - esp those large bookcases and the strictness and quietness or so it seemed to me when I was small, seem to remember loads of shelves devoted to musical scores too and the little beigh (or blue ?) tickety envelope things for borrowing books.

I also loved Woolworths.
 
Was the Woodlands later taken over by Rusty Lee and became a caribbean restaurant ? and if I am correct was not Rhodar Rogers Review Bar on the upper floor of the building opposite on the left hand corner Holliday Rd . Rumour had it that the "ladies" that worked at the Review bar frequented the Woodland's during the day for there refreshment break only wearing there fur coats !!!!
Happy days
Pastry
 
Rusty Lee's restaurant was on Soho Hill near the junction with Villa Road, next door to a GPO sorting office if I remember correctly. We went once, and enjoyed. Don't remember Rhoda Rogers' Revuebar, but I do remember her when she 'performed' at the Aston Hippodrome. I'll say no more...

The Woodlands was really just a glorified cafe. There was one waiter, who I think was Polish. Most of its lunchtime customers were from Handsworth Technical College around the corner.

G
 
Stephen0002002 said:
Little arrows in your clothing little arrows in your hair (cough) ~ first record I ever bought - sorry :)

Stephen, I used to sing this song when I had really bad Tonsillitus (quinsy), because my voice was so out of tune.

Thk U for back ground on Little Red shop. Can remember that roof too ~ shops seemed so nice and tidy in those days - but could be wistfull thinking on my part tho.

I can't remember the Little Red Shop at all. Where was it exactly...?

Sue - radio rentals and the tunnel yes - I think building still there I know tunnel is.

Do you remember the Record Shop that was nearby? Was the tunnel really long. Google Street View shows it as much smaller. I don't know why I am obsessed with it...

I remember Handsworth Library - esp those large bookcases and the strictness and quietness or so it seemed to me when I was small, seem to remember loads of shelves devoted to musical scores too and the little beigh (or blue ?) tickety envelope things for borrowing books.

Handsworth Library - I remember it so vividly, the wood, the book case and shelves, the glass, the reading room - where old men (thats how I saw them then not now) with their newspapers used to go. Trying to get out as many books as possible because it made you feel grown up - even though you probably would not read them all. I used to love the poetry section. God I wish the powers that be could give me 24 hours back in time to how things used to be... Sad I know.


I also loved Woolworths.
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And I did. Especially the make-up section. Ann French cleanser. I often dream of that shop for some reason.

Do you remember the MEB store by the post office. My sister put her head through the railings and got stuck. And the Market - that place was great at the back. You had all the jumble there, and there was a stall with a rather round lady (a bit like Evadney Price (think lucky and you'll be lucky), who sold costume jewellery.
 
Yes, I remember the Cafe - this is the one that I have being trying to find out about. It was just up from where we used to live at 171 Soho Road, - like a bikers cafe, and then there was the chip shop. Also by the Car dealers (that plot is still there)- see Google Street view - put in 171 Soho Road and work up toward Soho Hill. I can still see it now. I called it the Bikers Cafe as the lads who went there had leather jackets (child memory now).

Over and out - cooking the tea.
 
I used the Library quite a few times, too. A few years before I was holed up in that rotten shop, I went to Handsworth Technical College on Stafford Road. I quite enjoyed the course - City & Guilds Laboratory Technicians. Does anyone know if the Tech College is still going? I always thought it was a nice old place.

The other bit of Soho Road that's stuck in my mind is Union Row, an alley which was, maybe still is, at the back of 'my' shop, and ran from Stafford Road to Grove Lane. Any decent car left there overnight would be gone or vandalised by morning. Even in those far-off days there were druggies hanging around, as well. More than once I had to 'evict' someone from the back of the shop, first thing in the morning.

On a happier note, I got friendly with the Asian manager of a small Indian restaurant on the other side of Soho Road, and he treated me to a free curry a few times providing I gave him a good discount on cricket balls! I can't remember what the restaurant was called, but chances are it's still there (next door to a hardware shop, I think).

G
 
Does any one know if there was a Belgrave Terrace on Soho Rd? My ancester who was in WWI was sending money back to a Mrs Eva Higginson at 13 Blegrave Terrace, Soho Rd, Handsworth, Birmingham. I have been searching on the web but find nothing? Help if you can. Cheers Norm
 
negaudet said:
Does any one know if there was a Belgrave Terrace on Soho Rd? My ancester who was in WWI was sending money back to a Mrs Eva Higginson at 13 Blegrave Terrace, Soho Rd, Handsworth, Birmingham. I have been searching on the web but find nothing? Help if you can. Cheers Norm
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Hi Norm

Belgrave terrace is situated between Thornhill Road and Ivy Road along side the old alms Houses (city side) still there and on Google Street view it look like the house that you mention could still be standing Belgrave Terrace.jpg hope this helps
Pastry
 
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Hi Big Gee

I don't know about the technical college. Tried to look on the net, but all a bit confusing. There is a Handsworth College in the Library building. That building used to be the Council House didn't it - looking at the old photos on this site.

I wish I could remember where you worked. I can remember the chemist that had the weighing sales (human ones) outside. Did you work by there?

Union Row is still there. When I went to Handsworth in March, I went to look for it as I aimed for Grove Lane. It still looked like an alley, as I did not venture up it. For some reason I was reluctant to. There is a temple place on the corner, but cannot remember what was there before. It's awful really, as I knew it changed, but I could not remember why.

Do you remember (as you walk along Grove Lane just down from Union Row- on the same side), there used to be a double frontage shop (Brown), which sold bread, sweets and Icecream. Always went there on Sundays to pick up the block of icecream for after Sunday dinner - with the peaches if we were being extravagant. Next to the Grammer school, do you remember the little pub - my sisters friend Angela lived there.

Then further down opposite the Grammer School was a set of houses (Grove gardens or something), that is still there and the houses still look good.

I also walked along Dawson Road up to Lindwood as I was looking for what we used to call the 'Bombed buildings' the site on Dawson Road that we used to play on as kids. That has been developed. Going passed my old school - I couldn't believe I used to be so little. What was a big playground, looks so small.

I don't remember an Indian restaurant way back then. Perhaps in those days, if you did not go to them, you were oblivious to them.

Then I walked back onto the Soho Road and up to the top of Rookery Road, the coach place (that used to be flights) is still there, the co-op building (by Murdoch Road), that was a lovely building up stairs - the wood, and the glass - were I had my dancing lesson - must be listed - what do you think?

It's changed so much - character has gone. I will go back armed with camera the next time, and try and gets some proper shots of areas that have been mentioned on this site.

Sue
 
The red fronted shop in Mr. Pasty's Post 252 was "Potter Sounds Systems" . I began work there in 1946 as a trainee radio mechanic when I left left Handsworth Technical School. I was there until the end of 1948 when I went to do my National service in the RAF
Regards Reg
 
Hi Sue,

it was definitely Handsworth Technical College, and as far as I can remember it was on the corner of Stafford Road and Golds Hill Road. I went there on day-release in 1963 and 1964. It was a sizeable, probably Victorian building. Certainly not Handsworth Technical School - but maybe a kind of annexe?

The shop was in the block between Grove Lane and Stafford Road. It was a double-fronted premises. I think it may have been next door or next door but one to a pub - The Frighted Horse? I don't remember a chemist nearby, but there might have been. The only shop I definitely remember is Merrick & Heath's.

It sounds like Union Row hasn't changed - I wouldn't have walked along it back then, never mind now!

The Indian restaurant was on the other side of Soho Road, towards Soho Hill, and it was next door or near to what was either a hardware shop or a builder's merchants, something like that, well back from the road. Please bear in mind, Sue, that I worked in that shop from about June 1968 to maybe March 1969 - 44 years ago - and I've never been back since, other than driving along Soho Road a couple of times and seeing how much it's altered over the years.

Perhaps when I get a moment I may just drive over that way, but as I said in a previous post it's not my favourite part of Brum.

G

Edit: Mohawk, I just had a quick look at that thread, and also what I could find on the net, and Handsworth Technical School and Handsworth Technical College are or were definitely distinct entities, but both (possibly) on the same site.
I wasn't able to establish if the College is still operating.
 
Hi Big Gee

Yes the internet did say that it was accessed from Grove Lane and through to Stafford Road (Via Union Row).
I bet my sister remembers it as she loved sport.

I will have a venture though, next time I am up there. I was time limited the last time. I will make sure I am very casually dressed...

Sue
 
Hi Big Gee, my husband started his apprenticeship at Handsworth Technical College in 1963. I think he did one day and two nights or something like that. He then went on to Garretts Green Technical College to complete his five years. Just asked him about Handsworth Technical School (he went there, too, but in the Handsworth Wood building). He said the college was housed in the original school buildings, and there was an annexe in Boulton Road, but apart from the building he believes there is no connection.
 
Hi Shortie,

Looks like that's cleared up any confusion - thanks very much. I did one day and an evening at Golds Hill Road and after a couple of years switched jobs and went to Matthew Boulton College.

My wife says that when she and I met, she was working at Dudley Furnishings on the corner of Grove Lane and Soho Road. I'd forgotten that - whoops, smacked wrist.

G
 
Smacked wrist? I should think so too, fancy you forgetting that! I met my husband in August 1963 by the swings in Handsworth Park.

Ralph said he did the G Star course at Handsworth and then went onto to the Heating Engineer's something or other (numbers) at Garretts Green. He stayed in the same occupation - not fitting but design and contracting, for almost all his working life. He deviated once, when he was made redundant and worked for himself under contract to the Home Office for a few years - working in prisons of all places.
 
She just smacked me other wrist, too...

I did City & Guilds Lab Technicians, but when I changed jobs the boss wanted me to do something a bit more academic, so I switched to Matthew Boulton to do ONC Chemistry.

G
 
My husband oversaw the mechanical services (he was Operations Director for Interserve) at the new Matthew Boulton college in Birmingham - he had no idea what he wanted to do when he left school, even as he left, but his father had worked for Hopes Heating and Engineering, which later became the How Group, he just sorted it for him - he is very good with people and had a workforce of 400 (inside and outside staff) so he was obviously in the right job for him.

Why did you have another smack - what on EARTH were you doing? LOL
 
I had to go to West Brom this morning, and decided to drive back via Holyhead Road and Soho Road, for the first time in years. If it wasn't for fast-food shops and 'sweet centres', there'd be nothing there! Very little of what I remember remains. The Red Lion is boarded up and appears semi-derelict, yet I believe this is a listed building. None of the shops I recall have survived. The sports shop where I spent a miserable nine months is still there, but the frontage has been completely altered. I think it's a clothing-store and/or a jeweller's. The Frighted Horse is a pub no longer - hard to tell precisely what it is now. I was too concerned about the manic traffic to look at anything too carefully, and parking was out of the question. I meant to turn up into Stafford Road to see if Handsworth Tech College is still there, but the road was blocked by a dust-cart. I'm not surprised at what Soho Road's become - it was getting that way 45 years ago. Don't know whether to laugh or cry, to be honest, but I don't think I'll be making a return visit.

G
 
hi G..i took a trip up the soho road a couple of months back to see if the barrel was still there as i had rellies run it from 1901 to 1913..(there is a thread for this) to my amazement it was and still open..i did go inside just because i could and i just wanted to walk where the rellies once had..took a couple of pics of the back of the pub but didnt bother with the front of it as you found out soho road has changed beyond all recognition..its another world from when i used to go shopping up there with our mom...wont be going back...

lyn
 
What a sad story Big Gee. Mind you, the last time I was along Soho Road was probably more than 10 years ago and I was heartbroken then when I saw what it had become. All my memories were destroyed. As a teenager I was up and down that road regularly and there were so many interesting and different kinds of shops it was a pleasure to walk along. My family left Handsworth in 1956 and I can remember my mother telling me even back then how much it had changed since she and my Dad went to live there in 1937. Like you I doubt if I will ever go back again.
 
Big Gee said:
I had to go to West Brom this morning, and decided to drive back via Holyhead Road and Soho Road, for the first time in years. If it wasn't for fast-food shops and 'sweet centres', there'd be nothing there! Very little of what I remember remains. The Red Lion is boarded up and appears semi-derelict, yet I believe this is a listed building. None of the shops I recall have survived. The sports shop where I spent a miserable nine months is still there, but the frontage has been completely altered. I think it's a clothing-store and/or a jeweller's. The Frighted Horse is a pub no longer - hard to tell precisely what it is now. I was too concerned about the manic traffic to look at anything too carefully, and parking was out of the question. I meant to turn up into Stafford Road to see if Handsworth Tech College is still there, but the road was blocked by a dust-cart. I'm not surprised at what Soho Road's become - it was getting that way 45 years ago. Don't know whether to laugh or cry, to be honest, but I don't think I'll be making a return visit.
G
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Hi Big Gee
It is a bit disappointing isn't it. All the shops seemed to sell the same wares. How do they survive? No character anymore. Never mind...
 
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I feel just the same about going back to the old streets too. Nothing is the same, it's all changed beyond belief. It's best not to go back with the good memories we have, so disappointing, and even quite shocking at times.
 
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