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summer lane shops

  • Thread starter Thread starter gillian jones
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gillian jones

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hi there, can any-one help ,does any-one recall what shops were on summer lane, opposite summer lane school. i lived in new john street west and have some memeries but would like more information to confirm if my memory is right or not .thanks gill jones.:rolleyes:
 
Hi Gillian :) It depends on what years you are thinking around
because that section, New John Street West corner of Pen Knib mnfctr
Brandaeur,s to Henrietta Street (Ambulance Station) & Whites Ironmonger shop,, well most of that demolished in the 60,s
There is a Garage now at the Junction N J St W & Summer Lane then
small industrial Units to the Pub corner Brearley Street & then more
Industrial & office Units up to Henrietta St & the old M E B place.

Some others on here have photos & probably a lot more info on the
questions that you are raising,, hang loose, retain Zeez leetle grey cells
your memory will soon be reactivated ,,;) John Y
 
Hello Gillian.
Wasn't Summer Lane School the one with the main entrance in Hospital Street, with a pedestrian entrance in Summer Lane almost opposite Hatchett Street? The Kelly's 1956 directory lists the following firms on the opposite side, in order from the corner of Lower Tower Street to Hatchett Street corner. Only one was a shop:
67-69: Hill Bros, glass merchants
70: Wallace Rook, metal spinner
71 1/2 and 72A: Southgate (Birmingham) Ltd, electric light fittings mfr
75: Mrs Ada Ellsmore, tobacconist
76-77: Electric Maintenace & Repair Ltd
79-80: Stag's Head pub.
The rest would have been houses, unless anyway were bombed in WW2, but I can't remember any just now.
Peter
 
Hi Gillian,
The only shops I can remember were between New John Street & Hatchett Street.There was a pie shop on the corner then a shop called Bayliss where you took your radio accumulator to be recharged,then Violet Measeys that sold fruit and veg.There were other shops but I cant remember their names or what they sold.Sorry.
Maurice
 
summer lane shops.

hi to every-one who replyed to my question about shops on summer lane i lived in new john street west from 1947 toabout 1960. i thought i remembered the cake shop on the corner also a small cafe with a penny slot machine in it a shop where i used to get live moggots for my dad for his fishing a green-grocers, but my memory might be playing tricks on me im getting on a bit now ,but thanks any-way .gillian.:rolleyes:
 
summer lane

hi Gillian, i lived in new john street west from 1940 until 1957. You are correct about the pie shop on one corner, the cafe on the other and of course the post office opposite the cafe. What was on the corner diagonal to the cafe i cannot remember, colin
 
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Hi Colin,
On the other corner was the Britannia Inn.The cafe you talk about,I remember as a sweet shop called Devereux's where you could buy an ice lolly made from Vimto. Maurice
 
shops

hi. colin thanks for your reply about summer lane. im glad my mind hasent gone altogether. i remember the post office i also think there was a chip shop on the same side and a police station on the other corner.your about 5 years older than me what school did you go to if you dont mind me asking.i also remember milmans my cousin lived oppsite i think you replyed to a post he put up his name is peter,thanks again gillian.:)
 
The Lane

Hello Gillian. I attended Elkington Street school from 1945 until 1951. Failing the entrance exam to King Edwards Aston not once but twice i then moved to Summer Lane in 1950 and stayed there until 1955. I seem to remember a fish shop near to the newsagents on the left heading towards the police station on the corner of Bridge Street West. I took some stick when my cousin who was stationed there saw the crowd of school kids across the increasingly busy Summer Lane.
 
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devereux's

Hi Colin,
On the other corner was the Britannia Inn.The cafe you talk about,I remember as a sweet shop called Devereux's where you could buy an ice lolly made from Vimto. Maurice

Hi Maurice, thank you for reminding me. Deverereux's i remember well with it's small room seperated from the shop by a glass and wood partition. I spent many a late afternoon with a dandelion and berdock though the pink ice cream soda was my favourite. Colin
 
summer lane shops.

hello again collin,i to went to summer lane school but not untill 1958, so by then you would probably left. i didnt want to take the 11plus i was happy where i was but my cousin pete did and went to king edwards aston he was the brainey one in the family. i saw a post about deverauxs about the vimto lollies i used to make them for the owner and used to get a free one for my trouble, thanks for reminding me about the name of the street by the police station i had forgotten it was bridge st west.all the best gillian.
 
Hello Gillian & Colin,
Do you remember the pub next door to Devereuxs, "The Vine"? my uncle & aunt kept it for a couple of years at the end of the fifties.I also went to Summer Lane school from 1957 until 1961 and loved every minute of it,how about you? Maurice
 
the vine

hello maurice, yes i do remember the vine just found the corner from where i lived in new john st west.like you i enjoyed summer lane school ,you must have been in the year above me.i have so many great memories of hockley and was gutted when we had to move. they say it was slum clearence but they wernt slums to us they were our homes. thanks for the photo bringing back more memories all the best gillian.:)
 
A story I was told some time ago by a relation, There used to be 24 pubs in Summer Lane, the weekend fun for the local youth was to start at one end have a half in each and see who could visit all 24 and still be standing. ( dont know the truith of this ) :rolleyes:
 
Mike, I don't doubt the number of pubs for one minute, but did you know that " The Vine " was the only one to have Summer lane as its postal address. The others were addressed after the side roads they stood on.;)
 
Summer Lane pubs

Hello Mike,
I can remember my mates and myself attempting this but drinking halves in each.Starting at the Salutation,I think we only ever got as far as the Stags Head, then we went back to the woolpack and on to pints & where we joined in a sing song as there was always a pianist os a Saturday night.
I have been racking my brains and consulting relatives,but can only come up with the following 14 pubs.Im sure we must have missed some, if so please jump in.
The Salutation.
The Woolpack.
Royal George.
The Bulls Head.
The Barrel.
The Stags Head.
The Brittania.
The Vine.
The Green Man.
The Geach.
The Cross Guns.
The Three Horse Shoes.
The Birmingham arms.
The Woodman.
Maurice
 
I was wondering whether someone could fill in the blanks regarding a corner shop on Summer Lane which sold Italian Ice Cream. It was owned by my Great Grandma in I'm guessing from the late thirties to the early forties. My mother has just provided me with the following information.

"The shop was in Summer Lane. It was an ordinary corner shop but I remember mom saying they had an ice cream making machine. They were bombed out during the war."

"Mom moved to the shop in Summer Lane just before the war with her family. They sold Italian ice cream !!! I think Uncle Tom bought it for your great Nan, Her Grandad was already dead. Nan, Mom and Edna moved to Park Place in Elkington Street. Aunt May and Uncle Len lived at 39 Elkington Street."

My Nan's surname was Prescott.

If anyone has any memories and can place exactly where it was, I would be very grateful to hear them. I'm hoping someone might even have a photograph.

Thank you,

Buckley
 
According to 1940 kellys Mrs florence Prescott confectioner was at 31 Summer Row, which described as being on the south side of the street towards Snow hill end (personally I would describe it as the east skide), between Hanley St and New summer St
Mike
 
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According to 1940 kellys Mrs florence Prescott confectioner was at 31 Summer Row, which described as being on the south side of the street towards Snow hill end (personally I would describe it as the east skide), between Hanley St and New summer St
Mike

Mike, That is fantastic. Thanks so much. I've only been a member for a day and I've already found out the house numbers my grandparents were born in and now this.

Can I ask what Kelly's is? Would it list the name of the shop?
 
Kellys are directories that list inhabitants. There are a few other directories than kellys for much earlier times, but in the last 100m years they are usually kellys. What they list varies with age, but more modern list commercial by name or by trade and private people also, but not all private names are listed, isusally the more affluent areas are better covered. Small businesses/shops were often just listed by owner, which is what they were known as, but might also list a name. Not often though. Pubs give both in most cases. In this case it just says what I posted
Mike
 
I was wondering whether someone could fill in the blanks regarding a corner shop on Summer Lane which sold Italian Ice Cream. It was owned by my Great Grandma in I'm guessing from the late thirties to the early forties. My mother has just provided me with the following information.

"The shop was in Summer Lane. It was an ordinary corner shop but I remember mom saying they had an ice cream making machine. They were bombed out during the war."

"Mom moved to the shop in Summer Lane just before the war with her family. They sold Italian ice cream !!! I think Uncle Tom bought it for your great Nan, Her Grandad was already dead. Nan, Mom and Edna moved to Park Place in Elkington Street. Aunt May and Uncle Len lived at 39 Elkington Street."

My Nan's surname was Prescott.

If anyone has any memories and can place exactly where it was, I would be very grateful to hear them. I'm hoping someone might even have a photograph.

Thank you,

Buckley


Was it at number 167? see the attachments
 
Thanks Mike. So would that have put the shop on the right hand side of Summer Lane heading away from Constitution Hill and between Hanley St and New Summer St?

Thanks also, Bammot. I'm guessing that number 31 wasn't listed in 1947 because it had been destroyed in the bombing...
 
Mike, thanks for posting the details of Summer Lane, a long time ago I posted a query asking if anyone remembered the Polar Ice Cream shop, and at the time no one did, much smaller membership then, but I see it is listed at 167 Summer Lane, so my mind was not playing tricks.
 
Hi all,just been looking at the list of Summer Lane buisnesses shown by Bammot in his thread,(a while ago, I know,but I never was the quickest pupil)and I noticed a couple off oddities. All the numbers appear to start from the right hand side of Summer Lane starting from the bottom of Snow Hill,continue in consecetive numbers to Alma Street,then carry consecetive numbers on the opposite side of the lane back to Snow Hill.The other oddity I noticed was that all the pubs are listed with a Summer Lane number and address,now I was always led to believe that the Vine was the only pub with a Summer Lane address, or am I missing something here? Mal.
 
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