• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Summer Lane

Re: summer lane hockley

Hi to all , i lived off summerlane in cecil st and our address was hockley up until they started knocking the houses down in the 1960s then they started to call round by our school which was summerlane and new summer st ect Newtown but i always say i lived in hockley but on all the census its called Aston mainly. Its like everybody has said roads near to newtown row were aston nearer to constitution hill it was hockley then newtown and is still called newtown now .
 
Out to dinner last night got talking to a friend whose dad had a shop in Summer Lane Baileys Cycles it was by Henietta St any one have any memories .Dek
 
hi dek...i wonder did you ask your friend if he has any pics of summer lane....for some reason they are not easy to come by...

lyn
 
lLyn I did and he has i will see what i can do the shop was on the site of the petrol station by the pub on the corner of William St North. i might not see him again till the end of January. Dek
 
right dek...i know where you mean....what a stroke of luck your mate having some pics....any of summer lane are well worth the wait...will look forward to seeing them...

lyn
 
dek carr said:
Out to dinner last night got talking to a friend whose dad had a shop in Summer Lane Baileys Cycles it was by Henietta St any one have any memories .Dek
Click to expand...

Hi Dek,I remember that cycle shop very well,it was roughly opposite the garage that is still there.My dad bought me a bicycle from that shop,it was a Sun 'Vitesse',painted in a metallic light blue.I remember it plainly,a bicycle in those days (about 1956) was VERY special.I remember he used to pay £1 a week for it,as I used to take the money down every week.If I recall correctly,it was a double-fronted shop,and there were several other shops in the same row............ah,memories.....................Mal.
 
Oh how I remember that Bicycle shop it brought about one of my young embarrassing moments.
I worked just around the corner in my first job as an office junior. It was my job to take the post at the end of the day to Key Hill Post office and I had to pass the bike shop, as I passed a young man stood at the window and waved. Being very shy I dashed passed but when this happened the second and third time I took my courage in both hands and waved back (well he was quite an attractive young man). He looked very puzzled and it was only then that I realised he wasn't waving at all but just cleaning the windows. Still it was the start of a very sweet and innocent romance, it didn't last but I do wonder what happened to Arthur my bike shop window cleaner.
 
Hi Lencops,

if you look closely, the palm trees are there all right....

Aston was B6 as far as I recall. Hockley was B19. I lived in Perry Barr which was B20 and technically Handsworth.

Hi Astoness,

your photos bring back memories....especially of the night in the 1960's when a few friends and I decided to have a pint in every pub along Summer Lane and Alma Street starting at The Salutation. We didn't get very far.

Big Gee
 
Hi Big Gee, the argument about Summer Lane being in Aston or Hockley was discussed earlier in the year,with many knowledgable people holding quite contrary views.All I will say is that I used to live in Summer Lane,near John Street West,and all I ever knew it as being in Aston,Birmingham 19. For some reason I can't download Lyn's photographs,the text is ok,it's the pictures that are giving me trouble,...anybody know why?........cheers,Mal.
 
I think it's because Lyn is still working on 405 lines, while the rest of us are on 625 lines by now....
 
Hi i had an aunt who lived in Powell St,it was i think near, the Sandpits we got a number 19 bus,i think it was near the area you are
discussing,does anybody remember it,Camden row,i think was nearby,would love to see photos if anybody has any,or if anybody remembers it,it had metal railings along one side of the street
 
Hi Liz your not quite in the right place THe Sandpits was at the bottom of Summer Row which was in the area of Spring Hill i,m not from that area but stick around soneone with more imfo than me will i,m sure help you out i do remember Camden St. Dek
 
Thank you Dek, it was a long time ago,i remember there was an old peoples home nearby,i think where they called the sandpit
 
hi to all, i lived off summerlane which would be nearer to lancaster st over newtown row i think would be aston it did go along way. Hockley was more towards constitution hill end of summerlane then went right along that road towards hockley brook. It became newtown in the 1960,s but we still called it hockley bham 19. All of newtown row was aston maybe starting from fire station on lancaster circus right up to birchfield rd would be aston including alma street. i think after you went over summerlane into hospital st, william st north, upper tower st , st georges st , and all the streets there were hockley. My address in cecil st was hockley.
 
hi all , the bulls head was a little pub on corner new summer st and summerlane my nan use to sit in the snug there i remember poking my head in there to say hello many a time.
 
I lived in Brougham St ,Birmingham 19 , it was just a short way from Hockley Brook ( Now the Flyover ) and our address was .......Lozells Birmingham 19 , daft aint it . Max
 
Hi liz, that area was the parade camden street is on one side there was pub called the edward on same side has camden street. The old peoples home was still there a while ago it was an old mans centre for a few years. I met my husband in that area at roller rink in 1969. I do remember has a child there was a lot of shops and also remember the railings it was called the sandpits .
 
Hi all, we used to hear the name johnny prescott a lot has children never seen him but my dad liked boxing so i imagine thats why he was mentioned a lot . people liked him in the summerlane area he was from aston wasnt he . I think people hero worshipped him in those days funny how things come back to you has you read blog on this site. lots of happy memories.
 
i lived in the next street to max and my address was villa st..hockley birm 19....

rosie i am really enjoying reading your memories of the old days...please keep em coming..is it spring hill rollar rink you went to...if so we must have been going at the same time...small world...

lyn
 
Hi Rosie the Street my aunt lived in was Powell St,and it wasn't far from the roller rink,she left there i think about 1961/2,it was a tiny house one up one down,and i'm sure the cooker was at the top of the cellar steps,or maybe the sink,it sounds funny i know,her house was on the front and i had another aunt who lived up the entry,
 
HI lyn, i went the rollerrink in 1969 i loved it at the time i lived in douglas rd handsworth and just decided one night to go rink with my sister Pearl after that we went at least five times a week . Id get home from work iron my jeans have my dinner and off id go with my sis. I still laugh now i wasnt a good skater but my husband was worse and his cousin hed say just let me fall but i used to hold him up and he hated it i thought i was quite clever that i could actually skate a bit. Happy times when your only 17.
 
hi Liz, i remember them houses back to backs i think. i didnt live round that area but went to the liric picture house there so we were by the parade i think we always walked it from summerlane where i lived has a child. my friend lillian lived in a back to back there was a living room bit of a scullery with a stove an sink downstairs an couple of bedrooms upstairs small places to live in when most families had 4 or 5 children like my friends family. There was still a lot of these houses in birmingham in 1964 god that was centuries ago or it seems like it.
 
Hiya all Just outside the two pubs in the sandpits were metal railings also Elizabeth you are right..just up on the right from the pubs was an old peoples home ...
 
we seem to have moved a lot really summerlane, lozells then handsworth.Yes it was springhill rollerrink i went to its 40years ago now. There is a few records that remind me of the rollerrink . There was tracks of my tears, i did it my way frank sinatra. sometimes me an couple of friends used to have bit of a dance to the music instead of skatiing we did some funny dances ha ha i can remember them to this day and my dancing hasnt got any better with age my friend jill would say wear a skirt tonight im not going to skate so id put skirt on and then when i got there shed have her jeans on and then she would skate after all i couldnt because i wouldnt skate in a skirt so it used to annoy me i didnt like wearing skirts anyway so after a whille id take no notice and always wore jeans . does anybody remember any old music from the rink.
 
Used to go there Rosie about the same time... the records i remember from then was the Isley Brothers and Peter Starsted
 
I used to go to the rink , a bit before your time 66 ish .I was a fairly good skater ,and had been in a roller skate hockey team at the Embassy Walford Rd . I remember drinking in the bar at the roller rink with members of The Move , ( my mate had been to school with Trevor Ireson /Burton ) . Fond memories of stolen kisses in the walk way at the back of the stage .
It was a dream of a place ,particularly compared with Walford Rd
Max
 
Last edited by a moderator:
hi dek...as usual its my pleasure....collecting pics is what some may call an obsession with me...but without them i reckon the history of birmingham would not seem so real....of course we have our memories of what streets/roads.pubs..schools etc were like when we were growing up but then we have pics from way before we were even a twinkle in our parents eyes....and so without them we can only guess at what life was like....and when folk ask me to look for pics relevant to their family history i see it as a sort of challenge and i am always up for that....

by the way i have started up a new thread for geach st....came accross my first pic of this street in an old brummagem mag today....seems that geach along with the next st paddington is proving hard to find pics of...i wouldnt mind but i was born in paddington and i aint got one single pic of it yet...but never say never is my motto....

lyn
 
Last edited:
Sylvia John Bailey is a personal friend of mine his dad ran the shop i,ve known him for more than 20 years he,s never mentioned the name Clive before. The family lived in Perry Barron the corner of Perry Avenue and Walsall Rd i,llbe seeing him in a couple of weeks maybe i should mention the name. Dek
 
Dek, perhaps I have got it wrong but I was convinced that the Clive Bailey I remember was connected to the cycle shop. I was at ACS 1951/52 if that helps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top