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Then & Now
- Thread starter Phil
- Start date
Radiorails
master brummie
Looks a totally different place OM.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
A 1950s view of Warwick Road, Acocks Green. A Pearks van on the left.
What happened to their chain of grocery shops?
Can't quite read the name on the tall building on the right but it might be a Midland Bank.
The view today ... the building on the right survives but the folks in the 1950s pic would have been puzzled by the new name.
What happened to their chain of grocery shops?
Can't quite read the name on the tall building on the right but it might be a Midland Bank.
The view today ... the building on the right survives but the folks in the 1950s pic would have been puzzled by the new name.
Frothblower
Lubrication In Moderation
Great first photo. Probably is a Midland Bank, I can see one of them night safe thingies
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Frothblower
Lubrication In Moderation
The van in the photo look like an old Morris Police black Maria? No Police markings on it though
Yes, this Black Maria is a Morris Commercial 'PV' type 25cwt van, and there are two of these vans shown in the picture of Warwick Road, Acocks Green.
Boomy
Frothblower
Lubrication In Moderation
Yes I wasn't sure about the one in the foreground. Thanks for the full title.
Radiorails
master brummie
The monogram suggests this could be a vehicle used by the Prison Service rather than a local police force. The fact that it has a London registration might support that.
devonjim
master brummie
It was a Midland Bank, Lloyds was opposite and Birmingham Municipal a couple of doors away at 1111. Electric Showrooms were next door to the Midland.
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
Here is the view from what is now Centenary Square through to Chamberlain Square from the 1950's up to last year in 2017. In the first image we are looking down from the top end of Edmund Street, the second one is when the first central library was demolished, the third shows the building that replaced it. The final image shows the end of that buildings days.
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oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
Then and Now at Longbridge
Pre 1920 view from Lickey Road looking towards Birmingham near where Bristol Road turns towards Rubery
from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/old-street-pics.38737/page-259#post-623043
Similar view in 2018
An aerial view dated 1935 (Britainfromabove EPW047802). The vast Austin Motor factory covers most of the area but the Longbridge Pumping Station with it's tall chimney stands out. Phyllis Nicklin photographed it in 1959 https://epapers.bham.ac.uk/425/1/bb0254.jpg
An aerial view dated 2018. It's certainly different but the River Rea is still there ...
An enlargement of the Longbridge Pumping Station. Birmingham Corporation Water Works made it look like a church as they did with some other pumping stations.
Pre 1920 view from Lickey Road looking towards Birmingham near where Bristol Road turns towards Rubery
from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/old-street-pics.38737/page-259#post-623043
Similar view in 2018
An aerial view dated 1935 (Britainfromabove EPW047802). The vast Austin Motor factory covers most of the area but the Longbridge Pumping Station with it's tall chimney stands out. Phyllis Nicklin photographed it in 1959 https://epapers.bham.ac.uk/425/1/bb0254.jpg
An aerial view dated 2018. It's certainly different but the River Rea is still there ...
An enlargement of the Longbridge Pumping Station. Birmingham Corporation Water Works made it look like a church as they did with some other pumping stations.
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oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
In 1894 George Cadbury opened the Selly Oak Institute, 648, Bristol Road and a postcard view shows it in 1900. Trams were running on this part of the Bristol Road.
Tram services on the Bristol Road ended in 1952 so the date of this photo is probably a year or two before that date. The crew had stopped to get a jug of tea from a cafe just out of shot on the right.
In November 1953 this photo (D.J.Norton) was taken. Selly Oak Radio Supplies were now probably selling more televisions. The tram tracks and overhead wires are gone but the cafe is still there.
Today the original Selly Oak Institute building (Grade 2 listed) is still there but now apparently renamed the Selly Oak Centre. The shops have been converted to houses.
Tram services on the Bristol Road ended in 1952 so the date of this photo is probably a year or two before that date. The crew had stopped to get a jug of tea from a cafe just out of shot on the right.
In November 1953 this photo (D.J.Norton) was taken. Selly Oak Radio Supplies were now probably selling more televisions. The tram tracks and overhead wires are gone but the cafe is still there.
Today the original Selly Oak Institute building (Grade 2 listed) is still there but now apparently renamed the Selly Oak Centre. The shops have been converted to houses.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
Sometimes a house like this one in Farquahar Road attracts postcard photographers. It shows on a 1914 map and the first postcard in a winter scene appears to be this one
Then someone came along in summer and maybe a different year and took this one.
Then the Google streetcar cruised along Farquahar Rd and took this pic. The vegetation is profuse and maybe that large tree was the small one seen in the photo 100 years earlier. https://goo.gl/maps/KMwSNgGzGip
Google also produced an aerial view which shows how large the house actually is. It is probably not a private domestic house now.
Farquahar .... unusual name for a road ... and a wealthy Birmingham resident had it built all those years ago.
Then someone came along in summer and maybe a different year and took this one.
Then the Google streetcar cruised along Farquahar Rd and took this pic. The vegetation is profuse and maybe that large tree was the small one seen in the photo 100 years earlier. https://goo.gl/maps/KMwSNgGzGip
Google also produced an aerial view which shows how large the house actually is. It is probably not a private domestic house now.
Farquahar .... unusual name for a road ... and a wealthy Birmingham resident had it built all those years ago.
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oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
A postcard view of the Hagley Road opposite the Kings Head and the terminus for the No 34 tram.
Unfortunately no date other than it was earlier than 1930 when the tram service was discontinued.
Interesting horse drawn vehicle in the view ...
The view today shows the buildings still there but steel shutters cover shop windows and shop signs are large ... I suppose it is a typical modern view we are used to ...
Unfortunately no date other than it was earlier than 1930 when the tram service was discontinued.
Interesting horse drawn vehicle in the view ...
The view today shows the buildings still there but steel shutters cover shop windows and shop signs are large ... I suppose it is a typical modern view we are used to ...
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devonjim
master brummie
So there were two laundries in Acock's Green, this one and the Co-op one in the Vineries.
Eric Gibson
master brummie
The front of that laundry building in #444 looks like a theatre frontage that's been added to.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
In the early 1950s you could stop your car outside a garage like this, toot your horn, and a man would come out and fill your tank with petrol.
Metchley Lane in 1952.
image from D.J.Norton with location given as opposite today's Malt Close.
In 1961 Phyliss Nicklin photographed those cottages next to the garage described as
'Harborne Metchley Lane, Old Cottages by Garage'
Today all the buildings in the old pic have long been demolished and new houses built opposite Malt Close.
However I cannot locate the cottages ajoining the large house on the only old map I have.
Metchley Lane in 1952.
image from D.J.Norton with location given as opposite today's Malt Close.
In 1961 Phyliss Nicklin photographed those cottages next to the garage described as
'Harborne Metchley Lane, Old Cottages by Garage'
Today all the buildings in the old pic have long been demolished and new houses built opposite Malt Close.
However I cannot locate the cottages ajoining the large house on the only old map I have.
paul stacey
master brummie
I remember those cottages and garage in "Metchley Lane", don't like the new ones, though neat, I came up when mom died 2003, and traveled around my old haunts, all gone, some of the old pubs were there but must be gone now. I thought no atmosphere,,everywhere bland, go to a 1000 other city's identical buildings, (old Brum) I knew and loved breathed atmosphere now ??? Paul