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Tower blocks Perry Barr demolition.

Alan I used to love to shop in the center but each time we go there seams to be some trouble or other so we just go when it is necessary. I am glad to hear the demolition is going on and wonder what they will build on the land?. Jean.
 
HI JEAN
How are you both keeping fine i hope
yes it will be intresting to se what becomes of the baron land they need to dispersese a litte bit like they regenerated park lane
some think like holfold park industreal would make it brighter or may be sme big health centre the whole area wants opening up itsto dense down and around there
when i first seen saphire tower park lane being built i thought they was gonna do good but unfortunely not they are clearing the slum houses and the towers for
health and security reason but they are rebuild ghettos of townships and they are moving problems from place to another parts i think they have started to some think with wheeler st alma street i beleive i seen last week its like lady wood alma st gun slingers alley i seen some of them masonettes being knock down there as well
still we will have to wait and see jean best wishes Astonian Alan
 
I think it was probably offices.I can remember Dorothy Perkins was there a large supermarket called Fine Fayre I think.A lovely toy shop I wish I could remember the big store next to Fine Fayre.
 
Yes it was right by the bus stops not far from the Maypole does anyone remember that one?I can remember it always smelt of ham and the man behind the counter used to say he would cut my plaits off.
 
From what I remember Jean, it was like a department store, it sold furniture as well as the kind of things you would find in lewis's but on a smaller scale.
 
I remember Williams's furniture store and it was often advertised on TV/ I think their slogan was As you walk through the door something or other hit the floor. I saw the gent from the advert in panto but I can't say what he said hit the floor. He was in From the manor born. Jean.
 
Hi know this is a reply to quiet an old post but yes I know Byrons Cafe my dad was Byron and he ran it with his two Brothers John and Joe it was in the same block as the bank and the supermarket on the corner was called mackfisheries.
The cafe closed due the to underpass being built loss of business, it became Britannia typewriters I think.
This was early 70s
 
Hi .. just came across this forum posting ... As a large family, we moved from Perry Common Road Erdington, to Perry Barr in 1962 while construction was still taking place on the tower blocks & maisonettes. If I'm remembering correctly, all, or most of the houses had been completed and we moved in to a 5 bedroomed home in Ashcroft Grove during 1962 .. it was pure heaven. I later used to date a girl from Birchfield Tower .. cant believe that it was 58 years ago....:D
 
Mossy said:
I reckon they were built in the 70s we used to call them suicide blocks for obvious reasons


Mossy
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Worked at a University here in Melbourne Aust. There were a few tall building and the windows would open only enough to let in fresh air. I was suprised that there have been a few suicides.There was a high percentage of o/seas students and some seemed to be under a great deal of family pressure.
 
christine knowles said:
I feel really sad that the flats have gone .My childhood has gone, I lived in one of the maisonettes which were built first.I lived there for ten years, happy days running up and down all the stairs in the flats.I remember so well there were fourteen floors people used to hang their washing out on the very top floor.the flats were lovely inside.The one underpass at the top of Birchfield road was built not long after my sister Susan was knocked down.We used to have great fun in the playground next to the flats,If we played kick the can we always hid in the flats.I went to Canterbury Cross School and went to Enid Goodwins Saturday afternoons.I also remember the precint being built at Perry Barr too.Does anyone remember Byrons Cafe?
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Christine I lived in the maisonette opposite Tweed Tower....used to play in that playground on the bars, we were the Jenkins family....I’m Diane and would have been 7/8 years old then. I knew Ann Kenny who lived on the eighth floor and Mary Haynes in the maisonettes further down near the garages, it was just open fields at the back when we moved in and an old farm and coal merchants further over near allotments. my brother and I used to do penny for the guy in November for years near the underpass. I was going to shop for my mom when that lady jumped off the tower and left a newborn baby in the lift. Never forgot it and I’m 67 now.
 
I'm new to this site but I used to live in Bragg Road,Perry Barr.I knew several people who used to live in the tower blocks and maisonettes (mid 60's-mid 70's)People from my school Great Barr Comp and from the local BB which my Foster mum ran Olive Woolass at Perry Barr methodist Church in Aston Lane.
Very interesting to read all of this. Thanks
 
Brumgirl12 said:
I'm new to this site but I used to live in Bragg Road,Perry Barr.I knew several people who used to live in the tower blocks and maisonettes (mid 60's-mid 70's)People from my school Great Barr Comp and from the local BB which my Foster mum ran Olive Woolass at Perry Barr methodist Church in Aston Lane.
Very interesting to read all of this. Thanks
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Welcome to the forum :)
I used to go to the Youth Club at the Methodist Church in the mid 60's.
 
Hi all i think the tower blocks were Birchfield, Calder and Tweed and i did maintenance work on them between 68 to 72 i also boarded up some very old Victorian houses opposite lifting floor boards from the inside and finding old photos 100 years + of people was very scary especially as it got darker inside as i boarded up each window , i wish i had kept those photos but i was only 16 / 17 years old too young to realise their importance .
 
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G G Jean said:
I remember Williams's furniture store and it was often advertised on TV/ I think their slogan was As you walk through the door something or other hit the floor. I saw the gent from the advert in panto but I can't say what he said hit the floor. He was in From the manor born. Jean.
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Just looking at these old posts it was When you walk through the door your pounds worth more
 
Mossy said:
I reckon they were built in the 70s we used to call them suicide blocks for obvious reasons


Mossy
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No, they were built in the early 60's; I moved into a block of maisonettes in 1960 on Bridgelands Way, which was just behind Birchfield and Calder Towers. The maisonettes were converted to small flats some years back but clearly didn't work very well because they have been pulled down too.

Mossy said:
I reckon they were built in the 70s we used to call them suicide blocks for obvious reasons


Mossy
Click to expand...
 
christine knowles said:
I feel really sad that the flats have gone .My childhood has gone, I lived in one of the maisonettes which were built first.I lived there for ten years, happy days running up and down all the stairs in the flats.I remember so well there were fourteen floors people used to hang their washing out on the very top floor.the flats were lovely inside.The one underpass at the top of Birchfield road was built not long after my sister Susan was knocked down.We used to have great fun in the playground next to the flats,If we played kick the can we always hid in the flats.I went to Canterbury Cross School and went to Enid Goodwins Saturday afternoons.I also remember the precint being built at Perry Barr too.Does anyone remember Byrons Cafe?
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Hello, you wouldn't happen to be the Christine that lived on the ground floor of the maisonettes and had two sisters, Pauline and Susan by any chance??
I ran up/down those stairs with you :-) Yes, I remember Byrons too, it was a sweetie and toy shop downstairs. I remember their "Lucky Bag" barrel dip, and Jublies (triangular ice lollies)
 
Mercy said:
Christine I lived in the maisonette opposite Tweed Tower....used to play in that playground on the bars, we were the Jenkins family....I’m Diane and would have been 7/8 years old then. I knew Ann Kenny who lived on the eighth floor and Mary Haynes in the maisonettes further down near the garages, it was just open fields at the back when we moved in and an old farm and coal merchants further over near allotments. my brother and I used to do penny for the guy in November for years near the underpass. I was going to shop for my mom when that lady jumped off the tower and left a newborn baby in the lift. Never forgot it and I’m 67 now.
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So your block would have been on Burtonwood Drive, yes?
 
Catherine Crawley said:
No, they were built in the early 60's; I moved into a block of maisonettes in 1960 on Bridgelands Way, which was just behind Birchfield and Calder Towers. The maisonettes were converted to small flats some years back but clearly didn't work very well because they have been pulled down too.
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Catherine Crawley said:
Hello, you wouldn't happen to be the Christine that lived on the ground floor of the maisonettes and had two sisters, Pauline and Susan by any chance??
I ran up/down those stairs with you :) Yes, I remember Byrons too, it was a sweetie and toy shop downstairs. I remember their "Lucky Bag" barrel dip, and Jublies (triangular ice lollies)
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Catherine , was Birchfield tower the scene for that unfortunate place for that pensioner ?
 
Di.Poppitt said:
I think Enid Goodwins was along that stretch of Perry Barr. Thank goodness those tower blocks are gone, that bit of Birchfield Road is confusing to drive along, especially if you want to turn right to go along the Broadway. Maybe they will sort that out with the new buildings going up. The underpass as you say Graham is an eyesore.
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