• 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

Where is This? 165

Morning Phil they used this hole as a Childrens Fair ground was it to fill a void left when Lewiss closed the roof. Dek
 
Dek

I haven't a clue what purpose it was for. All I know was it must have been excavated and that cost a few bob. It might have been to enable pedestrians to negotiate Colmore Circus. Even then it didn't have to be that big.

I have to be honest I can never remember it being used for much, I can only ever remember a couple of newspaper & tobacconist stalls down there. I'm sure it wasn't carved out just for them.

Phil
 
Phil,
There was a pub down there I went in a couple of times, can't think for the life of me what it was called, something like Brown Derby comes to mind.
 
Wasn't this (like the Manzoni Gardens by the Bull Ring) for a "green oasis" iin the desert of roadways above. The Civil War mosaic was down this hole as well. The hole in the ground in Old Square was seperate, paved and had toilets and shops as well.
 
Last edited:
Blimey John, There's a pub I'd forgotten. As with a lot of pubs, the druggies took that one over. In the late 70's I was in the forces and although I was in civvies, i had short hair and when i walked in there I was promtly asked to leave because everyone thought I was a copper. It closed down shortly after, that was about 1979 or so.
 
John

Strange I have no memory of this pub at all, perhaps I must have sampled some of it's unofficial sales.

Mike

It was hardly a green oasis, I don't think I ever saw a blade of grass. On the rare occasion I had cause to trek through there I don't recall seeing a mosaic

Phil
 
The only times I went down there was to use the toilets that was there. I do seem to remember a pub now that its mentioned, and was'nt there a citizens advice bureau near there?

Terry
 
hi folks...yes the pub was called the brown derby..the pub sign was a brown derby hat...there was a citizens advise there but im pretty sure there was no civil war mosaic...that was somewhere else and at the moment i cant think where it was....

next one phil....

lyn
 
thinking again...the civil war mosaic could have been down there..seem to remember a roundhead and a cavalier and possibly a cannon...the reason i think it may have been there is because ive racked me brains and cant think where else it would have been..maybe someone can confirm it for us...

lyn
 
There was a "City Butchers" shop, we got good reasonably priced meat from there. the pub was called The Brown Derby after the American hat that looked like a UK Bowler hat & a lot more shops as well. Len.




ked like a Bowler hat
 
hi len...i cant recall many shops being in that hole....but there were lots just a tad over in the old priory queensway subway including a city butchers which you can just see on the right of my pic....sorry for the discolouration its from an old newspaper cutting...

lyn...
 
Lyn, Thanks for posting the super pic it looks clean down there but it became a total dustbin with drunks & drug smokers, beggars of money or cigarettes, it got very intimidating, there was nearly always a couple of policemen trying to sort them, the shops closed and people did`nt go any more, the stink from the "toilets" made you feel sick and it was right to close it & some time later fill it in. Len.
 
i agree len....more often that not i would prefer to take me chances crossing the roads instead of walking though these places.....strange to think that all those shops remain intact underground...wonder what future generations of historians will make of them in years to come....

lyn
 
Lyn. Is'nt that a pic of the Old Square? I thought we were talking about the one that was by the Gaumont.

Terry

Look at post 59 and you will see what I mean
 
Last edited:
yep terry it is of the old square which i think was quite close to one one we were on about...the only reason i posted it is because len mentioned a city butchers being there and i thought that maybe he was thinking about the one in the old square which is just visible on right in the pic i posted.....many apologies for going off thread....

lyn
 
It,s quite ironic really were looking at history barely 25years old ,i,m looking at my third Bull Ring, Old Square,and Lower Priory and I,m only 66 old.Just shows how our planners mucked it up in the 60s,i wonder if i,ll see any others.Dek
 
hi dek...there a very good chance of that...for a start the building materials used today are not a patch on those used say a hundred years ago..(nor will they be) and secondly whatever is built is with a view that after about 30 or 40 years the town planners find it out of date...knock it down and rebuild.....the same goes with houses...i refer to the newtown area...they are more or less bulldozing their way through all the flat rooved and town houses....these houses are no more than 40 years old...well thats what i think and it is just my opinion....

lyn
 
Phil, I'm sure the Civil War mosaic was in the hole next to the Gaumont Cinema to the right of the exit at the top of your photo because I remember thinking when I saw it what an out the way place to put it. Then I recall there was a bit of an outcry in the Evening Mail because when they decided to rejig Colmore Circus again and fill the hole in there was no plan to resite the mosaic so it was to be left in place and buried. Maybe in the next rejig the Time Team will move in and find it again.
 
Mike

It seems you are right, having no memory of this mosaic I did a tiny bit of research (only a bit). I find that it was a mosaic by Kenneth Budd, the chap who did the Kennedy one and the Great Western? one at snow hill.

When it was released that the intention was to bury it, his son Oliver was quite annoyed. Its was a great pity but the very nature of mosaic work makes it difficult to move.

On reflection it might have been better if they did the same with the Kennedy Memorial instead of cutting it to pieces like they did. At least it would have been intact if it were dug up in the future. I don't think it will ever be restored. Although Oliver Budd has been commissioned to recreate some of his fathers work in new locations. Perhaps he will incorporate some old the old pieces into his new creation.

Phil
 
The pic on page #59 is Colmore Circus 20yrs before Lyn`s 1985 page #76but looking from different ends of the Circus top r/hand the Tescos building is now occupied by Argos on Priory Queensway, the domed exit lower centre took you there. Len.
 
Len

The photo at post #59 is of the subway on Colmore Circus, which was part of Steelhouse Lane. Lyn's photo is of Old Square outside Lewis's. The two were close to each other but not connected.

Look at this photo of the same location as Lyn's but looking the other way. In my photo of Colmore Circus the direction of the photo is straight down Steelhouse Lane. You can see the General Hospital to the bottom on the left.

Old Square Lyn's photo is to the right.

Phil

CityOldSquareCorporationSt1970.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top