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Where is this

Lloyd said:
That is Manzoni Gardens, in the huge island at the top of Digbeth (St Martins Circus) where the old market hall stood. The Rotunda, you can see in front, High Street (and New Street) went off just to its right, and a footpath that followed the route of Worcester Street to its left - but the other side of the roadway.
From where this photo was taken, turn round and walk the other way, you come to that balcony in post #16, but turn right just before it and under the roadway, then turn left and walk through the pedestrian tunnel towards Moor Street, then right and the kiosk is right there.
Click to expand...

And what a dump it was. Full of drunks and winoes drinking their cheap cider.

Named after the guy who ruined central Birmingham, Herbert Manzoni

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Manzoni

Looking at most of the pictures in this topic it makes you realise how awful these 1970s development were.

I dont think the city has ever really recovered from it, and still has a bad reputation in the rest of the UK.
 
Another pic of Manzoni Gardens. Surely these are not the drunks and wino's are they.:-)

Terry
 
View attachment 56050View attachment 56051View attachment 56049View attachment 56048 At the top of the ramp picture 1 if you turn left and past doors into Bull Ring you come to Manzonia Gardens,picture 3,if you turn right you would go along a balcony type area, picture 2 if you carry on past the shops,it opened up into a circle seating area, picture 4,if you went through that area you would come to a sloped walkway,public toilets down there,turn right into the open market, turn left and you would go to where the first picture was.picture 5.
Pity i haven't got one of the walkway i mentioned.It was a nice place when it was built,it got rough towards the end,
41205_143011742399835_100000730299492_264075_1843704_n.jpg
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224905970853183.jpg

I worked in Woolworth in the Bullring,and lots of us would have lunch in these seating areas. I spent a lifetime there one summer
lol
 
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great pics liz..pic 2 is a shot i have been waiting to see for a while..takes me back a few years...

thanks...

lyn
 
Aidan said:
Wasn't that the lair of King Kong? https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=611&highlight=king+kong I know his original home was Manzoni Gardens but I thought he later moved to the end of that walkway as he said he preferred the view from there and it had a better NRS & ACORN ratings?
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The walkway i am talking about Aidan was just that,no room for anything like King Kong,it came from the seating area in picture 4,there were toilets down there,it just took you back down to the stalls on the right. Cafe to the left, and if you went that way you would be back to picture 5, I think all King kongs places are on here,
 
Astoness said:
great pics liz..pic 2 is a shot i have been waiting to see for a while..takes me back a few years...

thanks...

lyn
Click to expand...
Me to, i spent a lot of my youth there,you know when your that age you want to go out with friends, but your to young to go anywhere, I lived a stones throw from the market, we would gather around the market area,that was our evenings out,lol and then i worked around the area when i was older, I knew the place pretty well.
 
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I bow to your superior knowledge Liz, I don't even know where I am at the moment, but I would swear that when I went up the ramp and turned right it would take you along the covered walkway of shops to a small open space at the end where there was a merry-go-round and/or King Kong - possibly both. Think I need a lie-down.
 
Sorry Aidan, i thought you asked was he on the walkway,i read it wrong, you mean in the seating area? I'm not sure what years about are we talking, perhaps we could find out.
 
Was'nt that shop next to the ramp (pic 2) known as Mark 1? or am I thinking of something else.

Terry
 
terryb18 said:
Was'nt that shop next to the ramp (pic 2) known as Mark 1? or am I thinking of something else.

Terry
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Yes it was Terry,it had a few names in its time,the one i remember most vividly is Mark 1.
 
Aidan said:
I bow to your superior knowledge Liz, I don't even know where I am at the moment, but I would swear that when I went up the ramp and turned right it would take you along the covered walkway of shops to a small open space at the end where there was a merry-go-round and/or King Kong - possibly both. Think I need a lie-down.
Click to expand...

Aidan thats were Nelson was located King Kong was on the other side see post #32 by Terry. Dek
 
hi all...aidan..i also thought that if you turn right at the top of the ramp there was a line of shops...think you can just see them in liz.s pic 2...i also remember mark 1

lyn
 
Elizabeth Redmond said:
View attachment 56050View attachment 56051View attachment 56049View attachment 56048 At the top of the ramp picture 2 if you turn left and past doors into Bull Ring you come to Manzonia Gardens,picture1,if you turn right you would go along a balcony type area, picture 3, if you carry on past the shops,it opened up into a circle seating area, picture 4,if you went through that area you would come to a sloped walkway,public toilets down there,turn right into the open market, turn left and you would go to where the first picture was.picture 5.
Pity i haven't got one of the walkway i mentioned.It was a nice place when it was built,it got rough towards the end,
I worked in Woolworth in the Bullring,and lots of us would have lunch in these seating areas. I spent a lifetime there one summer
lol
Click to expand...
Yes i said if you turn right and pass the shop's,but Aidan thought king kong was at the end of that row of shops in the seating area
shown in pic 4,but i dont recall that,i remember it being in Manzonia Gardens and somewhere near St Martins
 
thanks liz...i seem to remember king kong being around there but the exact spot eludes me...

lyn
 
manzonia gardens,and i think he was near the church at one time,can't remember him being in the seating area, i'm not sure there would have been WHATEVER HAPPENED TO KING KONG
more on this thread
 
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two building workers stage a sit in protest. on the shoulders of king kong.....1972
 

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Astoness said:
two building workers stage a sit in protest. on the shoulders of king kong.....1972
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Brill pics Lyn & Liz.

I think I must have a faulty memory but I have also seen a ref to it "looking out over the Market Area" (just can't find it...). Was there a merry-go-round there at somepoint or am I completely losing it?

I do remember Mark 1 though (phew)
 
Aidan said:
Brill pics Lyn & Liz.

I think I must have a faulty memory but I have also seen a ref to it "looking out over the Market Area" (just can't find it...). Was there a merry-go-round there at somepoint or am I completely losing it?

I do remember Mark 1 though (phew)
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I don't know Aidan i remember a little merry go round,but it was inside,up that ramp from New St, near Beatie's and a supermarket,was it known as the Pallasades,then you would cross the bridge to the Bull Ring,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCGSdxGcvFg
 
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Heres a couple King Kong
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BULLRING_70S.jpg
 
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Dek

I have searched to no avail for a photo of those shops along side of those kiosks. In this photo you can the tower block I think it was called St Martins house. Just adjacent to it on the right you can see those three kiosks. The ground floor of the tower block on the Moor St side was the motor taxation department from about the 70's onward and around the corner in what I suppose was technically Digbeth were the shops.

Phil

CityDigbethOppositeBullRing.jpg
 
Hi there, You'r right it is St Martin's House, I worked there on the 3rd floor in the early seventies. I remember one shop was a deli and another was a driving school.
Anne
 
Hi Liz

What year did you work at Woolworth's ? I can't remember any roundabout in the pallasades or on the bridge over the Ringway. The only one I remember was on the elevated part of the Bull Ring (see photo). I worked in the Pallasades in the early 70's removing some giant marble faced plant pots. Most of them were removed because they were being used for rubbish bins. Some of them were kept and converted in to kiosks and fountains (see photo).

I also spent many hours in Manzoni Gardens and I can remember the time you were not allowed to walk on the grass let alone stretch out and sunbathe. That soon changed after a couple of years, I suppose security got fed up of chasing people off. They had enough to do picking on teenagers in the shopping centre.

Phil

CityBullringRoundabout.jpg
CityNewStPallisadesShoppingCentre1979.jpg


CityManzoniGardens1967.jpg
 
Phil thats were i remember the round-about to be (photo1)just out of shot to the left was Nelson. Photo2 is where King Kong stood for a short time.Looking at your photo #55 the shops had to be built into the ground floor of St Martins House Dek
 
pmc1947 said:
Hi Liz

What year did you work at Woolworth's ? I can't remember any roundabout in the pallasades or on the bridge over the Ringway. The only one I remember was on the elevated part of the Bull Ring (see photo). I worked in the Pallasades in the early 70's removing some giant marble faced plant pots. Most of them were removed because they were being used for rubbish bins. Some of them were kept and converted in to kiosks and fountains (see photo).

I also spent many hours in Manzoni Gardens and I can remember the time you were not allowed to walk on the grass let alone stretch out and sunbathe. That soon changed after a couple of years, I suppose security got fed up of chasing people off. They had enough to do picking on teenagers in the shopping centre.

Phil
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Hi Phil i worked in Woolworth mid 6os early 70s,the roundabout i refer, to now that was much later,1977 it was definitely there.
It may have been a temporary thing,i remember it well, because it was the first little roundabout my son ever went on,it was Christmas and we were in town,on our way to Lewis's.
It was situated near a restaurant that was on the corner,possibly Italian, just as you approached the bridge that took you across to the Bullring,There was a clarks shoe shop near by,and Beattie's a little way away.


View attachment 56244It was just along from here Phil, nearer where the bridge was
 
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