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Where was your first holiday?

we went up the horseshoe pass in a morris 8 van z van, but had to walk most of the way up becouse the vans engine could not cope:(
 
ChrisM said:
Thanks, oldMohawk, that's a wonderful image. London to Llandudno in the early thirties - what a trek. I'll repeat it here.

View attachment 173095

Everyone well dressed, men in suits, ladies in summer dresses and hats, stretching legs and no doubt enjoying the fresh air and the quiet, now that everything has been switched off. You can almost feel and smell the heat of the engine and hear the clicking and ticking as everything starts to cool down on that summer's day and they walk past the vehicle and into the cafe - for a nice cuppa or a sandwich and no doubt a welcome visit to the loo. About halfway there on their long journey.

I wonder who the two Streetly locals were, witnessing the scene. A regular thing, no doubt. this temporary invasion. I remember the cafe so well during the war years - but then always apparently deserted and I was never sure whether it was actually operating, although I must have had the odd ice-cream from there - a penny or, if you were feeling extravagant, a penny-halfpenny (0.4p or 0.6p). Situated - as it still is in a different guise - on the Hardwick Arms crossroads.

OldMohawk, on his trip to Rhyl, must have passed our house on the Chester Road, as did so many other coaches in the prewar and postwar years. (My parents had moved into their brand-new semi at about the same time as this photograph was taken). Day trips like works outings and longer journeys too. I recall them, from about 1946 onwards, coaches from Harpers and Happy Days and the Midland Red and no doubt many others. Just occasionally, late on a summer's evening, one of these would pull up outside our house as it headed back to the City. A number of blokes would pile out and irrigate our front hedge with a stream of filtered Ansells's mild. Perhaps the Melbourne had already closed for the day. Not something Dad took with complete equanimity although I'm sure he was well enough acquainted with the pressures exerted by a pint or three on the male body.

Only a short time before those immediately postwar days, the coach traffic had been even heavier, especially early in the morning or late afternoon/evening. But at that time these weren't holidays for people, the coaches were transporting men and women from Brownhills and Cannock and Walsall Wood, in their working clothes, to and from the Birmingham factories, summer and winter, morning and evening, day in, day out, year in, year out.

(Sorry, a bit off-topic. But these photos do prompt memories....)

Chris
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nice story sir thanks
 
The Horseshoe Pass (A542), known in Welsh as Bwlch yr Oernant (pass of the cold stream),

dates from 1811 and was one of a series of turnpike roads. Before then, the main route
between Llangollen and Ruthin ran through Pentredŵr and was described by a traveller in 1808
as, ‘prodigiously steep and continues so for a mile and a half’.The name probably comes from the horseshoe shape it forms round the sides of the valley. It rises to 1367 feet (417 metres)
and can be closed by snow in the winter months. An entry in the journal of Lady Eleanor Butler for February 2nd 1814
records the fate of the Hand coachman and four horses lost in the snow on the way back from Ruthin.
Although two horses were lost, ‘He was providentially discovered when quite exhausted after crawling on his hands and knees....
One horse found its way home some hours after, the other, a blind one, had the extraordinary sagacity to remain stationary until she was sought and found
 
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Hello Chris, long ago I often passed the cafe on my cycle, then years later rode past on my motor scooter and when I bought my first car I had to see how fast it would go on the Chester Road with it's somewhat dangerous old-style three lane layout. Other memories were seeing the 14 bar telegraph poles stretching into the distance ... part of one just visible in the old photo. The cafe has been much extended and is now a chinese restaurant .... I feel lucky to have seen it looking just like it was in the old photo ...
The building now ...
Melbourne Cafe Now.jpg
 
oldMohawk said:
Hello Chris, long ago I often passed the cafe on my cycle, then years later rode past on my motor scooter and when I bought my first car I had to see how fast it would go on the Chester Road with it's somewhat dangerous old-style three lane layout. Other memories were seeing the 14 bar telegraph poles stretching into the distance ... part of one just visible in the old photo. The cafe has been much extended and is now a chinese restaurant .... I feel lucky to have seen it looking just like it was in the old photo ...
The building now ...
View attachment 173096
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I had thought that it was further down the Chester Road on the other side of the road (see below). I should know better really as I lived on the same side of the road, only a short walk away (albeit from the late 50s onwards). I bow to your knowledge. Have you any idea, when the café closed down?
1663238155853.png
 
Covroad said:
I went up Horseshoe Pass a few times , and you could hear the engine and the gear changes to keep the momentum of the coach (both up and down the pass) but some stunning views could be had from a coach
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I think you always see much more from a coach rather than driving. While I like to drive it seems you miss so much because hopefully you looking at where you are going and not running into!
 
John L said:
I had thought that it was further down the Chester Road on the other side of the road (see below). I should know better really as I lived on the same side of the road, only a short walk away (albeit from the late 50s onwards). I bow to your knowledge. Have you any idea, when the café closed down?
View attachment 173097
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There was another cafe named 'Little Aston Cafe' which previously on the forum (in another thread) I had found it's location but I can't find it at the moment. The roof shape was the clue !
Vivienne14 said:
This one s labelled inter-war, Chester Road (Little Aston - where's that ?!) near Sutton Coldfield. A very tall pole. Mabe a bit too far away but interesting. Viv.
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4_ChesterRdCafe.jpg
 
John L said:
I had thought that it was further down the Chester Road on the other side of the road (see below). I should know better really as I lived on the same side of the road, only a short walk away (albeit from the late 50s onwards). I bow to your knowledge. Have you any idea, when the café closed down?
View attachment 173097
Click to expand...
Hello John L, It seems that it was the 'Little Aston Cafe' in the location you suggest ... looking towards Birmingham on the corner of Little Aston Road and Chester Road. The cafe was demolished and replaced by car sales over the years.
See the then and now pics below
The old 'Little Aston Cafe ... note the houses next to it.
4_ChesterRdCafe.jpg

A similar view today
LittleAstonCafe2022.jpg

Close up of the house ... petrol pumps in the front garden of the first house
4_Chester_Road_Cafe_houses.jpg

A similar view today
Houses_Now.jpg

Back on the 'holiday topic' .. On my trip to Rhyll, I never noticed the 'Little Aston Cafe' .....
 
I think Weston is a great resort. I first went as a boy with my Nan on a coach trip and we later took our son there for regular day/weekend trips. It was a real Birmingham by the sea, you could even get the Sports Argus and Sunday Mercury there on a Sunday morning. My son liked it to the extent that he picked it as the place to celebrate his 18th birthday with friends!
 
Morturn said:
My memories of Western are here
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Just read your memories of a visit to Weston, you have captured the sentiment of those times, where a day coach trip to the seaside was held with so much excitement, and anticipation.
Waiting for the coach to turn up getting on the bustle for seats and the journey that seemed to take for ever.
The arrival on the beach an ice cream, and a donkey ride, playing in the sand then time to go !
Yet the return journey seemed very short and quite.
 
Time Traveller 66 said:
Was it Rhyl and Weston Super Mare that were nearest to Birmingham.
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Weston Super Mare is near to Birmingham. Next door is Brean, static caravans galore. When we lived down that way, we called it Birmingham-on-sea. I felt quite at home wandering around there on our occasional visits in the summer time, I was able to relax my accent, and blend in, a bit like putting on an old favourite jumper. In winter time, it was back to oooh arr, Wurzels style.
Andrew.
 
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