RE: OPEN ALL HOURS - 437

Lyn

The Hereford is on the corner of Kyrwicks Lane & Priestly Rd Sparkbrook. When they demolished the Talbot on the corner of Larches St and Highgate Rd in the mid 70's we all moved up to the Hereford. It was much the same except for the fact the Smoke Room that we took over was a little bigger.

Then the planners came along and ruined the Smoke Room by giving it a face lift, so we moved into the bar. My Uncle Ben who was younger than me by one week drank in there until the day he died. There is a brass plate screwed to the bar where he used to sit in memory of him.

Phil

Phil, is that big mosaic place still there on the island just outside Dudley.

John

Do you mean Roman Mosaic at Burnt Tree island? I think they are gone now, well from there at least. I tell you once they brought in these 12 inch Terrazzo tiles it ruined the terrazzo game for these Italians who had generations of experience. No wonder they kept it secret for so long.

Phil

Posted by phil

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Volty

I don't think it is a mosaic as such, it might be made up of pre-formed sections. Even then the joints look pretty fine, the next time I see my two Italian friends at Birmingham Tile & Mosaic I will ask their opinion because if its mosaic then I bet one of their relations did it.

Phil

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Ok Phil, I wasn't really saying it was made from tiny bits, I was trying to indicate that is was inlaid and not just on the surface, sometimes the words don't erm..... arrive, pop up, come to me when I need them. I do have some other shots but I don't expect them to reveal anything more other than the fact that the area was cordoned off and a sign describing the origins of the Arms was placed in front of it.

So it might well be the sort of thing your Italians could have been called in to do as I doubt there would be many people about who were skilled in that sort of thing.
I took a small number of shots inside the building when I was in there in 2001, removing some electronic controls for BCC. Mostly of interest to myself but there are a few architectural details. I wish I had taken it seriously and photographed the entire building. I had free run of it for a whole day, if not two, I don't quite remember. I may be able to put them in the photo gallery if I can edit out my mate.

Anyway, the Coat of Arms will still be in the floor, even if it is now a hotel.
VM

Posted by phil

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John

Do you mean Roman Mosaic at Burnt Tree island? I think they are gone now, well from there at least. I tell you once they brought in these 12 inch Terrazzo tiles it ruined the terrazzo game for these Italians who had generations of experience. No wonder they kept it secret for so long.

Phil

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I'm not sure if it was Terrazzo but I watched a bakery floor being laid in the early 80s. The bakery was Pannetaria Italiano. The owner had a marvellous flowery Italian name and the bakery was on the Tyburn Estate, now just behind Star City. It was his second bakery, I helped install him in an old building just off the Parade, he did so well there he was able to open this completely new place, his car was a Lotus Elan and he was a pain in the backside at all times, but I worked for someone else so I didn't have to take much notice of him.
Anyway, I digress, he used Italian contractors wherever he could and in particular I remember the laying of the floor. It was poured in square sections, vibrated, ground and polished. It looked like slabs of sliced marble when it was finished.
Probably not Terrazzo but something that I admired and remember well.
VM