RE: Nechells - 3

Phil
I'm not surprised about that one either SB

Perhaps now we have another refugee from Nechells on site we can get an exchange of information of information going about "the old end". Colin do you remember the Monkey House or are you too young?

Phil

Phil The Monkey House, was that your School or a pub ?

SB

The Monkey House was a pub, I don't think you would have frequented it. Even I didn't use it, and I've been in some rough pubs. This was a scrumpy house, but not the nice modern trendy type of scrumpy house where you drink a half pint of rough and blackcurrant.

Phil

No mate I can't say I knew it, maybe it's a good job. I would probably have got it a bad name.

Hi phil i was young but i did use it as a kid sitting on the corner as my brother who is 8 years older than me used all the local upmarket pubs like the monkey house (ha ha). I went to devon street and remember all the houses being knocked down in cato/dolman/inkerman and all the local streets.
Does any one remeber the shop on the corner of dolman and erskine street. I made my first big find after the 2 old ladies moved out.I sold a painting for £1.5s.
After leaving school i ended up working at saltey for 3 years a traindrivers mate. Then moved to duddeston yard were i worked for 9 years on the Pway. And for years i would drive down dolman street to watch it changes. My fire place was left there until 1983 then they moved it and built a unit.
I havnt been down dolman street since 1993.
colin

Colin

My memory of the shop on the corner of Erskine St and Dollman St was of when it was a Café. It was never a very trendy café with expresso machines and the like but it did have pinball machines in the front of the café as you walked in.

Not the type they have now that make all the row, but the type where had to get so many balls in a line to get free games. If you managed to get over a certain amount you could cash them out. A big attraction for layabouts such as me and my mates.

If I remember correctly the corner on the other side of the street was offices for a factory.

Phil

Hi phil
yer the factory on the corner. I made a mistake and ment the street up my end that cut throgh to inkerman. The buildings on the corners were
railway shunting shed ( my house was the 1st one next door to these shed)
fellows outdoor
less,s cafe
the 2 old ladies
the road i mean was something crescent ( i think)
colin

Colin

You are talking about Alma Crescent. I never went in Les's Café other than to get the occasional sandwich. He did good grub and therefore was always full. There was no room to hang about in there.

I got chased off those sidings many a night by security when caught in the coaches with the latest girlfriend. But they never chased us that hard, I don't suppose they wanted to go through all the bother and trouble that would ensue if they caught us.

Phil

That cafe did the best bacon and tom sandwich ever.
But we were opposite him so never ate in there.
Do you remeber all the big green trucks parked on the street to go to the cafe. Not sure if you were still there then.
Do you remember the name of that ally way at the top of dolman street on the opposite side of the road between the station and dolman street. When they moved out of them we had to get in there quick for the fire wood . The inkerman street lot were harder than us .
colin

Talking about curzon street according to the following document it is the oldest remaining railway building.

Curzon Street Station was a railway station in Birmingham in the 19th century and is the world's oldest surviving piece of monumental railway architecture. It acted as the terminus for both the London and Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway, with lines connecting Birmingham to London and to Manchester and Liverpool respectively. The two companies had adjacent, parallel platforms but no through services were provided.

The station was opened in 1838, with the first train from London to Birmingham arriving on September 17. However, the railway station was inconveniently located on the eastern edge of Birmingham city centre. For this reason, its use as a passenger station was short-lived. When the London and North Western Railway was created in 1846, they decided to build a new joint station with the Midland Railway at New Street. It was about half a mile west of Curzon Street Station. When this was completed in 1854, Curzon Street ceased regular passenger use, although holiday excursions ran from the station until 1893. However, it remained in use as a goods station until its closure in 1966. The station was known simply as 'Birmingham' until November 1852, when the suffix 'Curzon Street' was added. A smaller goods station, Lawley Street Goods Station, was located to the east of the station.

The surviving entrance building, which was designed by Philip Hardwick and constructed in 1838, is three storeys tall but relatively small. The architecture is Roman inspired, following Hardwick's trip to Italy in 1818-19. It has tall pillars running up the front of the building, made out of a series of huge blocks of stone. The design mirrored the Euston Arch at the London end of the L&BR. As part of the original design, the building was to be flanked by two arches leading into the station, but excavations revealed that these were never built. The interior housed the booking hall, with a large iron balustraded stone staircase, a refreshment room and offices.
colin

Very interesting thanks for that Colin, I didn't realise it was The Worlds oldest railway Building. Surely Brum should make something of this place. I know it has been saved but it's still an awful waste. SB

Hi SB
I dont think they can decide what to do with it . They seem to have the original problem that it was built in the wrong location. it would make a super railway museum using some of the land around it for larger railway nostalger.
colin

You can be sure of one thing with Birmingham City Council. If the building is of that architectural importance. Then it will be allowed to fall into decay and reach such a point that it is unsafe. Then it will have to be demolished.

Phil

Hi Phil
they may want to but i think with its title i think they may have a little trouble. You think any other city would jump on a tourist attraction like this building and really bring money in for there city.
I think you need to take up the job as Gov; .phil @b,ham-historinadvisor.gov
colin