RE: Campaign to Bring Back King Kong - 3

And what do they sell?

Phil

yes, it was the mayfair suite, just above where tk max is. phil they sell designer clothes nd things.

the other club i was on about was not in the midlands hotel, yes i do remember the railway carriage at the back. the name came to me it was the silverbeat. there are toilets there now, opposite the side of the midland hotel under the ramp to new st station.

i too used to hang around the city in the 60, moved to redditch after the pub bombings. does anyone remember the ritz in kings heath.

steph

Steph
Could you be talking about The Heartbeat it was at The Silver Blades Ice Rink in Pershore Street.
The toilets you mention have been there since that area was re-built in the sixties. SB

Just want to jump back in here and say that the pub I had in mind in Station Street, next to the toilets, was the Exchange.

Volty

You are talking about about Stephenson St / Stephenson Place off New Street. No wonder we couldn't find it.

Phil

That's the place. It's still at the back of the Midland Hotel though isn't it?

hi all

yes that its stephenson street, was not sure what it was called. no i remember the heart beat above the ice rink, no this was def the silver beat in stephenson street, where the toilets are now under the ramp. give me a couple of secs and i will try and remember what year it was. 1965 so about that time birmingham was under going quite a bit of work, the shopping centre over new st was not there, i remember rightly it was all boarded up. i used to use moor street and snow hill to come in and out. but it def was the silverbeat, saw some good groups there before they became famous.

molly

Now I see where I am getting mixed up, its the mention of Station St, I am thinking of the Station Hotel & the Crown public house. You mean the Midland hotel on New Street that is now the Burlington Hotel.

Phil

Followed this thread with great interest. Who in their right mind wants to resurrect a silly Hollywood fictional character who's happily slumbering in a Penrith hoideout? Is this the best Brum can do? Let the poor thing enjoy his dotage undisturbed. I'll happily stand on any plinth as long as the public is allowed to give in support of a new 3D T.V.

I wrote this a couple of years back for another forum. As you might guess I'm one of many who would like to see him back in brum. He was made for us and that makes him a Brummie. Why ever would you want to raise money for 3D TV it would only bring the idiots in the Big Brother House nearer. Just the thought of that gives me nightmares.


The Ballad of King Kong.

In the early 1972 The Peter Stuyvesant Foundation commissioned Nicholas Munroe to design a statue of King Kong the giant ape of movie fame from 1933. This being a commission for The City of Birmingham Sculpture Project.

On completion it was displayed to the public in Manzoni Gardens at the back of the Bull Ring for some six months, but after the original sponsorship ran out the City with its usual courage of conviction couldn't’ get rid of it quick enough and sold it on. The buyer was a Mr Carl Racey owner of the Camp Car Company at Camp Hill, his business was car sales.

Mr Racey changed the name of his pitch to the King Kong Kar Ko and displayed King Kong sometimes dressed in different apparel as an advertising gimmick. After some time at this car sales pitch and another in Lady pool Rd, Sparkbrook. He was again sold on.

This time he was purchased by Spook Erections a company that ran markets in Scotland and was to spend the next 30 years standing in a market at Ingleston Edinburgh where he was used as a meeting point for people who got separated, and sometime during his sojourn in Scotland he acquired a pink coat. When the market finally closed down in 2005 he was last seen being taken away on the back of a low loader lorry. Though lots of people enquired and there were even rumours of enquiries being made by Birmingham City Council. Nobody was able to find any trace of him. There were even rumours that because he had been damaged beyond repair he had been melted down (is that possible).

So although I do not know how true this is, but I am glad to report that there have been rumours this year of him reappearing at a market in Penrith, Cumberland sporting a new white coat. He’s getting closer, perhaps he is returning to Birmingham.

Phil

Sorry Phil I know you love the big ape but he just represented what was cheap and nasty such as the Old Bull (toilet) Ring.

SB

When I hung around the Bull Ring it was all clean, bright and brand new. It was an exciting place and no matter what people say now at the time they loved it. It was like nowhere else in England and just like today people came from all over England just to see the wonders that had been wrought. Other cities and towns couldn't wait to copy us, just look at Coventry and Redditch its easy to see who they modelled their towns on.

The people who are putting it down today are probably the people who praised it back then. Of course I remember the old Bull Ring, but I was younger then too young perhaps to appreciate how good it might have been before Adolf's lads were let loose on it. I do agree that the whole town had to be remodelled, but I think Herbert could have been a bit more sympathetic to what he had to work with. There is no doubt that he had no affiliation with the past and all that buildings were to him was bricks and mortar.

OK the car was king, but I didn't have a car then so it made little difference to me, and later when I did it was great to be able to drive right into the centre of Birmingham.

I still have yet to see this latest version of the Bull Ring, but if I ever get round to it, I doubt I will be as enthralled with it as I was with "The Concrete Jungle"

Phil

how can anyone say the bull ring that was built in the late sixties was a mess, i was born in chester but lived in birmingham as a teenager and loved the city it was so vibrant and clean looking. the bullring now is a mess, sorry phil redditch is not worth a mention the kingfisher shopping centre is so awful, i only use it to go to superdrug and perhaps the opticians. i shop at tescos and then locally, we have a farmer who puts up his stall in our small centre every wednesday and its fresh produce and of course i do pop over to castle nurseries for some of my fruit and veg.
i loved king kong and think he ought to be brought back, they could do with getting rid of the selfridges building, what a monstrousity. i can never find anything i want to buy or even look at whenever i have visted the bullring.

steph

Posted by mollymandysb

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how can anyone say the bull ring that was built in the late sixties was a mess, i was born in chester but lived in birmingham as a teenager and loved the city it was so vibrant and clean looking. the bullring now is a mess, sorry phil redditch is not worth a mention the kingfisher shopping centre is so awful, i only use it to go to superdrug and perhaps the opticians. i shop at tescos and then locally, we have a farmer who puts up his stall in our small centre every wednesday and its fresh produce and of course i do pop over to castle nurseries for some of my fruit and veg.
i loved king kong and think he ought to be brought back, they could do with getting rid of the selfridges building, what a monstrousity. i can never find anything i want to buy or even look at whenever i have visted the bullring.

steph

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Steph the Bull Ring built in the sixties was very nice for it's day. I passed through it every
day in it's later years. it was poorly maintained the subways were used as toilets by late night drinkers and rarely cleaned, muggings were common and the pathways were filthy. I am sorry but the old bullring ended up as a total disgrace it certainly wouldn't be big enough for todays trade. No buildings please everyone, but the New Bull is spotlessly clean and a safe place to be. Coach loads cof people come every day into the city now for our shops this would not be the case if we had the concrete mess that was. SB

Funnily enough I love the Bull Ring and all it's shops,especially Selfridges, I also think they've done a brilliant job on the Coach station in Digbeth.