Bearwood

Most old pictures on this page from The Geoff Thompson Archive

Note some pictures have an equivalent modern view - move cursor over to see

467 Hagley Road - 27/11/56

The address for this garage indicates that this picture shows what is now the site of the Majestic Wine Warehouse located between Bearwood Road and Barnsley Road. The pub visible on the right is known as The New Talbot and I thank Simon for providing this picture of the pub.

Cranmore Bros. Ltd. were suppliers of Morris, Standard Triumph, Vauxhall, Rover, Wolseley and Austin cars and vans.

251 Hagley Road West - 17/1/61

This attractive shop on the corner of Balden Road and Hagley Road was sadly lost when the road was widened. It was known as Griffin's Stores and, typical for its time, was covered in adverts for tea, cigarettes and tobacco - seemingly the keys items for life in the early 1960's!

Barry got in touch re thus shop as his grandparents had lived at the house three doors up. He recalled that, "They had no electric and only a cold tap in the kitchen plus a lovely outside loo.".

Hagley Road West - 15/7/53

Here is another picture showing the shop on the corner of Balden Road which, at the time, was known a H. Prosser Family Grocers. However, this wider view contains much more of interest. The old Warley Odeon can be seen in the distance, just to the right of the bus. This became a bowling alley in the later years of its life before being demolished in the 1970's and replaced by Quadrant West (now known as Trigate), for many years the headquarters of Albright & Wilson. To the right the junction with Harborne Lane can be seen and there are plenty of other shops providing competition for Prosser's! The shop on the far right survives today as this picture shows.

Barry recalled that, "not in the photograph, sadly, to the very sharp left of where the picture was taken was a lovely old black and white cottage standing in its own grounds".

Hagley Road West - 30/6/58

This picture required a bit of detective work as there were no clues to the location! My 1946 Kelly's Directory showed that there had been a petrol station on the corner of Redhall Road and Hagley Road. Although this junction ceased to exist when the Hagley Road was widened and the junction with Wolverhampton Road moved, the two cottages visible to the right in the picture above survive to this day confirming the location. A caravan sales outlet occupies the site of Furnell Garage today.

Galpins, Wolverhampton Road - 1958-1968

After finding this webpage, David Galpin contacted me to tell me about the petrol station he and his father ran. It wasn't quite in Bearwood but was on the Wolverhampton Road opposite the junction with Brandhall Road. David has some splendid memories of running a petrol station in the 1950's and 1960's:

"The upper picture is clearly from an earlier period than the other two – shown by the older style lighting globes on the pumps. I would guess it to be around 1957-58. It also shows the way oil was then dispensed on forecourts – not the modern plastic cartons but loose, in measuring jugs, from that open cabinet just inside the entrance porch or from pre-packed glass bottles in the rack between the two petrol pumps. They were pre-packed by the garage staff from 45 gallon bulk barrels at the rear of the building – when the oil had been dispensed into an engine, the bottle was returned to be refilled.

The lower two photographs, estimated 1962-3 show that (what is now) 4 star petrol was 4/8d per gallon which, as near as doesn’t matter, is 12 pence per litre! Five star petrol had just been introduced as the relevant pump has a “NEW” sticker attached to it.

These were the days before bank credit cards, so the signs you can see in the photos reading BUNKERING SERVICE refer to a system of credit cards issued by the major oil companies that allowed lorry drivers to fill up without carrying cash – looking back now, the banks just hi-jacked that system for more general use.

Finally, the handsome lad in the white coat was me and I used to joke that this was a shot of me serving The Queen to petrol as she was often photographed in a head scarf in those days. I like her Vauxhall – blowing up the picture shows it was a Vectra!"

Many thanks to David for sharing these pictures and memories. Graham got in touch to point our that the car in the second picture was actually a Victor, not a Vectra. This picture seems to confim that view.