Lost shopfronts and local stories from Ladywood's past

National World - LocalTV

Monument Road in Ladywood was once packed with local shops and everyday staples of inner-city life. In this feature, we revisit the street’s past with historian Norman Bartlam, exploring what stood where, what’s changed, and why it still matters to the people who remember it.

Transcript

00:00I'm standing at a corner that once buzzed with activity, now quieter but still full

00:06of stories. This spot played a big part in everyday life for generations. To help piece

00:11together what was once here, we're joined by local historian Norman Bartlem. His knowledge

00:16of Birmingham's past paints a vivid picture of lost shopfronts, familiar names and the

00:21role these places played in shaping the community around them.

00:27We're near the suburbs of the city, once a thriving shopping street. These in the days

00:33before we had the big shopping parades and shopping centres that we get today. The streets

00:38were lined with shops, small little community shops where everybody knew everybody and everybody

00:45went to the same shops. There was the butcher, the baker, perhaps even the candlestick maker,

00:51who knows? But you could buy furniture as well as your food and provisions for the day.

00:57We used to stretch around through the whole week and it was little local shops. These

01:00were in the days, of course, before people had fridges and things, so everybody was going

01:05out and buying food fresh. So they were using things like the local greengrocer and the

01:10local baker every single day. Where we are standing now is the corner of Monument Road

01:15and Icknillport Road. And you look at it now, there's no evidence at all there used to be

01:20any shops there. And we can work out what used to be there by talking to people, looking

01:25at old maps and old photographs. And here we can see the corner of Monument Road. There's

01:31the church there in the corner of Wood Street. And on this photograph, you can see where

01:36the church is located. So you can work out where the set of shops used to be just here.

01:42And there was a co-op. Next door to it, there was a petrol station. And next door to that,

01:48there was a baker. Can you imagine that these days? A baker right next door to a petrol

01:52station. And on the other junction, once again, another set of shops. So it's absolutely

01:58a magnificently thriving area. And it's stretched right the way down to Spring Hill, right the

02:05way up to Hagley Road. So we're talking almost a mile long street lined with shops. And over

02:12the years, trends changed, transport changed as well. And the Ring Road or the Ladywood

02:20Middle Way was built, which partly cut Monument Road in two. And consequently, that had an

02:26effect on the trade. And also, there's lots of houses cheeked by Joel. So the houses right

02:31next door to the shops. So you didn't have to walk a distance. You could just nip out

02:38your shops and there you were. All that has gone. And people now travel to the larger

02:45shops further up the road, into the bigger shopping parades like Harbour and at Five

02:51Ways and things. So small community shops that no longer exist in this respect on this

02:56particular street here on Monument Road.

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