West Bromwich was a thriving Midlands
town and the West Brom building society had its main headquarters in
the high street, giving excellent service.at a time when
West Bromwich Town boasted
The Kings cinema
The Queens cinema
The Palace cinema
The Imperial cinema
The Tower Cinema
The town had an Arcade which was a
beautiful undercover set of miniature shops, linking the high street
to Paradise Street, this is were I used to get toasted soldiers and a
coffee in the morning from the café and who remembers Lulu's?
Close by the Arcade there was the
indoor market, absolutely excellent are the only word to describe it,
but just up Paradise Street was the towns Railway station were I
used to catch the train to Birmingham or Wolverhampton. The other end
of Paradise Street was the “Country Girl” another coffee shop again always full and
across the road was Broadheads cake shop at Dartmouth Square,Wow did they make cakes !
and to swill
that down you could go to Trows Ice cream shop in Bull Street
Lower Queen Street had the Cassa Bamboo
a coffee house always full of young people
Tesco's were in St Michael Street
opposite Willi Holts snooker hall, but West Brom also boasted a
further snooker hall over the top of Burtons shop.
Just down the road in New street was
the Adelphi a brilliant dance hall , I went to the Radio one road
show there and there were regular dances at the Gala Baths when they
put a wooden floor over the big old bath and the gala restaurant was
excellent, not forgetting the “Steering Wheel” club, on the
subject of restaurants remember the Tower restaurant and the Albion
players ?
From New Street it was a short walk to
Dartmouth park, you could not find a better park in any town in
England, Its pavilion (and the swearing parrot), Boating pool ,
Fishing pool and paddling pools for the kids
To our younger readers who cannot
comprehend how vibrant West Bromwich was, just Google Old West
Bromwich Town, there's plenty to see and you can see what you've
missed.and here's some more old names that have gone
Preedys, The Dartmouth pub ,The
Farriers,Bell & Jones,Hughes the Butchers,Dewhurst,
Chelsea Girl,
Burtons,Radio Rentals,British Legion club,Millers,
Bodnams,Woolworths,
Marks & Spencer, Cantors,John
Menzies,Co-Op,Freeman-Hardy-Willis, Timothy Whites,
Tompson &
Roses, Evans, Druckers, Porters the fish shop,Chads , Dicken's the
sports shop, Siviters, Stan Willetts , Tommy Bibs electrical, The Gas
board Showroom, The Electricity Board showroom Clarkes shoe shop,
Spooners, Lord John, Don Millers , Sewing Box, Harris's,
Terrys
record shop,Taylors, Turners Records, Currys, Dixons,
Rumbellows,Wulfrun Camp,
The Joke shop( Carters Green) Alans
Caravans, Guest Motors, Charles Clarke motors, Derby's, Zizmans,
Littlewoods, Sainsburys,Christ Church,Bert Shinton (bikes), K&J,
The Louvre (Ladybird Shop) Hill & Long, EMB, The Roebuck, The
Flask, Ebenezer Church & School,
The Anchor, Fred Bakers, Pawsons, Halfords, Mother care, Smiths China
shop, Roy Peplows
and 2 other Police Stations,
We even had West Bromwich Corporation Bus service, that made money and the profit helped keep the old rates down.
This was the Town our Building Society
was based in, but all of the above have gone, which now sadly includes the
building society, these town shops left the building society almost all alone.
Where was Labour's plan 10- 15 or 20 years ago to help West Bromwich? because all we got was the Public!, card board
fronted shops and parking tickets
Just to recap Sections from their press
release
The West Brom the 6th largest
building society is on the move
Society announces plans to move to
new premises next year.
Leading regional building society
the West Brom has confirmed plans to move to new head office premises
in the heart of the Black Country.
Chief Executive of the West Brom,
said: “Moving to Point North marks a new era in the Society’s
heritage, sending out a clear message that the West Brom is a modern,
growing and successful organisation
Read it for your self
We lost West Bromwich Town Council and
have a Labour run Sandwell Council
Labour shame on you for what's happened
to our once magnificent town, in just 30 years
and how dare you attack the building society when your own Labour party run Council moved 100's of staff from Lombard Street to Oldbury only a few months ago, leaving West Brom desolate.
Is it OK for you to do it but no one else ?
Can you think of any more that have gone?
and Who will Labour Blame?
