I remember Tom’s Cabin well. To the other side of the arch was a pet shop for a while, AH Taxis and Alpha Sports I think. Image kindly supplied by Ian Broad.

Way back. six years way back, I wrote about the (still derelict) old bungalow at the old driveway to Shire Oak Quarry, just of Shire Oak Hill on the A461 near Sandhills, and was interested in the history of this sad, lost home; several folk got in touch and a whole thread emerged about life in the bungalow from Ian Broad, intertwined with the history of his father’s shop in Brownhills, Tom’s Cabin.

Toms Cabin, a carpet shop in the spot formerly occupied by Ladies Hairdresser May Brown was run by Ian’s father. May was, of course, wife of noted barber Tommy Brown who used to operate from a shed in the back yard of May’s shop.

I’m glad to say Ian has been in touch again over the last few days an supplied some wonderful images of the shop, which would be where Wilkinson is today. Ian has also supplied a whole bunch of images relating to the bungalow too, which I’ll feature later.

Hi Bob,

Remember I told you Mrs Brown hairdressers was bought by my dad? Well here’s a pic of how the shop looked just before opening. Mrs Brown loved that my dad called the shop Toms Cabin as her husband was Tom Brown ‘the black’ barber.

If you look down the alley way you can see the asbestos black and white ‘Cabin’ which was Toms barbers. That’s where the poster I have was from.

The second picture is from when we took the shop next door to expand the business. I’ve written about the history of that shop before I think. It was a newsagents and next door to Marie fish / fruit and veg shop.

The first pic is late 1977 or early 1978 I think. The second one is prob about 1981.

Ian

Ian initially wrote a lovely piece about those days, and what he remembered of them including a wonderful artefact of Tommy’s shed – I include it below as the two pieces are inextricably linked.

Thanks, Ian for a lovely memory and more pictures to add to the history of the High Street: I’m sure this will provoke much discussion. Please feel free to comment here or mail me – BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Cheers!

Now, here’s a thing. I remember looking through that arch many times, but I would have sworn that shed was light blue and white, not black. Was it once blue, or is it a false memory? Image kindly supplied by Ian Broad.

Hi Bob,

Love your blog 🙂

I grew up in Brownhills, I was 8 when we moved here from Wales in February 1974.

My Dad was the Area Manger for Topmix, Hoveringham Group. We lived in the bungalow in the quarry lane. I know a fair bit about that house and surrounding gardens/orchard. There was even a tennis court there back in the day! The lawn turf was from Warwick Castle grounds. You have a pic of the bungalow in its current state on your blog. I signed up and commented but not sure it’s gone live yet [It has – Bob].

Anyway, in 1978 my Dad was made redundant so he bought a shop on the High Street.

May Brown was retiring and selling the hairdressers shop, No 22 High Street. Her husband was Tom Brown and he had a barber business behind the hairdressers. It was originally nothing but a little shed but later he had an asbestos building erected which was quite big. When we got the shop it was still as it was when he was running the business there. I’m afraid the only thing I have from back then is this poster I have attached. Yes, it’s really from Tom Browns barber shop! Don’t know why I kept it, I think I took it to show my grandparents in Manchester so it just ended up in all the stuff I’ve kept over the years.

I think a few readers could do with this! What a wonderful thing. Image courtesy of reader Ian.

What’s funny is that my Dad already had a name for the shop before he bought it. Toms Cabin. Mrs Brown couldn’t believe it. It was a carpet shop.

I remember Mrs Brown had a sheltie dog called Sheena.

The Wolsey car they owned was still in the garage behind the shop when we bought the shop in 1978. I don’t think Mrs a Brown drove. It hadn’t been moved for years but old Mrs Brown used to have someone charge the battery and start the engine every so often. A guy who my Dad knew bought it off Mrs Brown.

I remember the lady that owned the fruit and veg shop was called Marie. She had a mustard Rover P6 but was a shocking driver…

The shop in between the fruit and veg shop and Mrs Browns hairdressers was bricked up for years. (Wood Brothers bike shop was the other side of us across the alleyway by the way). We eventually bought the bricked up shop, No 22 I think it was, from the council and extended the carpet shop. When we knocked through it was like a time capsule. It was a newsagent/sweetshop. I was only a kid but I remember everything was from the 60’s. Magazines had Elvis and the Beatles on them. Sweets still in jars, cards on the counter with hair combs on them etc. Unfortunately my dad didn’t really think any of it was of value so it all got skipped by the builders 🙁

I’ve got some pics somewhere of the shop when it was Toms Cabin and also the later extended Carpets and Curtains by Toms Cabin.

I can remember a bunch of stuff about the High St shops etc if you’re interested in anything particular.

Hope this was interesting for you.

All the best,
Ian.