Here’s a treat for folk who remember the 80s and 90s in Brownhills – David Evans met up with the wonderful Gerald Reece on his 80th birthday walk last week and Gerald shared some rather wonderful photos for us to have a gander at.
Just for the hell of it I’m not going to say where they are (although a couple are, well, obvious to regular readers) but every one has brought back memories for me.
Image kindly supplied by Gerald Reece. Click for a larger version.
The above image is interesting: This building is no longer extant but I do recall it being this crazy mixture of colours.
Image kindly supplied by Gerald Reece. Click for a larger version.
I had completely forgotten Watsons Wines: They were a large local off licence chain, but I really don’t recall this shop: I certainly can’t place it in time. Any ideas?
Image kindly supplied by Gerald Reece. Click for a larger version.
Now this is interesting – from a time when shoe repairs were so ubiquitous a town the size of Brownhills could support two cobbler’s shops. Bothe were operated by characters, if I recall correctly.
Image kindly supplied by Gerald Reece. Click for a larger version.
This needs no introduction. What I do recall however, was in the 70s there used to be a large American car often parked under the large window. Does anyone else recall that?
Image kindly supplied by Gerald Reece. Click for a larger version.
This odd pair of shops – in one form or another – survive to this day and have held all kinds of businesses from secondhand shops to console games sales.
Image kindly supplied by Gerald Reece. Click for a larger version.
This is a real blast from the past. I’m sure I remember a wedding cake maker having this tiny shop at some point too.
Image kindly supplied by Gerald Reece. Click for a larger version.
This image is brilliant, and captures the greengrocers I only half remembered that used to be Holmes, I think. The archway has now gone and I’m intrigued that back then Brownhills must have been party central as it seems to have been able to support two fancy dress shops…
What do you recall from this gallery? If you have any thoughts or questions, please do share them – comment here, find me on social media or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Thanks.
I thank Gerald and David for this remarkable set – it really is most excellent and for me personally has stirred many memories.
The donor of these remarkable images, Gerald Reece is of course a talented and superlative local historian, indeed now resident in Devon, who wrote the seminal work ‘Brownhills – A walk into history’ upon which this blog stands.
