Alan Hinton a good old Wednesbury baggie

[Q165]

Great pictures Albionic68. It is good to see that some of the original features of that very fine building have been uncovered.

I bought my first decent boots there (Puma). Harry advised me to get half a size smaller than my normal shoe size which I did. Best boots I ever had.

[stripes39]

I used to go to a sports shop in Dudley - Castle Sports I think?? It was down an arcade near the market area. They had a pair of Puma King in the window for ages with a picture of Pele wearing them. I used to drool over them but ended up buying a more affordable white pair from a sports shop In Stourbridge that is now long gone. These boots had Alan Balls signature on the side as he must have worn white boots - despite me supporting the baggies!

[Q165]

I used to go to a sports shop in Dudley - Castle Sports I think?? It was down an arcade near the market area. They had a pair of Puma King in the window for ages with a picture of Pele wearing them. I used to drool over them but ended up buying a more affordable white pair from a sports shop In Stourbridge that is now long gone. These boots had Alan Balls signature on the side as he must have worn white boots - despite me supporting the baggies!

I seem to recall Alan Ball being the first person to wear non-black boots. They looked OK on him but when Asa Hartford trotted out wearing a pair it looked like he was going to play in just his socks

[BaggieBlood]

I used to go to a sports shop in Dudley - Castle Sports I think?? It was down an arcade near the market area. They had a pair of Puma King in the window for ages with a picture of Pele wearing them. I used to drool over them but ended up buying a more affordable white pair from a sports shop In Stourbridge that is now long gone. These boots had Alan Balls signature on the side as he must have worn white boots - despite me supporting the baggies!

I used to go to Castle sports, I think it was in fountain arcade. It used to have a big bloke in there with a big beard and the place was very untidy and crammed making it hard to find stuff and the complete opposite to the corporate sportsco up the road where I bought some puma Kings from.

Used to go to Harry Parkes when we went to Brum and there used to be a great sports shop, again untidy but it has some foreign football tops in it and some bargains. Cannot remember its name, but it was at the top of corporation St on the corner by the roundabout.

If I remember correctly nothing was priced up in there and you used to have to ask the bloke in there, and I felt a bit bad after asking him a few times.

[WOODLANDSWOLF]

Hello Woody, I remember the Harry Parkes shop as a kid/****ager.

From memory and the original image posted……



……it was part of the Pittman building which according to Google Images was there until very recently………



…….and according to the article linked below it’s a Grade Two listed building which was once frequented by no less than Mahatma Ghandi in its’ days as a vegetarian hotel and restaurant…..

https://www.birminghampost.co.uk/bus...hatma-13775084

……so although I haven’t been down Corporation Street in a while, and Brum’ has/is going through a lot of change, then I’d say that yes it’s most likely still there chap.

Cheers mate, thanks for the info. Fascinating.

[phild]

My sports shop of choice for Subuteo stuff was in New Street close to The Adelphi. Think it was called Dickens. Anyone confirm?

Nowt left of the old New Street now. I remember a newsagent, The Nelson Pub, a cafe, post office, Austin Angling shop, cooks the grocery store, a china shop, Darby photographers and of course the Robinsons cake shop and factory also a shoe shop where i bought my first football boots.

I also bought my first snooker cue from Dickens sports shop so i could play in the Billiard Hall by the church which was run by a right vicious old battle axe of a woman. Who would flash the lights above the snooker table like a lunatic if you went just 30secs above your allotted time. The Billiard hall is now a wetherspoons frequented by some very desperate looking blokes hanging around the bar.

[albion68]

Nowt left of the old New Street now. I remember a newsagent, The Nelson Pub, a cafe, post office, Austin Angling shop, cooks the grocery store, a china shop, Darby photographers and of course the Robinsons cake shop and factory also a shoe shop where i bought my first football boots.

I also bought my first snooker cue from Dickens sports shop so i could play in the Billiard Hall by the church which was run by a right vicious old battle axe of a woman. Who would flash the lights above the snooker table like a lunatic if you went just 30secs above your allotted time. The Billiard hall is now a wetherspoons frequented by some very desperate looking blokes hanging around the bar.

yes phill remember all them shops you forgot the acorn pub,harry sowers fishing tackle shop next to darbys ,harry sower was a old mayor of West Bromwich ,chads fish shop and restaurant (the old lady worked in there) ,Shelley’s chemists, there was a music shop at the top by the acorn it moved to bromford lane later the name escapes me bought some speakers from there,ffs were the time gone.