Victorian Restaurant

Victorian Restaurant, 16a Great Western Arcade, Colmore Row, Birmingham B2, 2016 • Charming beaux arts frontage in one of Birmingham’s grand arcades.

Newso (R&G Fabrications)

Newso (R&G Fabrications), 64-66 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham B9. 2014 • Newso isn’t a company, but Brum graffiti artist Dan Newso. Nice signpainting – and just one of many street […]

R.M. Pugh & Co

R.M. Pugh & Co, 35 Hylton Street, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham B18, 2005 • Pugh, Pugh, Barney, McGrew, in the immortal words of Trumpton. The jewellery display specialist is no longer […]

Jesus Mosque (Birmingham)

Jesus Mosque, Circa 86 Wrentham Street, Birmingham B5, 2016 • Decaying Victorian warehouse incorporating cross-faith centre. According to this 2008 article, a Jesus Mosque is either an attempt to encourage dialogue […]

City Music

City Music, Arch 15, Queensway Arches, Livery Street, Birmingham B3, 2013 • Blue Monday featuring nice, albeit 1980s (ish) windows.

HSBC (Hockley)

HSBC (Hockley), 168 Warstone Lane, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham B18, 2005 • Lovely little bank with Victorian sculpture above the door, which is still the same now. One source says it dates from 1892 […]

RJ’s Barbers

RJ’s Barbers, 28 Hockley Street, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingam B18, 2005 • Traditional barber, back in 1 hour… and he’s still there, with good reviews on Google.

Repos

Repos, arch next to 26a Oxford Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B5, 2014 • Fragment of beautiful signwriting revealed on palimpsest gate under imposing railway viaduct.

National Westminster House

National Westminster House, 103 Colmore Row, Birmingham, 2014 • Fine brutalist pile with a sculpted metal portal based on the Natwest logo. Designed by John Madin, it opened in 1975 as a National […]

Agora Amusements

Agora Amusements, 53 New Street, Birmingham, 2005 • More inappropriate ancient Greek, this time meaning meeting place – according to Wikipedia, “the centre of athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of […]

98p Chinese Shop

98p Chinese Shop, Pallasades, above New Street Station, New Street, Birmingham, 2005 • Talk about a race to the bottom. 98p Shop’s erstwhile home, the horrible 1970s Pallasades (sic) shopping arcade, […]

Sheer Elégance

Sheer Elégance, 2b Norfolk House, Theatre Approach, Birmingham, 2005 • That’s a curtain she’s emerging from, though sadly the facade doesn’t match up to the sign’s promise. Later became Fly Girls hair […]

Miller Morgan Electric Co Ltd

Miller Morgan Electric Co Ltd, 20 Regent Place, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, 2005 • Decoratively decaying disappeared engineer in same building as yesterday’s Thomas Newey, all smart offices now.

Thomas Newey Limited

Thomas Newey Limited, Central Tool Works, 22 Regent Place, Birmingham, 2005 • Another long-lost Jewellery Quarter engineering works. It’s been turned into a smart building, with the door made into an archway.

Gem Tool (Mfg) Co. Ltd.

Gem Tool (Mfg) Co. Ltd., 6 Regent Place, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, 2005 • Old workshop in Brum’s fascinating Jewellery Quarter. Now gone; Google Street View shows a faded patch where […]

Ashton Eng Co Ltd

Ashton Eng Co Ltd, 20 Floodgate Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, 2014 • Garage equipment business in crumbly riverside industrial estate being colonised by creative types.

Nameless works

Nameless works, Unit 1a, Bordesley Street, Birmingham, 2014 • Curious neoclassical portal leading to a lowly industrial unit. A while back, it housed an Auto Valet Centre.

Nameless ex-works (NuWeld Engineering Services Ltd)

Nameless ex-works, circa 36 Oxford Street, Birmingham, 2014 • A […]

F.J. Thornton & Co. Ltd. Weighing Machine Manufacturers

F.J. Thornton & Co. Ltd. Weighing Machine Manufacturers, 111 Fazeley […]

H.E. Pea

H.E. Pea, Zen-Shin, The Best Baguette, 180 High Street Deritend, Birmingham, 2014 • Next door to yesterday’s Deritend Fish & Chips, perhaps not coincidentally, a works entrance hidden by a […]

Deritend Fish & Chips

Deritend Fish & Chips, 181 High Street Deritend, Birmingham, 2014 • Always nice to find a Pepsi cafe, however faded. The leaping fish on the counter front are obviously trying to […]

Ashfield Motors

Ashfield Motors, Caroline Street, Birmingham, 2005 • What gorgeous typography – it almost looks like a pastiche, but this was a real garage. There’s now a new-build block jammed up against […]

Fancy Fabric Stores

Fancy Fabric Stores, 109 Digbeth, Birmingham, 2005 • Finally from fascinating Digbeth, a glimpse of its more work-a-day side. This is still there, but they mended the sign.

RTP Crisps Ltd

RTP Crisps Ltd, 78 Allison Street, Birmingham, 2005 • What a beautiful building! Originally built in 1872 for Corder & Turley, manufacturers of umbrella ribs, it was adapted in 1923 as a clothing factory […]

The Smithfield Garage Ltd

The Smithfield Garage Ltd, opposite 38 Meriden Street, Birmingham, 2005 • According to the history here this was built by Harry Weedon, an architect known for Art Deco factories and […]

G. Makepeace (Dance Music Finder)

G. Makepeace (Dance Music Finder), Makepeace House, 136 Digbeth, Birmingham, 2005 • Dance music found via fax departs, but the original occupant lives on. According to Andy Foster’s   Pevsner Architectural Guides: […]

The Bull Ring Tavern

The Bull Ring Tavern, 1 Digbeth, Birmingham, 2005 • A Guinness pub in Digbeth that still stands. Its functionalist 1960s styling has a certain bleak grandeur, don’t you think? No? […]

Fair City Cars

Fair City Cars, 125 Digbeth Road, Birmingham, 2005 • Poignant name and home-made chauffeur logo tacked onto a handsome premises which has since been demolished, along with the adjoining Hennessey’s Bar (which […]

Hennessey’s Bar

Hennessey’s Bar, 123 Digbeth High Street, Birmingham, 2005 • Guinness Time stopped here when the whole block got demolished circa 2010 – there’s an article about the redevelopment here. The splendid Irish gent (bottom) was a Hennessey’s regular, and […]

D.R. Warehouse Ltd

D.R. Warehouse Ltd, Crowngate House, 60-64 Great Hampton Street, Birmingham, 2013 • One of many magnificent Jewellery Quarter buildings, a grade II listed ex-factory by Dunn, Dallas & Lloyd circa 1912. Currently […]

Pickering & Mayell Ltd Reliance Works

Pickering & Mayell Ltd Reliance Works, 41-42 Caroline Street, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, West Midlands, 2013 • Founded in 1913, this jewellery packaging firm merged with1941-founded local rival Talbots and moved to […]

Digbeth Cold Storage

Digbeth Cold Storage, 123-135 Digbeth, Birmingham, West Midlands, 2005 • One of many magnificent old Digbeth buildings, this leviathan was built in 1899 to serve the local markets. It’s grade 2 listed […]

Husband & Currell Ltd (A&S Signs)

Husband & Currell Ltd  Printers (now A&S Signs), 240 Holliday Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, 2005 • Melancholy ghost sign of a printing firm which lasted from 1934-1991, lurking behind newer incumbent A&S […]

Beverley Hall Ltd.

Beverley Hall Ltd., 16 Regent Parade, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, West Midlands, 2005 • I thought this was being knocked down when I photographed it, but in 2012 it was still intact.