Birmingham of Yesterday
Reminiscences, observations and information about the history of Birmingham, its people and industry.
Abigail’s Dining & Cabaret Nightclub – Hill Street / John Bright Street
On the back of the runaway successes of the Bermuda Club, Cedar Club, Barbarella’s and Rebecca’s – Birmingham nightclub pioneer Edward Fewtrell identified a niche in the market for an upmarket dining and cabaret club in the City catering for the more affluent residents of and visitors to Birmingham. He identified the run-down Savoy Hotel [...]
Rebecca’s Nightclub / Boogies Nightclub – John Bright Street
Opened by Edward Fewtrell in 1966 as Rebecca’s – named after his eldest daughter – the premises operated along similar lines to later opened Edward’s Number 7 and Edward’s Number 8 bar and nightclub which were housed in an adjacent building in opening in 1979. On the ground floor accessed from John Bright Street was Rebecca’s [...]
Edward’s Number 7 / Edward’s Number 8 Night Club – John Bright Street
Pre-Broad Street ‘Golden Mile’, John Bright Street was one of the places, if not THE place, to be for for a night out in Birmingham City Centre. Originally opening in 1979, Edward’s Number 7 bar and Edward’s Number 8 nightclub above it were the 7th and 8th clubs/bars to be opened by Birmingham club impresario [...]
Goldwyn’s Nightclub – Suffolk Place
Aimed at a slightly more upmarket crowd than Boogies and Edward’s nightclubs and bars just around the corner, with the opening of Goldwyn’s nightclub in 1989 – along with Paramount bar beneath it in 1988 – Edward Fewtrell aimed to tap-in to the theatre-going public (the Alexandra theatre being next door) and to present live [...]
Paramount Bar – Suffolk Place / Beak Street
Opened by Edward Fewtrell a year before selling-up to Ansell’s Leisure, Paramount was a single-room bar around the corner from Edward’s and Boogies in the heart of the John Bright Street nightclub and bar scene of the 1980s.
Subject to an intervention from Paramount Studios over the name, the bar proved quite a popular venue on [...]
Edward’s No.8 Night Club – The Rock Complex Remembered
As was noted elsewhere in this section, my youthful pubbing and clubbing experiences were based around the ‘Rock’ scene of the mid-1980s, such as it was in those days. This consisted of shuffling from the Costermonger at the back of the Oasis Market to Mr Bill’s on Needless Alley on a Sunday and Wednesday [...]
Eastside Development – City Centre/Aston
The Eastside development is a phased regeneration project aimed at revitalising a 420 acre tract of land immediately to the East of the City Centre, largely encompassed within a triangle formed by Curzon Street, Lawley Middleway and Jennens Lane at a cost of £6bn.
One of the first signs of the development, Millennium [...]
BBC Pebble Mill – Edgbaston
The BBC’s Pebble Mill complex opened in 1971 on a 6 acre site and was the hub of regional programming – including the popular Pebble Mill at 1 show which ran from 1973 to 1986 along with regional news programmes and Gardening Today for which the BBC also ‘annexed’ part of Kings [...]
Wychall Farm Estate – Kings Norton
The Wychall Farm development seen above is phase II of a £40m regeneration project replacing 500 council properties – a mixture of high-rise blocks (demolished in phase I) and Smiths houses, as seen here. The houses, some of which have had to be repurchased by the Council as they had been bought by the residents, [...]
Ley Hill Estate – Northfield
The Lay Hill Regeneration Scheme, begun in 2000, is another prime example of the gradual erosion of Council housing in favour of Housing Associations. Whilst, in the long-term, this saves the cost of repairs for the Council it also, in this case at any rate, removes 750 sub-standard constructed houses built by Wimpey in the [...]
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