Acocks Green History Society
The Coventry Road from Kings Road to Redhill Road
Frank Carter was beer retailer at the corner, numbers 1071-3. Previously there was Trussler's grocery and Post Office here: He had gone into beer sales by 1897. He moved across the road by 1906. He can be found in an 1880 directory as a grocer at Hay Mills. Beer sales continued until at least 1980.
Number 1085 appeared about 1930 in directories, but the house shown below is much older. It is number 1087, which was a bookmaker's from c. 1960 to c. 1980. It housed a branch of the Birmingham Municipal Bank from 1919. They moved over the road to larger premises at numbers 1176-8 in 1925. The information is here.
There were originally houses called 1-6 Spring Villas from 1087-97, but number 1099 on the corner of Francis Road appears to have been a bakery run by Thomas Comley as early as 1891. None of the 1891 residents appear in an 1884 directory, but the houses are on the 1888 map. By 1900 the whole row was businesses. Number 1097 was occupied by butchers until c. 1960.
In 1891 the houses going east from Francis Road were numbers 5-1 Francis Place (the reverse of later numbering 1101-09): Frances Place on the 1888 map. There was then a gap, filled by five houses by 1905. These butted up against what became number 1121. The numbering is hard to work out here. Number 84 (old numbering) was occupied by Fred Glaze, pawnbroker in 1899, with a blacksmith listed next, and a fried fish dealer at the corner of Redhill Road (see below: it was later a confectioners).
Number 1101 was on the 1912 Voters List as residential, but around 1920 it became a Barclays Bank branch. From about 1940 it was no longer Barclays but dealt in insurance products. Twenty years later Sika Cement was in business there. From here was the residential row known as Francis Place on the 1888 map. After Fred Glaze, pawnbroker from c. 1899 to c.1920 at 1121, there followed a butchers, including Gordon Tay in the 1950s. By 1960 there was a TV Sales and Service business there.
Early maps show a blacksmith in business behind the buildings. Right at the end was a confectioners in 1900, later occupied by Edward Fagg. He was using buildings formerly part of Redhill Farm When the Redhill Tavern was built, the blacksmiths and the confectioners went. The pub opened in September 1926, was set back with a car park in front, and therefore survived the road widening.
