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Solihull Online would like to hear your memories of growing up in Solihull during the
80's. If you would like to add to this page, we would love to hear from you.
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This page was last updated on
05 May 2008
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Posted Monday, May 5, 2008
Heavens above, Andrew Humphries, Leo with twin! The Snooty Fox (Paul
and Zoe swanning around like a couple of racehorses), The Masons Arms (Fred
and Doreen - bless), The Captain's Locker, The Count,The Black Red Rose
Room....The Woolworths Job mmmmn say no more.....assorted electrical goods
and 17 Mars Bars as I recall Your Honour. Tut, tut. I remember those days,
we were all of 17. No wonder I fled to The Colonies and the tropical climes
of Port Douglas. Where is Ken?
Benson
(Susan) Bryan
Posted Monday, May 5, 2008
I now live in Australia so to read these e-mails is great! I went
to Alderbrook School, left in 1985, really love to hear from anyone who was
around then. I came back to Solihull for a visit a couple of years ago and
thought what a shame it was that the 'village' has shifted away from the
square to Touchwood Shopping Centre. Remember when you used to be able to
dangle your feet into the water and hang around and check out the boys!
Rachel Staggs (Horton)
Posted
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
I remember when the McDonalds opened and I ate 12 hamburgers
and was sick all down my jumper! I remember the skinheads smoking by the
climbing wall at Lode Heath and I was always getting "posted" by the 3rd
year kids! You were either a Mod or a Rocker too, happy days!!
Kevin Oakes
Posted
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
It's quite sobering to see all the other accounts of solihull
from the 80's & it brings back a lot of memories. For me the memory of
working in The Snooty Fox 1980 to '82 was a non stop laugh. The manager at
the time was a tall blonde haired man called Paul & the d.j. was a character
called Paul Beech and this was when the snooty was the place to be! The high
street was open to traffic and the original 'new' shopping centre was built
on a piece of wasteland next to woolworths. Safeways did not exist in the
town centre (that too was wasteland/muddy car park) & the road on which the
police station is situated was full of inhabited luxury houses, not offices.
As with most things time moves on and town centres are re-developed but i'm
glad to see many other people have positive memories of solihull a few years
ago!
Andrew
Humphries
Posted
Monday, December 10, 2007
Does anyone know Martin Handy lived in castle brom dad died
cpl years ago.
get in touch x
Michelle
Posted
Monday, November 19, 2007
My fondest memory is the swinging monkey (or monik as I called
it when I was a kid) in the shoe shop window on the High St. My sis and me
would love to watch that little fella and a visit to Solihull was not
complete without him. I believe he's still there but looking a little worn
with time, much like us all!
Greg Hayes
Posted
Monday, September 24, 2007
I remember when Mell Square would be covered in a mass of
white foam when a box of fairy was thrown into the fountains (happened most
nights). I also remember my dad who would drive round and round Mell
Square on a Saturday waiting to find a parking bay. I just thought' you
could still get a bus then outside the picture house without having walk
down the high street. People seemed to talk to each other back then too. i
always remember being in Woolworths on Christmas Eve and it started to snow
the injuries suffered stampeding outside through great big metal and glass
doors were not worth it as it never lasted.
Where my mum's horse field was its now a hotel the one across from the
carpark entrance to Touchwood. The court house is built on where she had
stables in Herbert Road. They used to store the round tables Father
Christmas float in one of the stables. One of best things about summer was
when Bob Wilson's fair turned up in Tudor Grange park. And the all the
carnival floats would end up at the park. Always went on one as a kid.
People would chuck money at you and you try catching it with your bucket. It
really hurt if it got you in the face or head. My dad used to use his works
lorry for a float . I remember when widney manor train station was just a
glass bus stop on a deserted platform and the M42 Ended (or started) at the
Stratford Road island.
I remember dumping rubbish with my dad at Hay Lane tip where now its just
houses waiting to blow up from decades of rotting rubbish beneath them
producing gas. Now that's a sobering thought. The lido who can forget that
with its multi coloured changing room doors all around the edge of the pool
and if you felt brave the water slide. And the shop down the far end. You
could leave your things lying about then on your towel and they would still
be there when you got back to them. Those really were great times. Walking
under the white painted arch type building down the narrow road just off the
end of park avenue and going through the green wooden door into the pool
area back when summers were summers . It seems a life time ago. And I was
only just 11 in 1980
Robin
Turrell
Posted Wednesday,
August 15, 2007
I used to live in a big red bricked house next to Malvern Lido in
Park avenue, my dad was the pool engineer and I spent every waking hour in
the summer holidays in that pool, along with my two brothers ( who went to
Malvern Hall School. I went to St. Peters School because when it was time
for me to go to senior school, Malvern Hall had closed down). I also
remember the "Swiss Alps" or "Swiss Cottage"? restaurant on the high street,
it did fantastic hot chocolate!! Does anyone remember "Smarties" clothes
store on the corner of Poplar Way? it did a great line in pedal pushers and
rara skirts. My very fave shop was next to Peters book shop called "Paraphinaelia"
not sure of the spelling!, it sold rolls of stickers that you could buy just
one of and coloured sheets of writing paper. I probably sound like a nutter
now, but once you think about it, loads of funny memories come back to you.
Blimey I could go on all day. I loved growing up in Solihull in the 70's,
and my saddest feeling is that my old infant school ( St Augustines) is now
a car park. I live in Cornwall now and haven't been back for a good few
years, but if anyone remembers me ( Becky Bishop, long white blonde hair
then, running around the lido in next to nothing - like I said it was the
innocent 70's,) send me a mail, its good fun talking about a shared past.
Rebecca Louise Bishop
Posted Monday,
July 9, 2007
I remember going to see rock bands at 'The Lair', the old lounge of
'The Golden Lion', and being overcome by smoke in 'The Captain Locker' when
the ventilators weren't working. After the pubs shut it was off to
'Scandals' or 'The Aero Club' (if you could get in) and if you weren't
dressed up for the occasion, then it was off to 'The House of Orchid' (or
'Our Kid') for a chinese meal. Shops include 'Simpsons' the fishmongers, 'RS
McColl' newsagents and 'Rowleys' butchers. The open air disco's at the
various rugby clubs always seemed to be a good laugh as was sitting around
the Mell Square fountains waiting for the pubs to open at 5pm. Good times!
Ivan Szrejder
Posted Tuesday,
March 6, 2007
This is a great site it's just a shame not more people link to it. I
was a regular visitor to the Solihull pub scene between 1983 - 1988. Many a
good night spent at The Snooty Fox and then on to Scandals. There was Lady's
night on a Wednesday when all drinks were 50p (happy days). Who remembers
Valentinos at the back of 'the Boat' on Hampton Lane? 'The Business' night
club at the Boot, Honiley. It we really felt adventurous then it was off to
'The Swan' at Yardley now office buildings. Happy days
Steve Edgington
Posted Monday, January 29, 2007
I remember when it was 2
pence to go anywhere on the bus so me and my friends used to alternate
between 'the big W' in the woods at Hobs Moat, and Solihull town centre (or
Solihull village as my mum still calls it). We used to walk through
Poplar Way and buy a blue Slush Puppie from Menzies (where M&S is now). There used
to be a Braggs (now Greggs) on the High Street where you could go upstairs
to their cafe. I saw ET at the pictures and pretended that I was the only
one of my six friends that didn't cry when he died! I remember John Taylor
from Duran Duran being spotted in a shop by Beatties, when it was still a
windy alley, and us trying to get to Solihull before he disappeared. We
failed...
Happy Days!!
Bev
Posted Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Having read these I felt compelled to answer some of the questions
asked. The cafe in Windy Alley, still exists and is still windy! The
record shop on the corner where Howard Jones appeared in '83 was
Discovery Records (now Fat Face Clothing). The indoor market was always
temporary as the Touchwood project was always going to happen and
re-structure the entire centre. All the pubs are still in there but
generally all are re-named apart from the Barley Mow, Saddlers Arm's and
Mason's Arm's which generally still look the same today. Scandals night
club, the place to be, went years ago and was 'modernised' in various
designs but is current called 'Reflex' and you've guessed it, play 80's
revival music? How times change......
Jools
Posted Friday, June 16, 2006
Does anyone remember Byrons and Shades about 20 years ago
1986/87? Frequented both on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Fond
memories of smoke filled bars, waiting 20 minutes to be served and tons
of really good looking fellas. White stilletos, tight jeans and big
hair were standard uniform. Sometimes used to go to Scandals night club
afterwards - fab times.
Leah
Francis
Posted Monday, June 12, 2006
Well, I must be really old! Solihull was referred to as 'the
village,' when I was young. I worked in the Bon-Bon on the high street
serving Henley ice cream to the long queues on a Sunday afternoon. By
the way, I was paid 10p an hour! Wrensons and Masons grocery shops were
there selling sugar in blue fold up bags as was the greengrocers (Co-op
I think) whose fruit & veg counters spilled over onto the pavement.
Later on Frescos the coffee bar was the place to be seen on a Saturday
afternoon which was located where Yates Wine Lodge is now. I spent many
happy hours at the Lido, getting changed in the wooden dressing rooms.
On Monday night it was the jazz club at the back of the Masons Arms and
on Thursday was the 'Twist' Club! Happy days, where has the time gone?
Susan Minchew (nee Fogarty)
Posted Sunday, May 14, 2006
I am not from Solihull but I met and married my first husband, Steve
Harwood, in Solihull in 1979. We met at a disco above a pub in the High
Street but I cant remember its name now. We then lived in a flat at
Water Orton but I longed to live in Solihull. Steve worked for Hobart
just up the road from Small Heath and I worked for Acas in Alpha Tower
and then in job centres in Small Heath and Washwood Heath. Steve's mum
and dad used to work at Solihull School. He and his elder brother Tim
both went to Lode Heath and Tim still lives in Olton. I met him through
a friend of mine called Gillian Rowledge aka Gill Reynolds who used to
work at the Rover works and had a little house off of Lode Lane and then
a bigger one in a group of houses that formed a complete circle at the
back of Hobs Moat. She married a guy called Bob Glen. I am coming back
to Solihull on 27/5 for the first time since I moved back south in 1981
and I will be staying at the Wheatsheaf for the weekend. It will be very
very strange to return and it will bring back a lot of happy memories.
By the way does anyone know of a good hairdresser in Sheldon where I can
have my hair done before the wedding??
Janette Crisp
Posted Monday, November 14, 2005
I had such fun growing up in Solihull. I remember Friday night discos
in the Civic Hall, all totally innocent then, no booze involved! also the
fair in June in Solihull Park, all mates together, Toody, Elaine,
Alison, Dawn and Jackie. living in Ireland now but always think of the
girls x x x
Marie Farrell (nee Lynch)
Posted Monday, November 14, 2005
I just came across this website looking for 1980's clothes for my
work party how bizarre. Everybody seems to remember the old cinema which
used to cost about a £1 to get in. Had to move out of Solihull because
the cost of the houses but my family still live there.
Chris
Posted Thursday, October 13, 2005
I remember being at the
cinema to see ET and caught the bus home with my sister and the bus driver
asked if i was ok cause I had been crying (well it was a sad film!!) The
cinema was where the royal bank of Scotland is now. those were the days!!
Tracy
Posted Monday, June 13, 2005
I didn't see "the temple of doom" but I did see "the last crusade"
there. Does anyone know why they didn't just let you buy the tickets
before-hand, rather than making everyone queue down the road? Also, I
remember when there was a KFC as well as a McDonalds. Back then we had a
choice about our fast food. It didn't last long though, did it?
Ben
Posted Monday, May 9, 2005
Glad to see a lot of shared experiences ! i remember standing in the
huge queue for Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom stretching into Drury Lane
(?); hours spent at WH Smith which had switched from one side of Mell Square
to the other in about 1980; the well -stocked Beatties toy department and
seemingly huge toy store at Barnabys where i got a 10% store discount from
kindly staff; waiting with my brother and sister at the fountain for my mum
to return to our car parked opposite (or waiting at the bigger Pay & Display
car park near Solihull library); ordering books at Peter's bookshop; the
material shop run by an Asian gent next to one of the first Kwik save
stores; dad buying one of the first microwave ovens (a Tapan) at Bejam;
buying a Nike tee shirt and Galleni body warmer at Burtons to go with my
first pair of jeans (grey) brought at M&S; i think the record store was an
Our Price...
Erum
Posted Monday, April 11, 2005
I remember going into Barnabys toy shop, at the back of Beatties,
going upstairs past all of the glass cabinets full of toys.
Mark
Posted Monday, April 4, 2005
I have lived in the U.S. for the past 40 years but I grew up in
Solihull and remember going to Solihull Lido all through the summer
Holidays, I have such fond memories of that time.
Barbara Rickaby DeSantis
Posted Wednesday, June 9, 2004
Sorry - the guy who did all the games at Hatchford Brook YC was Pete
not Rob - my memory is definitely getting worse with age!!
Jane
Posted Saturday, June 5, 2004
I was in that queue to see Grease - dressed in 1950's circle skirt
and ankle socks. My friends and I took it in turns to go into the shop over
the road - Paraphernalia - to sit down on the sofas for a rest. We always
went to the cafe on the top floor of Beatties and I clearly remember
McDonalds opening - we went in our lunch hour from Tec. Spent most of my
Friday night's in the Captain's Locker. My fondest memories though are of
Hatchford Brook Youth Club - Dave Coombs who was the main man there and Rob
who used to do all the sporty things - the pool room was excellent and
monthly discos, fantastic! I remember doing a 24 hour sponsored disco dance
there where you weren't allowed to stop dancing except to go to the loo -
what a great time.
Jane
Posted Monday, April 19, 2004
Ah, sitting round the fountains in summer with your mates
watching the posers in their cars drive round! Everyone at some point went
in that fountain - from choice or not! We all jumped in it the day we left
school in 1984. The Captain Locker, Snooty Fox and Scandals were the places
to be at the weekend. What was the record shop on the corner? We wagged the
afternoon off school to get signed photos of Howard Jones when he visited in
about 1983. Good days, I have to say I hate Solihull centre now, especially
Touchwood. Traffic is a nightmare all round the vicinity and parking is a
joke.
S Jay
Posted Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Gosh, I grew up just on the outskirts of Solihull in the 80's. I remember the Indoor
Market, and Barretts, going shopping there with my best mate without parental assistance!
Juliet Dowling
Posted Tuesday, February 17, 2004
I didn't think I was old until I read all this lot.. I can remember dad parking right in
the middle of Mell Square. I remember queuing for Rocky at the old cinema. Fosters on the
High Street - bad grey fleck trousers were in at the time. As I lived in Prospect Lane -
can anyone remember the old Lucas Playing field. My dad (Phil) was a good footballer and
played for the Marshall Lake Road team, I still remember it, this I reckon is one of my
earliest childhood memories! Solihull is such a top place.
Rob Hall
Posted Friday, December 12, 2003
Me and my friends lining up for 6 hours just to be the first in the Cinema on the high
street to see Return of the Jedi in 1983.....
Andy Wagstaff
The Clark's shoe shop in the High Street with the swinging monkey in the front window --
bubbles in the fountain at Mell Square -- Beatties when it was a real department store not
just a poor man's copy of Debenhams -- being pecked by the geese in Brueton Park -- My nan
asking the staff at McDonalds for cutlery & plates -- first snogs in Tudor Grange park
-- the school uniform shop where we were measured for new school kit and then still given
clothes 4 sizes too big - the list goes on and on! I live in Manchester now but still come
home to Dorridge often. Solihull has changed loads - Touchwood and the markets in the High
street are nice but when I was a kid I thought Solihull was the largest town in the world
and it's sad to see how small it really is (there again, wagon wheels were the size of
dustbin lids & Curlywhirly's were a metre long!!)
Kate Upton
I remember the carnival going down the high street, we always used to stand by the old
cinema. Also remember the cafe on the high street.
Chris Jones
I remember McDonalds opening in Solihull, it was a really big thing, we lined up for ages
just to get our first taste of a Big Mac and a triple thick milkshake. My kids think that
must have been in the Victorian times, and when I try to explain how Solihull used to look
when i was a kid, they look at me as if I am speaking a different language.
Rachael Dakin
I too remember the toy shop opposite the old Mothercare (now MKone) and distinctively
remember my mom buying me a small wind up boat for in the bath!
I also remember seeing the Disney film, Aristocrats, in the old cinema on Solihull High
Street.
Julie
I have lived away from England for almost 19 years and left shortly after qualifying as a
Nursery Nurse at Solihull technical college and I have wonderful memories of my time
there. I have just found this web site, it was so nice to see photos of Solihull after so
much time.
Debbie Jackson
I remember Mell Square when you could drive into it and park outside Sainsbury's (where WH
Smiths and Boots are now located). I remember when the Mell Square shopping centre when it
first opened, and getting Trevor Francis' autograph when Lewis' the news agents opened
opposite. I went to Tudor Grange 1983-1988, and did Commerce where we had to write a
questionnaire about a proposed new shopping centre to be built near the library - 20+
years later Touchwood is a reality! I remember in 1979 queuing at the cinema to see Grease
on the opening day, the queue went round past the car park where Thomas Cooks used to be.
I also remember parking in the Beaties car park and going to the restaurant on the top
floor with my Mum for a milkshake. Does the small cafe above the shops in Windy Ally still
exist - near the Early Learning centre? If anyone knows of ex-Tudor Grange/Hockley Heath
pupils 1976-1988 please email me!!
Jonathan Bryant

Tudor Grange when it was just a swimming pool, no squash courts, no slides, no sports
centre. Mell Square when the fountains were working. The toy shop Barnaby's (?) opposite
Mothercare. Barratts (horsey shop) when it was near St. Alphage.
The cinema. Last but not least something that is still there, Poplar Multi Storey.
I can vaguely remember the 'old' Mell Square with the large fountain in the middle where
the cafe bar is now. Sainsburys used to be, I think, where WH Smith is now - and my Mum,
Joan Sherfield, who sadly died last year, worked there and was the checkout manager - the
uniform used to be blue checked 'apron' coats, if I remember rightly.
Liz Sherfield
I remember going shopping with my parents and parking outside Mell Square where that
centre cafe is now. It was a proper town then before it was all
pedestrianized.
Paul
For the gentleman who went to St. James the Great 'the red one' was Galahad. I too
went there but that was 1979-1983 when Mrs Ransen was in charge. I recently met an
old teacher from the school, Mrs Hipwell, she was teaching my daughter at nursery and
recognised me immediately. I also had Mr Morgan for my last year there.
Incidentally I was in Lancelot.
Hazel Braddish
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Unfortunately I am still quite young. I
do remember going shopping with my parents in Solihull, and always getting shouted at for
running into the High Street which was always busy with cars and lorries on Saturdays.
That's it I'm afraid, but its been wonderful hearing all of the other stories.
Emma |

During 1985 Bob Geldof's Live Aid made millions of pounds for the starving in Ethiopia The
world's rock elite got together for a mammoth intercontinental charity concert. Dire
Straits, U2, Queen, David Bowie, Madonna, and Status Quo were just a few of the stars who
took part and The event became the prototype for just about every Telethon and live
charity event afterwards. Live
Aid is announced
Sinclair ZX81
New, improved specification Z80A micro-processor - new faster version of the famous Z80
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Key words (RUN, LIST, PRINT, etc.). Kit or built - it's up to you! 1K-byte RAM expandable
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Now it's your turn?
What are your fondest memories of childhood? Some will be personal to you but others will
be shared by many of us.
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Get in touch with lost friends or
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from the Solihull area? Maybe even arrange a Reunion. |
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Geoffrey Dean has allowed Solihull Online to display a collection of Old Postcards of Solihull from his huge collection.
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Thanks to Tony Aitken
for his pictures, and to Dilly Forth for her photos of Earlswood

A Ghost Story from Catherine de Barnes. Read Dave Cuby's strange encounter
Do you remember Betamax Videos, Live Aid, Mouse Trap, CB Radio and Rubik Cubes?

TV Programes
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Worzel Gummidge


Crowds packed the streets and millions watched worldwide on television when Charles and
Diana were married in St. Paul's Cathedral 29th July 1981

The Falklands War
1st April - 14th June 1982
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