Stoke

I remember Biagio's barbershop being on Ball Hill before they moved to Empress Buildings, also Liptons supermarket - late 60s/early 70s.

Biagio was a mad keen Sky Blues fan. He sat by me at an FA Cup replay at Sheffield Wednesday back in the eighties. He was so vociferous that we were lucky to escape with our lives! Talking of shops on Ball Hill, I remember Gibbs Electrical on the corner of Briton Road and Salmon the optician further up on the opposite side of the road.

Does anyone remember Ball Hill Hi-Fi? They were one of the first in the business and famous for stocking Bang & Olufsen designer audio. This was in the days when you needed a Hirschmann 6-element aerial to pick up popular music broadcasts in stereo from the continent because there weren't any in the UK.

Sadly I don't recall them. What sort of period were they there Dutchman? In the 60's I worked for RES who sold top-end hi-fi from their City Arcade branch, with names like B&O, Quad, Revox & Teac (and SME arms!) and when Wharfedale & Goodmans were brands of worth! They also had a shop on Ball Hill - but only selling/renting TV's

I am sure it was RES in Far Gosford St where I went to for a demo of the Pye Black Box, it would be about 1956/7. I thought the sound was great but I was not long married and committed to a new house and (for those days) large mortgage, but for ages I could not stop talking about it.

Late 60s/early 70s that I know of (could have been longer?). They advertised a lot in the Telegraph, they were also mentioned quite often in specialist hi-fi magazines.

1970 Telephone Directory RES (Granada) Ltd 128 Far Gosford Street 13 City Arcade 165 Daventry Road 261 Walsgrave Road I haven't found "Ball Hill HiFi" in any directory

I should like to know more about the Weighing Machine, Stoke, it was demolished in the 1950's. It looked really old. Does anyone remember it?

Although it was before my time, it does mention Dane Road, and I reckon it could possibly have been in the corner of St. Margaret's Field, which you can see in this Google Maps link, where we often used to play as kids.

Thanks for that Rob, I wonder whether it would show up on some of those new 'Britain From Above' views. It certainly looks as if it has some age to it, I can't imagine how it was used.

Am I right in assuming this is part of an old weighbridge?

My thoughts as well NormK. A lorry weighbridge perhaps. Was Wyken colliery near there? Les

I remember on the left hand side of Brindle Avenue from Binley Road there were some small red brick farm buildings, one of them had a stable door which was usually open and a donkey inside. More like a riding school but I don't think it was that. It was not a farm as such but they sold some vegetables and other items which was handy for those living in the area. In my childhood we used to walk down into the GEC sports ground and sit on a seat, and beyond was a coppice (Copsewood? associated with this maybe) with silver birch and in those days one could collect catkins and look for palm (pussy willow) around Easter time and no-one seemed to mind. My dad had a child seat on his crossbar, and with my mum and older brother we would cycle to Combe Ridings off the Brinklow Road, and I suppose come out somewhere on Brandon road and then back home through Binley. A real family outing - simple pleasures that might be spurned today.

Rob, do you have any more shots of Ball Hill ? We had the Ironmongers (Trinder and Lawrence) at 173, which would be to the left and slightly behind the photographer in the Cortina picture. We were adjacent to Boots the Chemist, and then the Papershop which was run by an eccentric ex-Colonial chap called Colin Gunner, who liked to pop over to the Old Ball and "try one". I believe he wrote a book and ended up living in a caravan in a field somewhere.

In David McGrory's super "Illustrated history of Coventry's suburbs" there's a shot of Ball Hill that just might show somewhere near the place you're referring to? Also, just out of interest, there are a few old photos of Walsgrave Road in our own Street View gallery, including one that shows this area above as virtually rural.