I was on holiday from Canada staying with relatives for the year. I was 17 and in the pubs constantly lol. Went to the Birmingham Powerhouse a couple of times, the Barrel Organ, Frequented the Bulls Head in Kings Norton, worked at McDonbalds for a brief spell on the New Street station ramp, until I ran in front of a car and ended up in a cast. Good times. Liots of drinking and fighting, which was just typical England at the time. We left in 1975. I still remember my mom taking me on the bus to town (we lived in Rugeley) to meet my Nan, and we would go to the Bullring for groceries, and then to British Home Stores for lunch, which was usually Egg, Chips, and Beans lol. I must have been around 5 or 6 I guess. P.S. Take your country, culture and nation back before you don't recognize yourself in the mirror. It's almost to the point of no return. I'm almost loathe to say I was born there.
I live in the USA now but was brought up in Birmingham in the 80s which is how it was on that video which brings back great memories , When back in the UK I often hire a car and drive around the city and it is no longer a friendly place it once was , and very dirty in some parts of the town , But still have a love for the city . Thanks for sharing the video .
I was 13 and remember all of this very well. My Nan used to often take me in to ‘town’, as we referred to it. We’d have sausage and chips in Littlewood’s cafe and at this time of year, we’d see Father Christmas in Lewis’s (not when I was 13! but when I was a bit younger). Can’t believe Broad Street. Brindleyplace Place was just a canal basin but you can see the development starting up here!! None of the waterside bars we have there now. Birmingham is far ‘posher’ this days 😂 Not so drab and grey. However, I’d give anything to go back and eat sausage and chips in Littlewood’s cafe with my Nan just one more time. Those were the days. Happy, happy, happy 😊
My Nan also did the sausage and Chips in Littlewoods and Father Christmas in Lewis's thing. They obviously took the Brummie code of Nan honour very seriously.
Rob Tyman it’s been bad for most people but since I moved to the outskirts of brum my practice has been brilliant, its partnered with another surgery, it’s has a daily walk in clinic which cuts off at half ten in the morning and If I want to book in advance I can go to the surgery I registered at, if it’s not suitable I have the option to book an afternoon appointment at the partner surgery, the doctors are very good and work at both surgeries
I was 19 then and just about to meet my wife 3 months later,Always remembered Birmingham being very dark especially in winter,Worked all over the city in factories and later became a driver which i loved,Then moved to Spain in 2004,But Brum will always be home,
Yep. Dark and very very drab. I remember all the horrible subways that stunk of wee. And all the old buildings were completely black cos no one had ever cleaned them.
The point toward the end where the car drives past new street station and the rotunda and there is just a vast space to the right which now forms part of the Selfridges building, but back then using the ring road you could just loop round back on yourself, utterly baffling.
Wow Sameera we are the same age, I was 23 in 1987 as well, I would say we grew up in a great time, I definitely think our families and freinds were alot closer and more kind, any hears to 1964 ♥
Lost Man very true. Unfortunately the genie is out of the bottle, never to return. It’s all the youngsters know. We lived more in the moment. No life plan as such. Simpler, happier times.
You're joking! Birmingham now is so much better and has something going for it, which it didn't 30 years ago. People now 'actually' go to visit Birmingham from other parts of the UK - no one did this back in the 80's, because the city was a byword for grey gloominess, and particular awful 1960's architecture. It also had a really bad public transport network back then. So you'd rather have the old Brutalist Central Library back then would you? .....or the subterranean 'hellhole' that was the previous New Street station? ...or no Symphony Hall? hmm. I bet you wouldn't.
@@robtyman4281 Errrr ? Yes, I personally would. Back then the streets were kept alot cleaner and, there wasn't a homeless person on every other street begging for money, and sometimes intimidating you for change. The homeless cannot help being homeless I know, but it is depressing to see so many of them lying on pavements and in doorways. You make a very good point that Birmingham now has better facilities and attracts visitors, which in itself is better. I was commenting more about the way I feel about the world and life in general. 😞 My own viewpoint is that the 1980s were a better time. Each to their own.
Probably didn't seem that interesting at the time but looking back now it's a real gem. Saw 3 cars I'd owned, Cortina, Rover SD1, Ford Orion back in the day. Happy memories - was 22 in 1987
How I remember Birmingham. I was 9 when this was taken and it brings back memories of the excitement of going into town with my mom. She was born in Handsworth in the 40s. I moved to Lincolnshire many years ago, and now I get disorientated going out of New Street station, Everything has changed so much. To me it will always be as it was in this video.
aidan brampton me too, its also incredibly sad, the city used to be sooo cool from a lot the footage ive seen, but now.... its infamous for being one of the worst cities in the uk. “the detroit of england” ppl call it
Post-2003 after the new years incident, and after the police, the authorities, the charities and the communities got together to stamp out the violence, Birmingham was rated the safest city in the UK at one point. Then austerity was foisted upon us by that idiot Cameron, and that idiot Whitby pushed to fight that stupid equal pay court case... where BCC lost... and the city ended up with a crazy-ass £1bn legal bill. Couple that with less police on the streets and it started to get worse again.
This was my route to work on the 51 bus and this was filmed during my second year working at Lewis's. It's funny - I seem to remember town as a glamorous, bright and futuristic place - this makes it look quite dark and the concrete collar is so much in evidence. It's busy though - so much has changed in a relatively short time. Great to see lots of places now gone forever.
This is amazing, so many memories...especially the old dept store Lewis's and C &A😍😊. Plus driving a car down New Street going to where Rackhams is..now its taken up by the Tram. Thank you for posting!👏👏
Thank you for this, 2 days after my birthday and I was 27 back then. My son was 9 and my daughter was 7. Now at 62 you long for a time machine that would take you back. This is the next best thing.
I was 27 left Birmingham for good of no return still miss Birmingham the good old day's not now everything I remembered GONE came back to see my city I can't find Birmingham got lost wow
I left Birmingham 5 years after this video was filmed and when I last returned for a funeral in 2018 I didn't recognise the place. Definitely gone down hill in recent years, doubt I will ever bother returning . I don't miss the place, only some good friends I had .
Me being 14 now I sometimes think about what life looked like back then, with my own eyes, it’d be cool if I could just experience it for a day, I’d like to see what my local area in Birmingham looked like, my grandad telling me how big the Austin was, and what villa park looked like, I know I’m probably not missing out on much but I’d still like to see what my parents were doing and visit my Nan who isn’t alive today, I’d also go visit my Italian great grandmother who I never had the pleasure of meeting but they’d probably wonder who the hell I am. But ah well reality is often disappointing and time travel does not exist, but amazing too see how Birmingham is evolving, it’s never really seemed like a second city to me
I was 11 months old at the time you made this and turned 1 nearly a month later, now im 32 with two kids and i might do the same to show them 1 day. birmingham looked so dull and drab compared to now but thank you for showing us this
1:26 To the right is Newtown Shopping Centre and to the left is the Barton Arms and Elbow Room. My Dad (Kenny Jack) favourite club. I lived in Guildford Drive Newtown from ‘72 to ‘80 I remember this stretch of road from I was a toddler. I moved to London from Birmingham when I was 10 and have been here 40 years. This piece of footage brought a lump to my throat. Such good memories of this area when I was a kid. Good times x
I was born in this year.So much has changed since then.It’s nice to watch videos like this,it gives the feeling of being transported through time and what it was like then.Keep making these video.Good job
I was 20 years old and to see this brings back memories now I’m 51 it’s so strange to see the way it looked like back then but it’s good to see this video
This is great - remembered most of it, I don't recognise Birmingham anymore. I lived in great Barr 1978 (birth) to 2011 and on the odd trip in now its an alien place to me! Most of the stuff featured in your vid was still around when I started driving mid nineties, really enjoyable thank you!
What a fantastic trip down memory lane. The old Laskys where I bought my first home computer (an Oric-1). Then the C&As on the right of Corporation St where a few months earlier I would have bought my first suit ready for university interviews. And best of all, the Odeon on Holloway Circus where I saw Star Wars for the very first time 10 years earlier. Seeing this video brought it all back as if it was yesterday, not 32 years ago.........now I feel really old! Thank you so much for this
Anybody remember the FUJI FILM lights on the bridge over near to the rotunda...shit!! I remember them putting a King Kong on the roof.. 80s brum was awesome... Don Christy records and Summit records.. Not forgetting the original Tempest shop
Wow!!! I was 14 years old when this was filmed. To remind myself of what it used to be like has opened so many memories for me. A fantastic reminder of the things and places I used to visit when I was that age. I still visit nw, and I truly wish it was as calm as it used to be then. Now it’s just a mass of people who all seem to be rushing to get somewhere, with nothing there to be positive about.
I was only 8 at the time of this video. I remember town like this. Catching the 26 off the Bromford upto town and seeing all the shops, the wonderful markets. It was awesome.
Thank you for posting this gem. This is shot much better than any mobile phone could do nowadays... there is so much more going on in the video - which I find really interesting.
This video just popped up out of nowhere. Thanks so much l was 23 and was working in John Lewis, so weird to see those old routes where you can't drive now!
Thankyou for having the foresight to do this. Great to watch but also with a tinge of sadness at how quickly time passes. Remember going to Hamleys on a saturday...what a toy shop! Enjoyed watching it, thankyou.
So glad that the lower part of New Street was made car-free. The car journey on that stretch in this video is fairly smooth, but most of the time it was overloaded with traffic and blocked all the way back around the bend. It is a very compact stretch of road with tall buildings on both side. With cars being less environmentally friendly back then , and the emissions being much "dirty", it was not very pleasant walking there on a hot day, and not great for the drivers sitting in their cars either.
Just the best! so great to see this, brings back so many good memories of Town as it was in the 80s, so many changes now and seems to fast paced and too much like London. I was 22 back then. What a great video, thanks so much for putting this up.
Deepak Ubhoo still is chap. Down the side of Rackhams/House of Frazer. Cherry st? It nearly went bust but that Peter geezer off Dragons Den had something to do with its recovery.
Oh my goodness, what an amazing piece of film. I remember this version of Birmingham so well. I was working in Birmingham then and remember shopping in the city centre that same December. Hard to believe it's so long ago, it only seems like yesterday.
Wow! Great to see how Broad Street has been developed, looks so much better now. I grew up in Wolves but started working in Birmingham when I was 19 and now 40 so know it well.
I was 17 back then and used to go into town very often. Couple of years later started Aston University and remember a lot building work going on in the early 90's Fast forward to today and it's unrecognisable! Virtually all major roads like new st, corporation st used to have cars zooming up and down and I was on the metro the other day trying to picture what b'ham looked like before. Today I see this video. RUclips read my mind!!!! Brilliant video
My Heart beat increased with Joy. Oh wow spent so much time between my ages of 14 to almost 40. Have not been there in over a decade. Thank you for sharing
Ahhh roads with no traffic in town and no temporary traffic light or diversions in sight. This journey would take an hour now. Progress? Show it me when you come across it.
Progress is not having to rely on the car to get round the city. I grew up in London, and we used to go up to central London on the train - we didn't drive up there....and this was back in the 80's (well before the Congestion charge). No British city was ruined more by the car than Birmingham.
I mean I don't drive so apologies if I'm 1000% wrong here but in my experience, it only takes a while to get around these parts during rush hour around 8-10 am and 4-7pm but around 8/9/10/11-- pm it's a really quick easy drive following the route shown here backward from what's now the O2 academy out to where Wicks is opposite the skate park ... after a concert your only problem is getting out of the car park. I'm not disagreeing with you, like I say, I usually take busses but I think it depends on time of day. Anyways, have a good evening
@Spinler Muckflitt London is the capital, and capitals always get more money for public transport than other cities - NYC being an exception. Also London has a large Underground railway network, which Birmingham doesn't have, and lastly Londoners have always relied upon good public transport to get to work. Most Londoners don't drive to work, they use public transport...I guess in Birmingham it's the opposite.
@Spinler Muckflitt Read my previous comment, as you obviously missed it. The question is WHY doesn't Birmingham have an Underground system? afterall Liverpool, Newcastle, and Glasgow all do.......which proves my point that not ALL the money allocated for public transport goes to London. Btw, Glasgow has had one since the early 20th century. Birmingham chose not to, for whatever reasons.
@Spinler Muckflitt Ok, firstly I'm against HS2 (yes, there are Londoners who are) because of the huge expenditure needed; and major upheaval it will cause isn't worth it - plus it'll probably end up being killed off by Brexit. The HS2 planners didn't factor in Brexit when they first started talking about the idea a decade ago. Brexit (most likely a hard one) has completely changed things, meaning that HS2 may now not go ahead. Despite liking rail travel, I''ll be pleased if HS2 is mothballed. The only place it will benefit is London. It'll pull more people from cities like Birmingham and Manchester down to London. Brexit is an opportunity to make England (and the UK) less 'Londoncentric'. Is all this necessary so 15 minutes can be shaved off the rail journey from London to Birmingham?
Back then most kids used their spare time having fun, playing out; football, cricket, ice skating, going park...youth clubs, making a den etc Now? Addicted to mobile phones
this is brilliant. I was 17 at the time and worked and drove every day along those roads. My dad brought a brand new Cott Sigma from the dealer on broad street. Its amazing how quiet the roads are as well
Cool, I grew up in Lichfield, but would go to Birmingham fairly regularly to visit my Grandmas and aunties. Proper trip in a time machine watching this.
Wow! I was 17 years old and Brum looks so tired in comparison with today. At the time i had been working in Hockley as a YTS mechanic 2 years plus, and was a year away from joining the Royal Marines. The cars look so antiquated, but they were the ones that I would have worked on daily. My first car was a 1986 Vauxhall Cavalier that would have been brand new, but I bought it 7 years later. Infamously known as the “Green Pellet” I digress. I started to to drink in town around this time, and like a previous comment stated i recall a far more glamorous host than the one portrayed here. Well done and thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Anyone remember traveling on those old rickety train carriages through the tunnel on the approach to New Street Station? Sometimes the carriage lights would temporarily go out and it was literally PITCH black. Very eerie.
You went past my old stomping ground which was Newtown, which is now a shithole like many of parts of Birmingham, and it was The day when Villa battered blues on and off The pitch
This takes me back! Around this time I'd be going every other Saturday, although Coventry was nearer I liked the record shops of Birmingham back then. A friend would drive but I was too young to drive at that point and so I'd often get the train to Moor Street. Live many miles away now. Great to see this it really is.
Love this! It captures the city I had just arrived in 3 months earlier when I came to uni. I made my home here and have loved seeing the city reborn. And this is how it all started for me. I often tell people that when I first walked down Broad Street on 25 September 1987, the ICC - the very beginning of Birmingham's rebirth - was a hole in the ground surrounded by hoardings, just as it appears here. I love the cars, too, with the opening shot following a landcrab (I still have one!)
I came to uni here in 1989. I remember going to Broad Street to go to a take away there. Was pretty much the only place open at night and IIRC a lot of the street was derelict.
I lived in Birmingham at that time and noticed the construction work on the site of, the now, ICC, and it brought back memories. But a lot of people seem to forget that the building previously on that site, and exhibition venue called Bingley Hall, shown on this video, mysteriously burnt down in 1984. Conspiracy or convenience?@@DariusKhan
@@davem9208 I'll have to watch again as that was some time ago. Have you seen the discussions recently about the construction in Birmingham? It's always been non-stop, but currently it's ridiculous. The city skyline is full of cranes and partially built towers. I counted 7 or 8 cranes from one slightly high viewpoint to the south of the city a couple of weeks back. Plus they have been redeveloping Digbeth High Street for 2-3 years now and the huge closed off area that is the HS2. (Which everyone wanted without question). I'm not saying it's all bad - some of it needed doing but for the private companies, which most of it seems to be, they're there for one reason only.
wasnt born in birmibgham but seriously anyone remembers paradiso the undergroud center in city center n the water fall? now everything change birmingham town center looks like newyork.. beautiful!! really impressive...??? Memories....
I'd just left B'Ham Poly in 1987 so this was my route into town, and the city as I knew it. It had bookshops and record shops, I used to have to visit the central library if I wanted to find out something, and my entire wardrobe came from C & A. I rarely have a reason to go there now, and I feel lost when I do.
I was 16..loved our city centre...just seeing it is quite upsetting...Birmingham has been destroyed bit by bit by you know what....would love to go back to this time...❤
This is when Birmingham had a heart ,it's long since gone over developed now ,Thank you so much for posting the Birmingham I loved
Doesn't it just look like Pakistan now?
@ yep
I was 20 years old in 87.....this is the city of my youth.....loved the clubs, Boogies, Sam Wellers, Power House....etc
I was on holiday from Canada staying with relatives for the year. I was 17 and in the pubs constantly lol. Went to the Birmingham Powerhouse a couple of times, the Barrel Organ, Frequented the Bulls Head in Kings Norton, worked at McDonbalds for a brief spell on the New Street station ramp, until I ran in front of a car and ended up in a cast. Good times. Liots of drinking and fighting, which was just typical England at the time. We left in 1975. I still remember my mom taking me on the bus to town (we lived in Rugeley) to meet my Nan, and we would go to the Bullring for groceries, and then to British Home Stores for lunch, which was usually Egg, Chips, and Beans lol. I must have been around 5 or 6 I guess.
P.S. Take your country, culture and nation back before you don't recognize yourself in the mirror. It's almost to the point of no return. I'm almost loathe to say I was born there.
I live in the USA now but was brought up in Birmingham in the 80s which is how it was on that video which brings back great memories , When back in the UK I often hire a car and drive around the city and it is no longer a friendly place it once was , and very dirty in some parts of the town , But still have a love for the city . Thanks for sharing the video .
I was 13 and remember all of this very well. My Nan used to often take me in to ‘town’, as we referred to it. We’d have sausage and chips in Littlewood’s cafe and at this time of year, we’d see Father Christmas in Lewis’s (not when I was 13! but when I was a bit younger).
Can’t believe Broad Street. Brindleyplace Place was just a canal basin but you can see the development starting up here!! None of the waterside bars we have there now.
Birmingham is far ‘posher’ this days 😂
Not so drab and grey.
However, I’d give anything to go back and eat sausage and chips in Littlewood’s cafe with my Nan just one more time. Those were the days. Happy, happy, happy 😊
Great memories
My Nan also did the sausage and Chips in Littlewoods and Father Christmas in Lewis's thing. They obviously took the Brummie code of Nan honour very seriously.
You could get a doctors appointment for the same day back then...
Now? 3 weeks
That's because everyone was desperate to get out lol.
Very true
This is the same everywhere now.........even in London.
@@robtyman4281 Gonna get worse from here on....
Rob Tyman it’s been bad for most people but since I moved to the outskirts of brum my practice has been brilliant, its partnered with another surgery, it’s has a daily walk in clinic which cuts off at half ten in the morning and If I want to book in advance I can go to the surgery I registered at, if it’s not suitable I have the option to book an afternoon appointment at the partner surgery, the doctors are very good and work at both surgeries
I was 19 then and just about to meet my wife 3 months later,Always remembered Birmingham being very dark especially in winter,Worked all over the city in factories and later became a driver which i loved,Then moved to Spain in 2004,But Brum will always be home,
Yep. Dark and very very drab. I remember all the horrible subways that stunk of wee. And all the old buildings were completely black cos no one had ever cleaned them.
Strange seeing your city decades before you were born
...or when you were barely born for that matter. It does creep me out from time to time.
Yeah wow
So true
They were better days.
The point toward the end where the car drives past new street station and the rotunda and there is just a vast space to the right which now forms part of the Selfridges building, but back then using the ring road you could just loop round back on yourself, utterly baffling.
I was 23 back then. Loved the 80s. If only one could go back..
Sameera Zenib they were the days it make my heart sink thinking of the late 80s
I was 26 at the time if only i can go back at that age and time, my mum and dad was alive as well
Best time of my life and i was only 9! Life and the world has changed so much since then. Take me back to 80's please !!
I was 35 and I soon moved out!!
Wow Sameera we are the same age, I was 23 in 1987 as well, I would say we grew up in a great time, I definitely think our families and freinds were alot closer and more kind, any hears to 1964 ♥
I still call it Rackams. I loved Birmingham back then .Full of characters down the rag market .....it was just fantastic
Worked in Rackhams in 1991 😀
I still call it Rackhams too. Sad to see it as it is now, just a shadow of it's former self
That was a thoroughly enjoyable trip down memory lane. Thank you so much, Sir. It's hard to believe that was almost 32 years ago.
Thanks my man you brought a tear to my eye my memories growing up in Birmingham.
dis the same to me aha mad ennit the memories brought back somw i had lost too!
The best days of my life and the worst lol
Great childhood memories.
Ps, does any1 remember where the hamleys store was located, I just cant pinpoint location.
nav kang Hamleys was on Upper Bull Street, opposite the tram stop (today).
@@aidanlawrence1134 👍
I was 14 almost 15. Lived in caravan then. Loved Birmingham. Wish I could turn back time. World upside down now. Good vid
This is brilliant for us Brummies. Thank you for sharing. I was 4 when this was recorded. So many memories
Me too. Arrived in '83.
I would have been 17, so older than both of you!
This is absolutely Brilliant ! I was 19 in 1987. Good memories.
Lost Man very true. Unfortunately the genie is out of the bottle, never to return. It’s all the youngsters know. We lived more in the moment. No life plan as such. Simpler, happier times.
You're joking! Birmingham now is so much better and has something going for it, which it didn't 30 years ago. People now 'actually' go to visit Birmingham from other parts of the UK - no one did this back in the 80's, because the city was a byword for grey gloominess, and particular awful 1960's architecture. It also had a really bad public transport network back then.
So you'd rather have the old Brutalist Central Library back then would you? .....or the subterranean 'hellhole' that was the previous New Street station? ...or no Symphony Hall? hmm. I bet you wouldn't.
@@robtyman4281 Couldn't agree more. I was a teenager in the late 80s. Town was a bleak place then. It's so much more pleasant now.
@@robtyman4281 Errrr ? Yes, I personally would. Back then the streets were kept alot cleaner and, there wasn't a homeless person on every other street begging for money, and sometimes intimidating you for change. The homeless cannot help being homeless I know, but it is depressing to see so many of them lying on pavements and in doorways.
You make a very good point that Birmingham now has better facilities and attracts visitors, which in itself is better.
I was commenting more about the way I feel about the world and life in general. 😞 My own viewpoint is that the 1980s were a better time. Each to their own.
@@lostman8990 We got Thatcher to blame for that
Can you believe it’s been 36 years since this was filmed
Hard to believe I filmed that 36 years ago....
Probably didn't seem that interesting at the time but looking back now it's a real gem. Saw 3 cars I'd owned, Cortina, Rover SD1, Ford Orion back in the day. Happy memories - was 22 in 1987
sal kola - Yes I had the Orion Injection Ghia- same engine as the XR3i
They were great engines and cars
I had a Sierra in 87, very rare nowadays.
Ricky Doolous - I’d have loved a Sierra in 87 - had a modified 2.0 Cortina in 87 which I imagined to be a lot quicker than it was 🙈
@@brunster64 Mine was a lowly 1.6 L but i loved that car far better in my opinion the the Mondeo i had years later.
There was only 2 parking wardens for the whole of Birmingham then..
Now? 2,452
yeh and just one copper to keep us all in check lol
@@petersavage9456 - lol
I was born 3 weeks after you took this video. My mind is blown im now 31
I was born 8th January 1988, im now 31, completely mind blown by this video too!
How I remember Birmingham. I was 9 when this was taken and it brings back memories of the excitement of going into town with my mom. She was born in Handsworth in the 40s. I moved to Lincolnshire many years ago, and now I get disorientated going out of New Street station, Everything has changed so much. To me it will always be as it was in this video.
Chris Johnson I’m glad I did this video, your post proves that to me, thank you
It's a lesson to never take time for granted. You'll miss how things were when you look back
Remember this like it was yesterday. In the days you could actually drive round and through the city centre.
good old days
Without being Cut Up.
I’m 15 now it’s so weird seeing my city when my parents were growing up for example seeing how similar and different the underpasses are
aidan brampton me too, its also incredibly sad, the city used to be sooo cool from a lot the footage ive seen, but now.... its infamous for being one of the worst cities in the uk. “the detroit of england” ppl call it
Fantastic trip down memory lane. Thanks for this and for having the foresight to do it! Boy has it changed!
Birmingham was a great city.friendly people good to work in. Make a living easy. I hope the community’s get on.because we all lived in harmony then.
Post-2003 after the new years incident, and after the police, the authorities, the charities and the communities got together to stamp out the violence, Birmingham was rated the safest city in the UK at one point.
Then austerity was foisted upon us by that idiot Cameron, and that idiot Whitby pushed to fight that stupid equal pay court case... where BCC lost... and the city ended up with a crazy-ass £1bn legal bill. Couple that with less police on the streets and it started to get worse again.
And now it’s shit
@@ianmckenzie2680 it's only safe because certain figures aren't published
@@Ontheroad1100 it's not safe at all, there's a reason I left lol
I'm a youth living in Birmingham and I got to say life here is really bad
Oh the memories are flooding back. Wonderful days. When Birmingham was still the capital of heavy metal music 🤘
Wow.. this is classic old footage!! A proper timepiece. I was only 7 years old at the time!! Thanks for posting this.
Same age as me mate, I was born July 1980 & grew up in Highgate
And me I was 7 🖐
Born may 2nd 1980. Remember birmingham like this 😊
Damn I miss those day the 80s and the 90s thanks for the memory
I think we all do the 80's was brilliant
This was my route to work on the 51 bus and this was filmed during my second year working at Lewis's. It's funny - I seem to remember town as a glamorous, bright and futuristic place - this makes it look quite dark and the concrete collar is so much in evidence. It's busy though - so much has changed in a relatively short time. Great to see lots of places now gone forever.
LSD was stronger back in the 80's, but hey now it resembles the middle East in the 70's!, very progressive...
I remember Lewis’s. That little bit felt pretty premium. It kind of felt like a mini part of London. Rackhams, Lewis’s and hamleys.
This is amazing, so many memories...especially the old dept store Lewis's and C &A😍😊. Plus driving a car down New Street going to where Rackhams is..now its taken up by the Tram. Thank you for posting!👏👏
Thank you for this, 2 days after my birthday and I was 27 back then. My son was 9 and my daughter was 7. Now at 62 you long for a time machine that would take you back. This is the next best thing.
So true
I was 27 left Birmingham for good of no return still miss Birmingham the good old day's not now everything I remembered GONE came back to see my city I can't find Birmingham got lost wow
I left Birmingham 5 years after this video was filmed and when I last returned for a funeral in 2018 I didn't recognise the place. Definitely gone down hill in recent years, doubt I will ever bother returning . I don't miss the place, only some good friends I had .
Down hill? Eh?
The people who made these videos are true heros.
This isn't Birmingham there are no road closures, traffic cones or temporary traffic lights!!
thanks for this - so many memories "rackhams.. past virgin, the outdoor indoor market place i forget the name of", really brilliant!
Brilliant video. Amazing to see how so much has changed, most notably the old Bull Ring, Masshouse Circus and Broad Street
Me being 14 now I sometimes think about what life looked like back then, with my own eyes, it’d be cool if I could just experience it for a day, I’d like to see what my local area in Birmingham looked like, my grandad telling me how big the Austin was, and what villa park looked like, I know I’m probably not missing out on much but I’d still like to see what my parents were doing and visit my Nan who isn’t alive today, I’d also go visit my Italian great grandmother who I never had the pleasure of meeting but they’d probably wonder who the hell I am. But ah well reality is often disappointing and time travel does not exist, but amazing too see how Birmingham is evolving, it’s never really seemed like a second city to me
god James you make me feel old buddy lol
Thanks for sharing this, so many familiar buildings and big stores that don't exist anymore.
Birmingham looked bigger back then... I'd completely forgotten about the horrific green roof over the entrance to Snow Hill. Thank you for sharing.
Birmingham City Center hasn't changed in size just improved with the banning of cars in the City Center now.
Thanks for putting this on. 🍻
I was 11 months old at the time you made this and turned 1 nearly a month later, now im 32 with two kids and i might do the same to show them 1 day. birmingham looked so dull and drab compared to now but thank you for showing us this
Oh wow! Just my time. I was 17 at the time and what a blast from the past, so many gems now gone. Thank you
Same age as me, then, Joanne - I was a fresh-faced YTS Trainee at the time and remember it very well!
1:26 To the right is Newtown Shopping Centre and to the left is the Barton Arms and Elbow Room. My Dad (Kenny Jack) favourite club. I lived in Guildford Drive Newtown from ‘72 to ‘80
I remember this stretch of road from I was a toddler. I moved to London from Birmingham when I was 10 and have been here 40 years.
This piece of footage brought a lump to my throat. Such good memories of this area when I was a kid.
Good times x
Mad watching this knowing you were born exactly 15 years later. It’s crazy how much can change in such a short time.
WOW wtf i was also born exactly 15 years later
So was I
I was born in this year.So much has changed since then.It’s nice to watch videos like this,it gives the feeling of being transported through time and what it was like then.Keep making these video.Good job
Good to see how Birmingham was when I was growing up,good times
I was 19 when this was filmed. Great video. Birmingham has changed a lot since this.
I was 20 years old and to see this brings back memories now I’m 51 it’s so strange to see the way it looked like back then but it’s good to see this video
Laney Spangle The good old days 90's things were different clubs pub fun days smoke upstairs in bus lol 👍🏿
bee tee wasn’t it just not like today
Newtown hasn’t changed..and the bump before the underpass at Lancaster circus was the highlight of the bus journey:)
The days when rap music was at its best and also the classic films like Rambo predetor back to the future were so good to WATCH
Nothing like a day out in breakers alley with a piece of lino and a ghetto blaster on full whack blarring Roxanne Roxanne by utfo...
ohh and lets not forget them green bus stops.
The Odeon cinema...... Spaceballs was playing in this video, can't get much better than that 😁
This is great - remembered most of it, I don't recognise Birmingham anymore. I lived in great Barr 1978 (birth) to 2011 and on the odd trip in now its an alien place to me! Most of the stuff featured in your vid was still around when I started driving mid nineties, really enjoyable thank you!
Hey, glad you like, it seemed like a mad idea at the time to do the filming, but Im glad I made the effort now for sure !
What a fantastic trip down memory lane. The old Laskys where I bought my first home computer (an Oric-1). Then the C&As on the right of Corporation St where a few months earlier I would have bought my first suit ready for university interviews.
And best of all, the Odeon on Holloway Circus where I saw Star Wars for the very first time 10 years earlier.
Seeing this video brought it all back as if it was yesterday, not 32 years ago.........now I feel really old!
Thank you so much for this
I saw Star Wars at the Odeon in 1977 - we may have been there at the same time 😉😁
I remember we used to call the rotund the "coka cola" building as that what was advertised at the top!
And the FUJI FILM lights next to it on the bridge
Anybody remember the FUJI FILM lights on the bridge over near to the rotunda...shit!! I remember them putting a King Kong on the roof.. 80s brum was awesome... Don Christy records and Summit records.. Not forgetting the original Tempest shop
Facts
@@simonforrest2522 yep☺
Yeah, I forgot that. It threw me when it started to be called by it's proper name🤦🏾♀️
Wow!!! I was 14 years old when this was filmed. To remind myself of what it used to be like has opened so many memories for me. A fantastic reminder of the things and places I used to visit when I was that age. I still visit nw, and I truly wish it was as calm as it used to be then. Now it’s just a mass of people who all seem to be rushing to get somewhere, with nothing there to be positive about.
Absolutely loved this; I was 17 when it was filmed. Many thanks.
I was only 8 at the time of this video. I remember town like this. Catching the 26 off the Bromford upto town and seeing all the shops, the wonderful markets. It was awesome.
Thank you for posting this gem. This is shot much better than any mobile phone could do nowadays... there is so much more going on in the video - which I find really interesting.
Makes me feel sad watching this I was 13 and now I feel old x
This video just popped up out of nowhere. Thanks so much l was 23 and was working in John Lewis, so weird to see those old routes where you can't drive now!
You mean "Lewis's", I think. Never been a John Lewis in Bham as far as I remember.
Couldnt place the start of the film for some reason until I realised it was pre-One Stop Shopping centre.
Thankyou for having the foresight to do this. Great to watch but also with a tinge of sadness at how quickly time passes. Remember going to Hamleys on a saturday...what a toy shop! Enjoyed watching it, thankyou.
Hamleys in Birmingham???
Dont think so?
@@richardlister3906 You don't need to think, im telling you there was a Hamley's in Birmingham for years, just ask anyone from Birmingham.
So glad that the lower part of New Street was made car-free.
The car journey on that stretch in this video is fairly smooth, but most of the time it was overloaded with traffic and blocked all the way back around the bend. It is a very compact stretch of road with tall buildings on both side.
With cars being less environmentally friendly back then , and the emissions being much "dirty", it was not very pleasant walking there on a hot day, and not great for the drivers sitting in their cars either.
Just the best! so great to see this, brings back so many good memories of Town as it was in the 80s, so many changes now and seems to fast paced and too much like London. I was 22 back then. What a great video, thanks so much for putting this up.
8:15 - The Dome! I was working in Jessops on Smallbrook Queensway (next door to the naughty knicker shop) when this photographer drove past.
I’m guessing you might have know Liz (I think). Went to school with her. Last I saw her, she was living in Moseley.
@@brendanpmaclean There was a Sarah and another young lady who went on to work at Colab - but I can't recall a Liz. Could be just after my time.
jessops was around back in them days?
Deepak Ubhoo still is chap. Down the side of Rackhams/House of Frazer. Cherry st? It nearly went bust but that Peter geezer off Dragons Den had something to do with its recovery.
@@brendanpmaclean yeah i know i used to work there lol
wow! thanks for this, that Wimpy got packed after Odeon gigs....
32 years on and virtually unregognisable.😢 Better times 4sure.
I was 10yrs old when this was taken & remember the city like it was yesterday !! Bought back some good memories this as. Thanks for uploading
Crazy, I was only 4 days old when this was recorded! Looked so much nicer than it does now. Gone down the pan big time.
Oh my goodness, what an amazing piece of film. I remember this version of Birmingham so well. I was working in Birmingham then and remember shopping in the city centre that same December. Hard to believe it's so long ago, it only seems like yesterday.
Wow! Great to see how Broad Street has been developed, looks so much better now. I grew up in Wolves but started working in Birmingham when I was 19 and now 40 so know it well.
The industrial and urban landscape of Birmingham i remember from my early working career in the Midlands - thank you
Amazing, brings a tear to my eyes, I miss the old days
I was 17 back then and used to go into town very often. Couple of years later started Aston University and remember a lot building work going on in the early 90's
Fast forward to today and it's unrecognisable! Virtually all major roads like new st, corporation st used to have cars zooming up and down and I was on the metro the other day trying to picture what b'ham looked like before. Today I see this video. RUclips read my mind!!!!
Brilliant video
I was going to suggest that someone recreates this route but it would probably take 2 hours with the traffic
Ridiculous you can't even drive under the bullring anymore or turn left into old square from Moor St Queensway.
You got no chance these days in a car. You're better off recreating it on a push bike. 😂
This is really good, it's nearly impossible to realise the changes. Thank you for sharing x
Love it! A trip down memory lane from Perry Barr to city centre and through?
Run Guru Run and through Broadstreet i believe. I don’t recognise any areas after that 😭
@@32002kevin yep, recognised that too.
My Heart beat increased with Joy. Oh wow spent so much time between my ages of 14 to almost 40. Have not been there in over a decade. Thank you for sharing
Ahhh roads with no traffic in town and no temporary traffic light or diversions in sight. This journey would take an hour now. Progress? Show it me when you come across it.
Progress is not having to rely on the car to get round the city. I grew up in London, and we used to go up to central London on the train - we didn't drive up there....and this was back in the 80's (well before the Congestion charge). No British city was ruined more by the car than Birmingham.
I mean I don't drive so apologies if I'm 1000% wrong here but in my experience, it only takes a while to get around these parts during rush hour around 8-10 am and 4-7pm but around 8/9/10/11-- pm it's a really quick easy drive following the route shown here backward from what's now the O2 academy out to where Wicks is opposite the skate park ... after a concert your only problem is getting out of the car park. I'm not disagreeing with you, like I say, I usually take busses but I think it depends on time of day. Anyways, have a good evening
@Spinler Muckflitt London is the capital, and capitals always get more money for public transport than other cities - NYC being an exception. Also London has a large Underground railway network, which Birmingham doesn't have, and lastly Londoners have always relied upon good public transport to get to work. Most Londoners don't drive to work, they use public transport...I guess in Birmingham it's the opposite.
@Spinler Muckflitt Read my previous comment, as you obviously missed it.
The question is WHY doesn't Birmingham have an Underground system? afterall Liverpool, Newcastle, and Glasgow all do.......which proves my point that not ALL the money allocated for public transport goes to London. Btw, Glasgow has had one since the early 20th century. Birmingham chose not to, for whatever reasons.
@Spinler Muckflitt Ok, firstly I'm against HS2 (yes, there are Londoners who are) because of the huge expenditure needed; and major upheaval it will cause isn't worth it - plus it'll probably end up being killed off by Brexit. The HS2 planners didn't factor in Brexit when they first started talking about the idea a decade ago. Brexit (most likely a hard one) has completely changed things, meaning that HS2 may now not go ahead. Despite liking rail travel, I''ll be pleased if HS2 is mothballed.
The only place it will benefit is London. It'll pull more people from cities like Birmingham and Manchester down to London. Brexit is an opportunity to make England (and the UK) less 'Londoncentric'. Is all this necessary so 15 minutes can be shaved off the rail journey from London to Birmingham?
Back then most kids used their spare time having fun, playing out; football, cricket, ice skating, going park...youth clubs, making a den etc
Now? Addicted to mobile phones
Karl BHX okay karl
It's 10 times the city now. Amazing to think you could just drive around the city centre like that
you still can
@@HQA0 nope
Thank you so much for this lil piece of history
Birmingham has changed to such an extend it's almost unrecognizable. It's a rathole now!
I had just left the area a few months earlier for University. I was 19 that day, being born 12/12/68. Fantastic posting.
this is brilliant. I was 17 at the time and worked and drove every day along those roads. My dad brought a brand new Cott Sigma from the dealer on broad street. Its amazing how quiet the roads are as well
Thank you so much for posting, fabulous memories.
That was brilliant, the Birmingham I remember as a teenager. Thanks for posting ☺️
Great old days miss them ❤
Cool, I grew up in Lichfield, but would go to Birmingham fairly regularly to visit my Grandmas and aunties. Proper trip in a time machine watching this.
Wow! I was 17 years old and Brum looks so tired in comparison with today. At the time i had been working in Hockley as a YTS mechanic 2 years plus, and was a year away from joining the Royal Marines. The cars look so antiquated, but they were the ones that I would have worked on daily. My first car was a 1986 Vauxhall Cavalier that would have been brand new, but I bought it 7 years later. Infamously known as the “Green Pellet” I digress. I started to to drink in town around this time, and like a previous comment stated i recall a far more glamorous host than the one portrayed here.
Well done and thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Anyone remember traveling on those old rickety train carriages through the tunnel on the approach to New Street Station? Sometimes the carriage lights would temporarily go out and it was literally PITCH black. Very eerie.
My first visit to Birmingham from Ireland was in 1988...so just as I remember it x
There were only 7 CCTV cameras covering the city back then...
Now? 496,230
and not one of the fuckers worked
Lol the illuminate changed all with their New world order crap👎🏾
Lol the illuminate changed all with their New world order crap👎🏾
I was 19years old born and bred can't believe it has a lot changed time goes fast thank you for uploading this video
You went past my old stomping ground which was Newtown, which is now a shithole like many of parts of Birmingham, and it was The day when Villa battered blues on and off The pitch
This takes me back! Around this time I'd be going every other Saturday, although Coventry was nearer I liked the record shops of Birmingham back then. A friend would drive but I was too young to drive at that point and so I'd often get the train to Moor Street. Live many miles away now. Great to see this it really is.
Thank you sir, very glad it evoked some good memories.
Love this! It captures the city I had just arrived in 3 months earlier when I came to uni. I made my home here and have loved seeing the city reborn. And this is how it all started for me. I often tell people that when I first walked down Broad Street on 25 September 1987, the ICC - the very beginning of Birmingham's rebirth - was a hole in the ground surrounded by hoardings, just as it appears here. I love the cars, too, with the opening shot following a landcrab (I still have one!)
So glad you like this moment in time video, so you still have the car, amazing !
Almost ditto, but visa visa, I'd left the area 3 months prior to start University in another city.
I came to uni here in 1989. I remember going to Broad Street to go to a take away there. Was pretty much the only place open at night and IIRC a lot of the street was derelict.
I lived in Birmingham at that time and noticed the construction work on the site of, the now, ICC, and it brought back memories. But a lot of people seem to forget that the building previously on that site, and exhibition venue called Bingley Hall, shown on this video, mysteriously burnt down in 1984. Conspiracy or convenience?@@DariusKhan
@@davem9208 I'll have to watch again as that was some time ago. Have you seen the discussions recently about the construction in Birmingham? It's always been non-stop, but currently it's ridiculous. The city skyline is full of cranes and partially built towers. I counted 7 or 8 cranes from one slightly high viewpoint to the south of the city a couple of weeks back. Plus they have been redeveloping Digbeth High Street for 2-3 years now and the huge closed off area that is the HS2. (Which everyone wanted without question). I'm not saying it's all bad - some of it needed doing but for the private companies, which most of it seems to be, they're there for one reason only.
This takes me back. I was working in Moseley in 1987 in Lukers bakery.
wasnt born in birmibgham but seriously anyone remembers paradiso the undergroud center in city center n the water fall? now everything change birmingham town center looks like newyork.. beautiful!! really impressive...??? Memories....
I'd just left B'Ham Poly in 1987 so this was my route into town, and the city as I knew it. It had bookshops and record shops, I used to have to visit the central library if I wanted to find out something, and my entire wardrobe came from C & A. I rarely have a reason to go there now, and I feel lost when I do.
I was 16..loved our city centre...just seeing it is quite upsetting...Birmingham has been destroyed bit by bit by you know what....would love to go back to this time...❤
1987 I was 11 years old. First year at high school oh the memories.