IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Lower Tower Street, BIRMINGHAM, B19 3NL

Small engineering works on the corner of New Summer Street and Ward Street.

The Barrel PH is on the corner of Summer Lane and Tower Street.

Union offices in Summer Lane.

Summer Lane runs south from Aston through the Gunsmiths' Quarter into Snow Hill on the northern edge of Birmingham city centre. In this photo the twin spires of St Chad's, the Catholic cathedral by Snow Hill, can just be seen in the distance among the high rise blocks of central Birmingham. The building in the foreground at the top left of the photo was a pub, the Stag's Head; a montage of photos from its history can be seen in this YouTube video from the Birmingham History Forum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAicncubFU4 . Old Summer Lane was a densely-built up district of factories, workshops, pubs and houses. It had its own song, 'See the Palm Trees Swaying', the title an ironic reference to the street's summery name. After the second world war the city council redeveloped the area and renamed it Newtown. The housing was condemned as slums and demolished. The modern commercial buildings in this photo are representative of the street today between Snow Hill and the ring road. For more on Summer Lane see this article by Carl Chinn in the Birmingham Evening Mail 26th April 2008 reproduced here https://astonbrook-through-astonmanor.co.uk/summerlane/introduction.html .

Behind this billboard (or hoarding, to use the old British term) is a drive-through takeaway selling American-style doughnuts with chai, spicy Indian tea - a culinary marriage made in Birmingham.

Part of the ground floor is used by a Carribean Hair Salon, Restaurant and Takeaway.

On New Town Row. Referring to the original Aston New Town.

A group of 19th century factory buildings can be seen on this section of Brearley Street, rare survivals of the Summer Lane area of the Victorian era (for more on Summer Lane see here Image]). The central block has 'J C Newee. Patentee' inscribed on the parapet, with a royal coat of arms above. It is a listed building and dates from around 1840, according to the Historic England site https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1075719?section=official-list-entry . It appears to be in very poor condition. The Super Cafe & Restaurant in the more modern building to the right, with its sign in Amharic, is evidence of the Ethiopian and Eritrean communities that have settled in the Newtown area.