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Bloody Gas Street


dave moore

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4 minutes ago, Goliath said:

I guess John Cooper Clarke got his Beasley Street from the same source ?

Evidently chicken town, not Beasley street. 

 

The bloody cops are bloody keen
To bloody keep it bloody clean
The bloody chief's a bloody swine
Who bloody draws a bloody line
At bloody fun and bloody games
The bloody kids he bloody blames
Are nowehere to be bloody found
Anywhere in chicken town
The bloody scene is bloody sad
The bloody news is bloody bad
The bloody weed is bloody turf
The bloody speed is bloody surf
The bloody folks are bloody daft
Don't make me bloody laugh
It bloody hurts to look around
Everywhere in chicken town
The bloody train is bloody late
You bloody wait you bloody wait
You're bloody lost and bloody found
Stuck in fucking chicken town
The bloody view is bloody vile
For bloody miles and bloody miles
The bloody babies bloody cry
The bloody flowers bloody die
The bloody food is bloody muck
The bloody drains are bloody fucked
The colour scheme is bloody brown
Everywhere in chicken town
The bloody pubs are bloody dull
The bloody clubs are bloody full
Of bloody girls and bloody guys
With bloody murder in their eyes
A bloody bloke is bloody stabbed
Waiting for a bloody cab
You bloody stay at bloody home
The bloody neighbors bloody moan
Keep the bloody racket down
This is bloody chicken town
The bloody pies are bloody old
The bloody chips are bloody cold
The bloody beer is bloody flat
The bloody flats have bloody rats
The bloody clocks are bloody wrong
The bloody days are bloody long
It bloody gets you bloody down
Evidently chicken town
The bloody train is bloody late
You bloody wait you bloody wait
You're bloody lost and bloody found
Stuck in fucking chicken town
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I would think Gas Street was a bit different in those days and Graham was getting the business into shape, it was a hidden place in those days with former warehouses on one side and old canal buildings on the other. There was enough inspiration for Night Clubs, though and Broad Street had a longer tunnel. I wonder if the gates were still on the Bar Lock then.

 

  

Worcester Bar.jpg

  • Greenie 2
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1 hour ago, Heartland said:

I would think Gas Street was a bit different in those days and Graham was getting the business into shape, it was a hidden place in those days with former warehouses on one side and old canal buildings on the other. There was enough inspiration for Night Clubs, though and Broad Street had a longer tunnel. I wonder if the gates were still on the Bar Lock then.

 

  

Worcester Bar.jpg

What's the date of that picture? By the time I knew Gas Street in the early 70s the warehouse in the background was painted white and the bar was lined with boats, including BMCC craft.

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Like David, I don’t recall Gas St as quite so empty, I first knew it from the mid 60s. I think the gates were still in place, no balance beams though, access to the bar from the towpath was originally a plank on a pivot on the bar side, later replaced with a pivoting and counterbalanced swingbridge with handrails. Broad Street Tunnel was about twice as long as today, the church above still standing. What is now Regency Wharf was then the Rum Runner nightclub’s rear exit, while the Opposite Lock, another, was in the old stables. My friend Jim Marshall causes consternation there when he turned up, with horse, demanding stabling! Later in the 60s private craft mingled with the BMCCC fleet, the Mintons, Peter and Paula White on Calstock ( he went on to become BW’s chief architect ) and Mr Royle on the then converted Cassiopeia. On the other side, among the fleet was a very tired Joey, home to brothers Phil and Tony Cochran. Strangely, I met up with Tony in Sydney in 1977, though it took a while for the connection to re-surface. Happy days....

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1 hour ago, dave moore said:

I was away by 1970, but I think that Calstock is on the other side of the bar, to the right. I remember the windows in the conversion.

Hi Dave. This film https://www.macearchive.org/films/atv-today-05051967-gas-street-basin from 1967 features Peter and Calstock - it's not the same as the boat on the right of the photo above, though it is approximately the same mooring. 

I wonder what happened to Calstock ?

 

Edit: the green and red painted boat at the bottom of the photo above is KUBINA - identified by the distinctive overhang to the front cabin roof.

Edited by John Brightley
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5 hours ago, dave moore said:

Like David, I don’t recall Gas St as quite so empty, I first knew it from the mid 60s. I think the gates were still in place, no balance beams though, access to the bar from the towpath was originally a plank on a pivot on the bar side, later replaced with a pivoting and counterbalanced swingbridge with handrails. Broad Street Tunnel was about twice as long as today, the church above still standing. What is now Regency Wharf was then the Rum Runner nightclub’s rear exit, while the Opposite Lock, another, was in the old stables. My friend Jim Marshall causes consternation there when he turned up, with horse, demanding stabling! Later in the 60s private craft mingled with the BMCCC fleet, the Mintons, Peter and Paula White on Calstock ( he went on to become BW’s chief architect ) and Mr Royle on the then converted Cassiopeia. On the other side, among the fleet was a very tired Joey, home to brothers Phil and Tony Cochran. Strangely, I met up with Tony in Sydney in 1977, though it took a while for the connection to re-surface. Happy days....

We spent one lunch time in the Opposite Lock in 1969 whilst we were at the IWA rally/, From recollection the club had a sports car theme, however, my main memory was chatting with Ian Campbell the folk singer, who was expounding his views on the perfoming capabilities of some other (albeit un named) Folk singers.

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The image of Gas Street is in the Waterways Archive, although I did see it some years previous at Gloucester

The date is 1959 and is ref BW 197-2-13-5

It is useful for showing the buildings at the end of the branch. By  the time of 1961 when this image was taken, the former glassworks buildings had been demolished.

The ref is BW 200/1/10/65

 

 

Worcester Bar 2.jpg

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On 06/10/2020 at 12:08, Heartland said:

The image of Gas Street is in the Waterways Archive, although I did see it some years previous at Gloucester

The date is 1959 and is ref BW 197-2-13-5

It is useful for showing the buildings at the end of the branch. By  the time of 1961 when this image was taken, the former glassworks buildings had been demolished.

The ref is BW 200/1/10/65

 

 

Worcester Bar 2.jpg

Does the photo informtion give the name of the water bus? Allthough it's detail is not clear, it looks as if it could well be Water Sprite (Pisces) which I know operated in Birmingham in the late 1960's.

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3 hours ago, Dav and Pen said:

I can’t be sure of the date but late 60s or early 70s but I stand corrected

 

Mid 70s because the buildings on the right were demolished by 77 and I didn't moor on that side of the Bar until 74 after the trip to London. I can see Bodmin, Otley, Victoria and, I think Bognor, but not sure of any more.

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22 hours ago, BuckbyLocks said:

Mid 70s because the buildings on the right were demolished by 77 and I didn't moor on that side of the Bar until 74 after the trip to London. I can see Bodmin, Otley, Victoria and, I think Bognor, but not sure of any more.

I cannot be 100% but it is a good chance that of the row of bows together boats 7 & 8 from left could be Hawkesbury & Sirius

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On 09/10/2020 at 15:45, BuckbyLocks said:

Mid 70s because the buildings on the right were demolished by 77 and I didn't moor on that side of the Bar until 74 after the trip to London. I can see Bodmin, Otley, Victoria and, I think Bognor, but not sure of any more.

Thanks for the information, I transferred this and other photos from 35mm slides. The Agfa ones don’t have any dates but I think 1974 just before we brought Tadworth as we didn’t go to Brum on her until much later.

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3 hours ago, Heartland said:

Mid 1970's that was when the New Rep Theatre was built- that is the white building with distinctive windows and 1974 would be about right.

A it earlier than that. It was there in Broad Street when I moved to Birmingham in September 1971.

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49 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

A it earlier than that. It was there in Broad Street when I moved to Birmingham in September 1971.

Yup. The New Rep opened in 1971 (so the building might have been visible from the basin a little before that).

Edited by David Mack
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I have a picture of the New Rep after it opened, but that does not mean that the  Gas Street image was taken then.

 

But then it would be from when the Rep was built through to when the warehouse on the right was demolished. There was a campaign to save that building and the other adjacent warehouses, but that campaign failed. Does anybody remember the details?  

Edited by Heartland
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