Lost houseKing’s Standing Lodge and the Warren Houses
A lonely warrener’s house on the heath, on the map by 1775 and let with 300 acres of rabbit warren in 1820. It stood by today’s Bandywood Crescent until about 1930.
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, revised 1901, published 1904 · Out of copyright
Read more →
Lost farmKettle House Farm
The farm just south of today’s Circle that gave its name to the Kettlehouse estate: in the deeds by 1814, a Calthorpe farm from 1846, and farmed by the Judds until 1936.
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, surveyed 1882–83, published 1884 · Out of copyright
Read more →
Lost waterworksKing’s Vale Well and Pumping Station
Birmingham’s waterworks sank a deep well here in the 1860s, expecting six million gallons a day. It gave 300,000, turned bad, and was disused by 1913. The site is now Wheeldon Recreation Ground.
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, revised 1901, published 1904 · Out of copyright
Read more →
Lost lane and hamletHolly Lane
The old lane under southern Kingstanding Road, with its smithy, Beech Tree Cottages, post office and the inn that was both Greyhound and Hare & Hounds.
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, revised 1901 · Out of copyright
Read more →
Lost farmHalfway Farm
“Halfway House” on the 1831–32 map, home of Perry Barr’s tax collector, sold in 1921, and since 1938 the site of the drill hall on Kingstanding Road.
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, surveyed 1882–83 (published 1884) · Out of copyright
Read more →
Lost farmWarren Farm and Lodge Pool
A lodge on the rabbit heath that became Warren Farm, with Lodge Pool, a hydraulic ram and Pool Farm beside it, all now under the Warren Farm estate.
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, revised 1901 · Out of copyright
Read more →
Lost pubThe College Arms
The 1930s pub on College Road: whippets out the back, bets passed to a man on the wall, sing-alongs at the piano — and a McDonald’s on the site today.
Photo: Birmingham History Forum (“out of copyright”, as credited on Voices of Kingstanding). Reproduced via Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Lost pubThe Kingstanding pub
The great Mitchells & Butlers pub at the Circle: an iron arch, rooms galore, a bowling green and GIs on the lawn. Rebuilt twice, burnt in 2019, now a car park.
Postcard, 1936; publisher and photographer unknown
Read more →
Lost pubThe King Charles
“The Charlie” on the corner of Kings Road and Hartley Road: Vimto by the railings, darts, piano, film shows and Saturday-night music. Houses stand there now.
Submitted by a resident of Oscott. Photo copyright Keith Wright (as credited on Voices of Kingstanding).
Read more →
Lost pubThe Hare and Hounds
The 1931 Mitchells & Butlers roadhouse on Kingstanding Road, with terraced grounds down to a bowling green, GIs on the wall and long-serving landlords. Gutted by fire in 2016.
Library of Birmingham, Local Studies and History Department, LSH WK K10 0087 (3/1310)
Read more →
PubThe Mount
A big house high above Kings Road that became a Mitchells & Butlers pub, nicknamed “the Spies Pub”, rebuilt in 1989 and still open as the Mount Tavern.
Submitted by a resident of Oscott
Read more →
ClubThe Warriors Club, Lambeth Road
The British Legion club on Lambeth Road that its own members helped to build, with a room named after Albert Roberts. Known to all as the Warriors; now the Crown.
Image reproduced with permission of Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Snooker hallThe Royal Billiard Hall
The snooker hall beside Kingstanding police station: Harold the gaffer, a champion A team, cheese and onion sandwiches, and a young Graham Miles practising.
Library of Birmingham, Local Studies and History Department, WK K10 0010 (3/1242)
Read more →
ShopsShops of the Circle
Oldham’s, John Favours, Rochelle’s, Knights, Lennons and the Co-op: the Circle’s shops and shopkeepers as Kingstanding remembers them, from 1930 to today.
Photo: Bernie Ryman. Reproduced with permission via Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
ShopsHawthorn Road shops
Kingstanding’s other high street: the Midlands’ first self-service Woolworths, Tranters the jeweller’s, Gwynnes’ toy window, Kirton’s papers and Miles the pet shop.
Raphael Tuck & Sons postcard, c. 1950 (TuckDB Postcards). Public domain
Read more →
BankBirmingham Municipal Bank, Kingstanding
The city council’s own savings bank on Kingstanding Road: two evenings a week from 1932, a new branch opened by the Lord Mayor in 1937, money boxes and five shillings.
Photo: David Parkes. Reproduced with permission via Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Lost dairyThe Co-op Dairy, Kingstanding Road
The Co-op milk depot beside the drill hall on Kingstanding Road: Clydesdales and sleighs in the war, electric floats and teenage “jockeys” in the 1960s.
Photo: Bernie Ryman. Reproduced with permission via Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Lost swimming bathsKingstanding Baths
The Warren Farm Road swimming baths, opened in 1938: free passes, the high board, a penny Oxo upstairs and dances on boards laid over the pool.
Photo: Dennis Elwell. Reproduced with permission via Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Former police stationKingstanding Police Station
The police station by the Circle on Kingstanding Road: an air-raid siren on the roof, a hospital “danger list” outside, lost dogs and kit bags within.
Image reproduced with permission of Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Health clinicWarren Farm Road Clinics
The estate’s health clinics on Warren Farm Road: cod liver oil and orange juice for babies, jabs and head checks, and a school dentist nobody forgot.
Library of Birmingham, Local Studies and History Department, LSH WK K10 0134 (3/1352)
Read more →
Catholic parish churchChrist the King Church
Kingstanding’s Catholic parish, founded in 1932: Mass in a pub assembly room, a wooden church called home for thirty years, and the church of 1962.
Image reproduced with permission of Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Parish churchSt Luke’s Church
Kingstanding’s first Church of England parish, consecrated in 1937: incense and chairs, a Dutch vicar with holes in his socks, and seventy years of weddings.
Raphael Tuck & Sons postcard, c. 1950 (TuckDB Postcards). Public domain
Read more →
Methodist churchKings Road Methodist Church
The Methodist church on Kings Road, begun as a “House of Friendship” in 1934: home of the 29th Boys’ Brigade, a wartime library and a borrowed school.
Image reproduced with permission of Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Baptist churchJohn Bunyan Baptist Church
A Baptist church that grew from a 1939 Sunday school in Kingsland Road School to a hall in 1948 and a new church on Lambeth Road, opened in 1963.
Image reproduced with permission of Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Lost churchEbenezer Memorial Congregational Church
The Congregational church on the corner of Brackenbury Road and Dulwich Road, finished in 1934: Sunday school, the 213th scouts, rock and roll in the hall.
Library of Birmingham, Local Studies and History Department, LSH WK K10 0132 (3/1350)
Read more →
Lost schoolKing’s Rise School
King’s Rise secondary school on Peckham Road, 1945–1989: maroon blazers, Pop Mason, a Villa goalkeeper, 1976 photographs, and houses where it stood.
Image reproduced with permission of Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Estate schoolTwickenham Road School
Opened in huts in 1930 for the new Warren Farm estate, Twickenham Road School has taught Kingstanding children ever since, through gas-mask drill, dancing and cups.
Photo: John Jarrett. Reproduced with permission via Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Estate schoolDulwich Road schools
Warren Farm’s schools on Dulwich Road, from 1930 huts to air-raid letters, 1936 hall murals and a school song — a primary that still teaches and a hall that still shows the murals.
Courtesy of Lee Lewis. Reproduced with permission via Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Estate schoolSundridge Road School
Opened in 1940 in temporary buildings beside new air-raid shelters, Sundridge Road School grew up with the war, a Festival of Britain pageant and Mr Poole’s pond.
Image reproduced with permission of Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Estate schoolKingsland Road schools
Planned as the Kettlehouse Farm Estate school, opened in 1935 and split into boys’ and girls’ junior schools in 1937: May Queens, maypoles and a rebuilt school today.
Image reproduced with permission of Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Estate schoolKingsthorne School
Cranbourne Road School opened in 1931 round a courtyard designed by J. H. Hawkes and Son; renamed Kingsthorne in 1954, it has taught the estate’s children ever since.
Library of Birmingham, Local Studies and History Department, LSH WK K10 0054a (3/1280)
Read more →
Estate schoolPeckham Road School
The estate school that opened on Peckham Road in 1931: huts, a borrowed annexe, evacuees sent to Derbyshire in 1941, and the teachers pupils never forgot.
Photo: Kingstanding Library (as credited on Voices of Kingstanding). Reproduced via Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.
Read more →
Looking after these places. These pages tell the story of Kingstanding’s places. To see what Kingstanding Together is doing for them, visit Kingstanding Green Spaces and Heritage & Conservation.
The Kingstanding we’ve lost
Not everything survived. The Woolworths on Hawthorn Road, shops and pubs that anchored the parades, corners of the old estate remade over ninety years — much of it lives now only in memory and family photographs. Gathering it before it’s gone for good is exactly what this group is for, so the Odeon isn’t the only piece of Kingstanding we manage to save.
Roy Hughes · CC BY-SA 2.0History sourced from Historic England’s listing and scheduling records, the Birmingham history research of Bill Dargue, and Wikipedia. Photographs are used under Creative Commons licences and credited to their photographers — full details on our photo credits page.