This short thoroughfare once formed the boundary between the borough of Aston Manor and Birmingham prior to the Greater Birmingham Act of 1911. Aston was recorded in the Domesday Book where it appeared as Estone and was five times the size and rated at five times the value of Birmingham. Aston was a large Warwickshire parish covering some 10,000 acres and embraced the now-separate districts of Duddeston, Nechells, Castle Bromwich, Deritend and Bordesley. By 1550 the parish had become known as Aston-juxta-Birmingham. During the 19th century the borough of Birmingham took chunks away from Aston which remained outside the city's jurisdiction. During this period it was governed by the Aston Manor Local Board. However, it had become an Urban District by 1903 and was finally absorbed into Birmingham in 1911.
© Copyright. Image supplied by Digital Photographic Images.

Taken in February 1938, this image shows some of the properties that once stood on the south side of A. B. Row. In capturing this image that looks down Princes Street, the photographer was stood on the corner of Duke Street on the opposite side of the road to the Turk’s Head public house where Leonard Hodges was mine host. A date stone can be seen on the corner of A.B.Row and indicates the construction year of 1764. At the time of this photograph the building was occupied by London Metal Warehouses Ltd., a company that were stockists of stainless steel. The van parked outside belonged Gabriel & Co., another firm involved in the stainless steel trade in the 1930’s but this represented diversification from the company’s core business of brassfounding. In the late Victorian period Gabriel’s shared the premises with the glass bottle makers Jukes Brothers. In the early 1880’s the corner property was occupied by the Swiss-born upholsterer Alfred Renaud. Next door at No.2 was the baker and corn dealer Henry Pratt. Both buildings were used for a diverse range of business activities during their two centuries. In the early 1860’s the corner building was a short-lived beer house run by locally-born John and Mary Fox.
© Copyright. Image supplied by Digital Photographic Images.

“24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?”
Stephen Wright
Pub Quotations

History and Information on the Public Houses of Birmingham with Licensees and Newspaper Articles PLUS Genealogy Connections