According to the label, this is Argyle Street, Birkenhead 1941 (RAC)




My first thoughts were that it was St Paul's Church that once stood on Argyle St. at the corner of Market St. however I can't be 100%. I can't seem to find anything about Erlac Billiards Hall, nor that Der(went?) property in the background. I also have no idea what the RAC means written in brackets on the rear of the pic. Does anyone have any ideas of what this blitzed building could be?

i would love to know too, great pic

Can't help with the building, sorry, but ERALC was a brand name of E A Clare & Co, who made (and still make) snooker & billiard tables & equipment. ERALC is Clare backwards! See http://www.normanclare.co.uk/EAClare.html - they actually use the same photo about 1/3 down the page.

'ERALC' Billiards Hall belonged to E. A. Clare & Son, the snooker/billiard/pool table manufacturers in Liverpool.

The same photo is on the site telling the history of the company but only says Birkenhead Air Raid 1940. Maybe that will help...

That website contains an image that says the billiard hall was on the corner of Argyle St and Conway St. Might help identify the building from it's location.

www.normanclare.co.uk/images/018_BilliardRms75.jpg

Brill! Thanks guys

well i have just been speaking to my dad who lived in price street. he said the building was on the corner of argyle street and conway street. it was used as the school clinic and other general health issues. it was opposite timothy whites, and the only bit of the building left today is the small pub the post office, which he thinks has changed names from that. hope its a help maxine

Maybe the corner of Argyle and Hinson st?

Anymore pics?

look here

http://malcolmlowryatthe19thhole.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

That's a great bit of info Maxine. Would you say it was about here?

Just the one shot I'm afraid. It's a good one though!


I think it's a bit further on from Hinson St, according to the new info on this thread. I'd have no idea otherwise. Not a great deal of clues in the shot itself.

Which bit of that site Frogger?

It was the "Poor Law Offices(Birkenhead Union)" in 1911

(if was on SE corner of Argle St and Conway St)

That the area of the screenshot I posted above do you know?

yes dan, exactly where the railings on the picture start and finish. it also came right over the road to what we think is a roundabout now. newbee is also right mentioning hinson street. the entrence to that building was fromm hinson street. it was the tiny road between the big general postoffice and the pub. my dad thinks there is a tiny bit of the road left. we have not been home in the area since last summer, so my dad has had to put his thinking cap on, recalling all his time around there as a child. thanks dan

Thanks so much for the help. I'm doing a new book, Now and Then style. I would have had to ditch this shot if I couldn't get any info but now it's deffo. going in

good luck dan, we enjoyed that. max

just wondering dan iff youre doing a book have you any pictures of the old cathcart street school and the adelphi street,marion street areas. good luck with the book.

Not at the moment sorry, but I'll keep my eyes open in case any pop up

dd is right in saying that the building in the photo is the old Birkenhead Poor Law Union Offices on the corner of Conway Street and Argyle Street. Designed by the firm of Edmund Kirby & Sons of Cook Street, Liverpool, they were built between 1901-1905 at a cost of £18,380. They replaced the original Union Offices in Hampton House, on the corner of Oliver Street and Hampton Street (for piccy clicky). As well as the Poor Law Offices the building also housed the Registrar of Births, Marriages & Deaths. There was a rear entrance in Oliver Street - not Hinson Street - which gave access to the Relief Office, where the impoverished went to collect their handouts. After 1930, when the Poor Law Union was abolished, the building became the home of the Public Assistance Committee.

The offices were badly damaged during the Blitz, both on the night of 26/27 September 1940, during the raid that accounted for the Argyle Theatre, and on 1/2 October, when the Argyle Hotel and Old Post Office Hotel were hit. After the War, the roof was rebuilt, but without its distinctive pre-War cupola. Officially known as the Municipal Offices with an address of 3 Conway Street, the building housed a number of Council Departments during the post-War period, including, I believe, those of the Borough Surveyor & Engineer. It was eventually demolished in early September 1967 to make way for the late-unlamented Conway Street Flyover, an unnecessary eyesore that deservedly later met the same fate.

The photos below show the building in its original state and as rebuilt after the War, whilst the last three show the demolition work underway in 1967.

Excellent info and fantastic pictures Marty. Makes me so mad to see the destruction of our history and heritage. For a fooking short lived flyover for god's sake.

Bloody eck. Thanks so much! Massive help

Clicky for info regarding ERALC
This might help with the location and the query about Eralc.

Cheers

Original building. They dont make em like that anymore!

oops. sorry. didnt see theses photos were already there!

My Dad has just looked at this photo, he says it Birkenhead Registry Office (births/deaths, etc) at the corner of Argyle Street and Conway Street next to the main Post Office.

The snooker hall was above Derwent House furniture store.

Hope thats of use to you.

Should be in the Street Furniture section really, but couldn't help noticing the rubber mats/strips in the road surface. The pic with the demolition guy standing in the road.

A very early set, probably made by A.T.M. L'pool. There are two separate pads to allow for the tram rails. The short pad sat twixt the rails.

When traffic was quiet, you could stamp on the pads and make the lights change! Not me you understand - I was a good little lad (?)

Thanks for the pics and info.

I had forgotten all about stamping on the rubber pads. Me neither, I used to observe the other kids!

Jumping up and down on the rubber road pads to change the traffic lights was an enjoyable, if risky, little game when we were kids. But I remember one day in the early 60s when a policeman actually asked us to do it. He was testing the lights and the controls must have been faulty - so he recruited a bunch of us who were hanging round nearby, instructing us when to jump on the pads. Honest, m'lud, that's what happened.

Ah. Glad it wasn't just me then. Ermmmm. Oops.

If you could get a close up of it you will see it was hit by bullets from a plane, I was given this information from my gran.