RMweb Gold Royal42 Posted November 29, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 29, 2021 (edited) Many of us probably remember when Ian Allan's closed their Birmingham branch, but when did they first open there? I remember their bookshop being in Stephenson Street in my teenage years, they were situated on the same side as New Street Station, under the Pallasades just down from where the Queens Hotel was. Later, they moved across the road to the junction with Ethel Street. Does anyone know the full history of the Birmingham store? I have a little project on the go which involves the location of Ian Allans, especially if they were in Birmingham between 1950 and 1965. cheers, Mike Edited November 30, 2021 by Royal42 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul H Vigor Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 (edited) 23 hours ago, Royal42 said: I remember Ian Allan's bookshop being in Stephenson Street in my teenage years, they were situated under the Pallasades just down from where the Queens Hotel was. Later, they moved across the road to the junction with Helen Street, but when did they first move to Stephenson Street. Does anyone know the full history of the Birmingham store? I have a little project on the go which involves the location of Ian Allans, especially if they were in Birmingham between 1950 and 1965. cheers, Mike Edited November 30, 2021 by Paul H Vigor to add information 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Royal42 Posted November 29, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 29, 2021 (edited) That doesn't help with my query and the video just distracts others from helping. Mike Edited November 29, 2021 by Royal42 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Blandford1969 Posted November 29, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 29, 2021 It was open in '90 when I first went to Uni there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Simpson Posted November 30, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2021 It looks as if the store was probably opened in the 1980s: www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/city-centres-famous-trainspotting-bookshop-17113633 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philsandy Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 12 hours ago, Paul H Vigor said: I visited the late lamented Ian Allan bookshop in Cardiff, circa 2014. My partner had never set foot in such a boutique! Her initial comment, paraphrasing '2001 A Space Odyssey': "My God! It's full of nerds!" Pedant Alert! The quote is from "2010", not "2001: A Space Odyssey". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyRule1 Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 (edited) The key line in the Birmingham Mail article is the reference to a number of addreses. When I first visited it was in the Pallasades Shopping Centre - 1970's or 80's. In those days there was a separate shop at the back dealing in Masonic regalia. This web site still lists it http://www.tipped.co.uk/46176-Ian-Allan/ Edited November 30, 2021 by MyRule1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted November 30, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 30, 2021 12 hours ago, Royal42 said: Many of us probably remember when Ian Allan's closed their Birmingham branch, but when did they first open there? I remember their bookshop being in Stephenson Street in my teenage years, they were situated on the same side as New Street Station, under the Pallasades just down from where the Queens Hotel was. Later, they moved across the road to the junction with Helen Street. Does anyone know the full history of the Birmingham store? I have a little project on the go which involves the location of Ian Allans, especially if they were in Birmingham between 1950 and 1965. cheers, Mike A slight correction The street was "Ethel Street", not "Helen Street" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul H Vigor Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 22 hours ago, Royal42 said: That doesn't help with my query and the video just distracts others from helping. Mike I apologise for causing offence. I will remove my post. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted December 1, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 1, 2021 On 30/11/2021 at 08:30, MyRule1 said: The key line in the Birmingham Mail article is the reference to a number of addreses. When I first visited it was in the Pallasades Shopping Centre - 1970's or 80's. In those days there was a separate shop at the back dealing in Masonic regalia. This web site still lists it http://www.tipped.co.uk/46176-Ian-Allan/ Although IA have divested themselves of the transport publishing and shops they still are the place for Masonic stuff, they also have an upmarket car dealership and do business travel packages. As I've said elsewhere, their transport publishing/bookshops were in recent years a very small part of the overall business and any disruption to the status quo e.g. higher rents, were only going to hasten it's demise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted December 1, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 1, 2021 I've been trying to remember where they were in the Pallasades. The address doesn't ring any bells, even though I can remember the centre being built and some of the original tenants e.g. Asda Anyone know the actual position? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyRule1 Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 All I can remember is that you turned right when coming up the escalators from New Street, you tuned right again by the exit to the Bull Ring and it was on the left hand side. I had a corridor just before the shop so the shop had two windows as it was on a corner. Of course this memory could be totally wrong. There seem to be some plans of the Pallasades on the net but none are good enough detail to confirm my memories. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted December 1, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 1, 2021 The corridor, if it's the one I remember went to the escalator that went down into Station St, near the entrance to the Midland Red bus station. The position sounds like it's where Beatties were, IIRC they were there when IA had moved to Stephenson St Beatties was 26 South Mall. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyRule1 Posted December 1, 2021 Share Posted December 1, 2021 23 minutes ago, melmerby said: The position sounds like it's where Beatties were I'd totally forgotten that. For about 20 years I travelled from Euston to Birmingham about 6-8 times a year so was a regular visitor to both Ian Allen and Beatties. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John-Miles Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 I moved from Brum to Cardiff in 1980 and it wasn't open then. I suspect it opened early 1980s. Cardiff was also once blessed with an Ian Allan bookshop. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted December 3, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 3, 2021 18 hours ago, John-Miles said: I moved from Brum to Cardiff in 1980 and it wasn't open then. I suspect it opened early 1980s. Cardiff was also once blessed with an Ian Allan bookshop. It appears in an ad for a new transport book centre in Birmingham, in the MRC for 1983 January. While we're talking about Ian Allan, does anyone one know when book reviews started to quote ISBN's? I have for example IA books from 1976, which show the ISBN printed on them, but reviews don't say what it is. Even by late 1983 MRC. Today no book that you want to sell in reasonable quantities, gets a review without one, so at some stage, it must have become normal to include. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted December 3, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 3, 2021 39 minutes ago, kevinlms said: It appears in an ad for a new transport book centre in Birmingham, in the MRC for 1983 January. While we're talking about Ian Allan, does anyone one know when book reviews started to quote ISBN's? I have for example IA books from 1976, which show the ISBN printed on them, but reviews don't say what it is. Even by late 1983 MRC. Today no book that you want to sell in reasonable quantities, gets a review without one, so at some stage, it must have become normal to include. Does the MRC ad give an address in the Pallasades? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted December 4, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 4, 2021 On 03/12/2021 at 23:00, melmerby said: Does the MRC ad give an address in the Pallasades? Address is given as 22 Birmingham Shopping Centre - whatever that means. The answer to my other question, regarding the ISBN's, appears to be December 1986 where the ads for IA books included the ISBN for the first time. Since the ISBN system had been around for around 10 years at this time, I'm a bit surprised at the late date for including. The issues for the mid 1980s had a large percentage of ads for IA, so it would appear that the IA group was significantly supporting the MRC at this stage. This would explain why the plug was pulled in July 1987. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 I was trolling through the back archives of RM the other day and it mentioned the opening of the IA shop, I read two years last week either 1985 or 1989 , it would have been Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted December 5, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 5, 2021 3 hours ago, Not Jeremy said: As you have said before. The Ian Allan bookshops all closed simply because the owners couldn't give a f*ck for what their old man set up. Period. The turnover didn't look special compared to other parts of the business. but it wasn't AFAIK a loss maker, so I assume as long as there was no hassle or increased costs, it was allowed to carry on. Once leases needed renewing, a different scenario arose. IMHO Once the company owned Waterloo premises became a lone outpost it was doomed. The publishing business was long gone, the online presence, run from Birmingham, closed down with that shop. What was left? No much! The current family members that manage the company are two generations removed from IA and probably never had any transport interests. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Blandford1969 Posted December 5, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 5, 2021 10 hours ago, Not Jeremy said: **** Is there really any need for such vulgar language even if you did *** it out to try to avoid it being picked up. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Fisher Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 (edited) found image gives the shop as being 47... If you look on google earth Betfred currently occupy number 65 3d news 53 Edited December 5, 2021 by Ian Fisher edit 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted December 5, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 5, 2021 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Ian Fisher said: found image gives the shop as being 47... If you look on google earth Betfred currently occupy number 65 3d news 53 That's Stephenson Street (underneath the Pallasades). Their second shop. It disappeared in the Station redevelopment. It's now the entrance. https://goo.gl/maps/axzRv7avnpPr7rgR8 https://goo.gl/maps/iJ7L4sQCnz6pn2TS9 It didn't rain inside the Pallasades Edited December 5, 2021 by melmerby 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Parker Posted December 6, 2021 Share Posted December 6, 2021 8 hours ago, melmerby said: That's Stephenson Street (underneath the Pallasades). Their second shop. It disappeared in the Station redevelopment. It's now the entrance. https://goo.gl/maps/axzRv7avnpPr7rgR8 https://goo.gl/maps/iJ7L4sQCnz6pn2TS9 It didn't rain inside the Pallasades I always thought it ironic that the first shop displaced in the rebuilding of New Street station was IA! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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