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Ian Allan's bookshop - when did they first open in Birmingham?


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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 by Royal42
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  • Royal42 changed the title to Ian Allan's bookshop - when did they first open in Birmingham?
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 by Paul H Vigor
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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".

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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/

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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"

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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

7945471420_9ef21d888a_b (1).jpg

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:D

 

 

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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:D

 

 

 

I always thought it ironic that the first shop displaced in the rebuilding of New Street station was IA!

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