About a mile away was the "Main Road". This was where big shops were
including Woolworth’s, and the market. The local public library was
on the main road too and we regularly used to borrow books. We sometimes
went to the "Main Road" on the bus and other times walked. The "Main Road"
was the A41, Holyhead Road and this part went from Birmingham to West
Bromwich. The shops stretched for about a mile along it and on the other
side of the "Main Road" were factories and the area where James Watt’s
works were originally. There were also two "Picture Houses" on the "Main
Road". From our house we could hear the "Bull" - the factory hooter -
sound several times a day. at 7.30 am and then 8 am and then at lunchtimes
and in the evening. A little further along was the "boundary" between
Birmingham and West Bromwich and just past this the West Bromwich Albion
football ground. When there was a match on we could hear the roaring of
the crowd from our house and the cars used to park all down the hill as
far as the end of our road.
