Express & Star

Pictures from the past: West Bromwich High Street through the years

Pictures from the past is an Express & Star feature giving you the chance to look back on bygone days.

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Shoppers in High Street

Today we take a look at West Bromwich town centre with a focus on the town's ever-changing high street.

From shops which have come and gone to historic print works, these 14 images give you a snapshot of life in bustling West Bromwich.

If you know any more information about the images featured please contact us via webdesk@expressandstar.co.uk

14 images of West Bromwich through the decades

West Bromwich High Street in 1965. Credit: Sandwell Community and Archives Service

1. The Corner House pub and Stanley Martin shop feature in this image of West Bromwich high street pictured in 1965.

High Street in 1980

2. High Street had seen significant redevelopment when this photograph was taken during the 1980s. Radio Rentals and Paige Plus shops can be seen to the left.

Another view of High Street in 1980

3. Another view of the high street from about 1980 featuring the Grot shop to the right.

A tram on the high street in 1910

4. Early electric trams running along the high street when this picture was taken from Dartmouth Square around 1910.

A man works at the printing press

5. A man in the printing press at Kenrick and Jefferson Works. Its imposing building still dominates High Street next to what is now the shopping area Astle Park.

Works in High Street in 1974

6. Like in many towns at the time, High Street was in the process of being pedestrianised in September 1974.

West Brom fans gather

7. A group of Tipton football supporters waiting to board a coach in the high street to take them to Wembley to watch the 1954 FA Cup Final between the Albion and Preston North End. The Baggies won 3-2.

The K&J print works

8. The seven-strong fleet of delivery vehicles belonging to the Kenrick & Jefferson print works pictured outside the company's terracotta fronted headquarters in West Bromwich High Street in 1925.

Shoppers in High Street

9. The busy market in the recently pedestrian area of High Street photographed during the 1980s.

The newly opened Sandwell Centre in the 1970s

10. High Street as it looked in the 1970s, shortly after the opening of the new Sandwell Centre, when True-Form and Marsh & Baxter were among the staple stores for shoppers in the town

The High Street Market

11. The popular open-air market in High Street pictured here in November, 1981, after the town had been transformed by the Ringway, and the new King's Square and Queen's Square shopping centres

The Martin Dunn showroom

12. Martin Dunn, one of the oldest plumbing and building merchants in the Midlands, had just opened this luxury new showroom in West Bromwich High Street at the time this picture was taken in August, 1979.

The Sandwell Centre covered walkway

13. The Sandwell Centre roof section which covered the walkway to link the Queens and Kings Shopping Centres before it was pulled down.

The old B&Q store and West Bromwich Police Station

14. A view of the old B&Q store in the foreground and West Bromwich Police Station in the background alongside homes before they were cleared to make way for New Square Shopping Centre