A Walk With Phil

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

Thank you to all my YouTube subscribers for your incredible support over the past 12 months! Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year. Your engagement and kindness mean a lot to me. See you in the new year for more content!

5 days ago | [YT] | 79

A Walk With Phil

WEST BROMWICH THE NEW MIDLANDS CAPITAL FOR ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

On Friday 12th September I decided to have a look at the new indoor market to see if it was still as busy as it was on the day of opening. Well, sure enough, Firkins still had its long queues for its expensive cakes. But what was interesting to see was a couple of new eatery stalls that had opened which, I hope, will become successful.

But before I reached the market I was accosted by a passerby objecting to me filming in a public place which is a lawful activity. I have shown some of this interaction which will be shown on Sunday evening 14th September. So how ironic it was that here i was minding my own business in my home town to be verbally abused and sworn at in the new anti social capital of the Midlands

Sadly some of the bad language is heard and was left in to show the effect this was having on passers by who witnessed this incident. I of course stood my ground, as you and everyone else, must do when confronted by those who think they can throw their weight around.

So apologies for any profanities you may hear in advance but i'm beginning to realise that West Bromwich and many Black Country towns are being left to run wild and there is never a figure of authority to be seen for miles when an anti social incident occurs

I did edit out some of the scene in question as the guy appeared to be far too aggressive but i kept most of it in and if it wasn't for someone else trying to calm the situation then I'm not sure how far it could have escalated. Anyhow i'll leave it at that but sadly I don't think it surprises many of you who have witnessed what is happening in our towns as they continue to deteriorate ever more quickly towards oblivion

3 months ago | [YT] | 51

A Walk With Phil

DAMN BACK PAIN!!!!!!

Apologies to all my supporters on my channel A WALK WITH PHIL. This lower back pain as dogged me persistently for a few weeks now. So I've been down the docs and some medication has been prescribed with the advice that all is well and I can resume vlogging in and around the Black Country once more. Perhaps not as regular as 3/4 times per week as before but I'm certainly aiming for couple of times a week initially.

In the meantime I wish to thank you all for your continued support and, as I said, hopefully things will be back to normal very soon.

Thanks again

4 months ago | [YT] | 69

A Walk With Phil

NEWSAGENTS

What happened to the newsagent shop? I do remember many of them being around the High Street West Bromwich in the 60s/70s. There were one or two in Carters Green, I remember there being one up New Street and down Bull street. There was a red box outside the Sandwell Centre, with just enough room for someone to sit inside, selling the Express and Star. Mind ya any strong breeze that came along would always up end it. Menzies and WH Smith may not have been traditional newsagents per se they did at least sell the papers and magazines that you were mostly looking for, but they vanished from the West Brom High Street long ago

The demise of the newsagent as been a thing for a while now. Online papers proliferate the internet and mostly free although i've recently noticed that the Sun and the Daily Maill are now beginning to charge £1.99 per month for certain opinion pieces.

Then convenience stores came along and effectively more or less finished off the 'paper shop'. They sold all the thing that traditional newsagents sold such as comics, magazines, sweets, snacks, stationary and small games and toys for the kids. I always bought bags of marbles and balloons from my newsagents in Granville Drive Kingswinford when I were a lad.

So are there any newsagents left in West Bromwich? Look hard enough and there are still one or two lurking around the back streets or even in the shopping centre but as far as Carters Green is concerned then you will have to give it a wide berth. I visited a gloomy, depressing carters green on a wet Sunday morning in my quest not just to find a traditional newsagents but simply to buy a Sunday newspaper and it wasn't as easy as you would think

10 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 26

A Walk With Phil

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I just want to say a Merry Christmas to all those who have subscribed to the channel it's all very much appreciated. Without your support the channel would not have survived. It's also such a pleasure to meet those who recognise me when I am filming on our West Brom streets.

Hopefully I will still bring you content of West Bromwich in 2025 and I will also continue to improve the quality of the films I produce. One of the ideas I may very well use will be the introduction of drone footage. I have acquired one of these devices and I am yet to fly it, I've had it for three months now and I'm still to take it out of the box!!

If and when I do use it, it will be on the odd occasion when I feel it necessary to get a better vantage point of something that will benefit public interest. I also still continue to visit our Black Country Towns in order contrast how they look in comparison to West Bromwich

I have a holiday booked on a ship in 2025 and so I will more than likely do a spot of filming around the Mediterranean for ya!! There is lots to look forward to in 2025 so enjoy yourselves this Christmas and make sure you eat and drink whatever you want

ALL THE VERY BEST

Phil

1 year ago | [YT] | 55

A Walk With Phil

IS WEST BROMWICH TOWN IN FREE FALL?

I met a guy named Phil today (Tuesday 3rd Dec) in the New Square Shopping Centre. He's in his 70s now but remembers West Brom like it was yesterday. He admits he used to get into a few fisticuffs as a lad growing up in the Town, in particular the Tantany area on Beaconsfield Street. He would often frequent the Nags Head down Church Lane.

His abiding memories were that West Brom was a great town, great people, great shops and great neighbourhoods. He now says it's rubbish today, a sentiment that's shared by the many people I now meet on the streets of West Brom. As an aside Ive met a few of you in Oldbury and as far away as Worcester City centre!!

You all agree that the Town is sinking fast and we all feel powerless to stop the relentless drift towards total mediocrity. A Town like any other Town that takes ya money in Rates but gives very little in return other than some new paving slabs and a few trees planted here and there.

The High Street is in a huge decline. Take a look at my few videos I've done around the High Street and you witness buildings with peeling paintwork, that stupid Interruptor caravan near the Queen Square entrance, the wretched street food van parked up in the middle of Princess Parade, drug selling outside McDonalds at night and those disgraceful fruit and veg stalls littering the top end of our once mighty High Street.

All I can add for now is that I don't see a major recovery any time soon, so all I ask is watch my videos and attempt to remind yourself of how wonderful our West Bromwich Town used to be

1 year ago | [YT] | 25

A Walk With Phil

SMETHWICK CAPE HILL

I don't particularly like this area of Smethwick. I don't like all the traffic around the Waterloo/Seven Stars junction. I don't like the rows of fruit and veg stalls, the barbers, the beauty salons and I don't like the awful housing estate that now occupies the once mighty Cape Hill Brewery. The houses there are built in rows that resemble lego land and what's more there are hardly any reminders of what used be on the site

I took a walk around there recently and, I know it aint West Bromwich, but how many of us drove past or even rode the bus, as we witnessed the iconic brewery wall with its slogan emblazoned on the side 'Good Honest Beer"

It's all gone now. Traditions and cultural icons are soon forgotten as the powers that be force us to embrace a more modernist, brutalist way of living. And to that end the dominant brewery was almost obliterated to make way for lego land with only the war memorial and a fire station building left standing, It was a pathetic ending to a famous building of heritage that now only survives in our collective memories.

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 20

A Walk With Phil

GOLDS HILL AREA WEST BROMWICH

I've just got back from filming around this area and I have to say I couldn't find anything of real note. What I mean by this is that the area has a major historical, industrial past. Its collieries, its tile and brick making plus its numerous factories, including iron works and foundries.

I would have liked to have seen some remnants of the industry past but, alas, it proved nigh on impossible especially along Dial Lane and Bagnall street. The old schools were gone, there were no traces of the branch canals that served the many industries. No sign of the mineral railway crossing as now we have a complete new road system that's obliterated what once was. Bagnalls iron founders was tricky to see where I was, unless I made my way past security guards and factory units.

Down Dial Lane was the Walsall Conduits, do you think I could find it? I completely lost sight of where it stood so maybe you could point out its site when you get to see the and, hopefully the film will bring back a few memories of your time around this area.

1 year ago | [YT] | 7

A Walk With Phil

WEDNESBURY WINDMILL HOUSE

I recently uploaded a video featuring the history of some of the buildings and the area entitled WEDNESBURY CHURCH HILL. One of the segments attempted to show a house that was for sale with a price tag of £1,000,000.

As you approach the house all you get to see is the main gate with the West Bromwich council crest above the gate and a surrounding wall. Beyond the gates lies the octagonal main residence with a large courtyard. It also has a tennis court with garages for parking. Its main feature is undoubtedly the windmill folly.

A lot of the building was built using salvaged materials from a demolition company that was run by Harry Humphries who owned Humphries timber yard down the Portway Road in Wednesbury. The house was called a Roundhouse because it was built on a disused reservoir that once held 1.5 million gallons of water before closing in 1974.

The windmill cannot be seen in full glory in Wednesbury although some aspects can be seen here and there but not all of it. So when I came visiting the house all I could see was a windmill blade. So here is a photo of the house with the windmill and its been said that the house has now been sold subject to contract

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO MAKE IT A LITTLE BIGGER

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 8

A Walk With Phil

LISTED BUILDINGS

I though I would document our Towns listed buildings. We have a few buildings and structures of real historical value, but who oversees their condition? Who is responsible for informing landlords of the appalling condition that some of these buildings are seeing?

It's all very well getting grade 2 listing but does that mean you wash your hands of the structure once grade 2 is given?, it looks very much that way.

Nos 315, 317 and 319 High Street are examples of the disgraceful deterioration of these great historical buildings. If you see the film its quite obvious they are simply being left to fall apart, the neglect is palpable. So whoever is responsible for their upkeep then do something about them before they go the way as most of our historical buildings of the past, they either get bulldozed or somebody burns them down!!

1 year ago | [YT] | 8