Claybrook Street and the Timber Yard Development

CLAYBROOK STREET

Claybrook Street is a narrow thoroughfare which connects Hurst Street and Pershore Street

This little street was formerly known as Pudding Brook, mentioned in the song “ I Can’t Find Brummagem”.

Going across Bradford Street, Pudding Brook was overwhelmed by the growth of Birmingham and was last mentioned in an advertisement in 1815. Its name related to the nature of the ground near it, also reflected in the renaming of the road as Claybrook Street.

Map from 1950 showing Claybrook Street
Claybrook Street c1960s
Claybrook Street 2020

THE TIMBER YARD DEVELOPMENT

At the time of writing (2021), situated between Claybrook Street and Skinner Lane is the 1¾ acre building site of the Timber Yard , which for many years had been a large outdoor car park. The completed building will comprise of two residential buildings which will boast a collection of 379 modern apartments. The East Block, facing pershore Street, is the the first release, and will feature one, two and three bedroom apartments. The West Block will include a mix of studio, one and two bedroom apartments, and landscaped courtyard gardens will be surrounded by the two buildings.

The map shows the Claybrook Street & Skinner Lane block in the 1950s. Originally this would have consisted of courts of back to back houses, of which two in Skinner Lane remained, and terraced houses, some of which were still evident on Hurst Street. Over the years these have been converted into business premises or demolished to make way for factories and warehouses. In the centre for instance is the Timber Yard that gave the new development its name. The timber yard was accessed from Pershore Street and belonged to T Jameson & Son (Timber) Ltd.

A Jameson’s lorry making a turn near to their Pershore Street premises in the 1950s

Eventually this block was cleared and for many years became a car park. The next photograph shows the cleared block in 2012. This part facing Hurst Street was accessed from Hurst Street and Skinner Lane, even though the operators name board called it SKINNER’S LANE Car Park!

Above we have the construction site in 2012, towering over Hurst Street. Below are a selection of drawings from the developer’s booklet showing the 12 storey block on Pershore Street and the gardens.

  • From Skinner Lane
  • The gardens
  • From Pershore Street