I don't know if I have ever told this story on here but seeing the photo of that bank brought this to mind.
Anybody who knows Nechells will be able to follow where I am talking about, but if you don’t know the area it doesn’t matter because it could be any similar street in Birmingham.
I used to go to a party some Saturday nights in the 60’s, these parties were in a flat above a bank in the local shopping precinct Revsby Walk, Nechells. I don’t think I ever knew the young girl that held these parties all I know is the price of admission was a 7 pint Bumper Party Can.
On arrival we usually found the kitchen was awash with the residue of many previous can openings. The usual method of opening was after the can had been danced around the living room to the strains of the Beatles, Stones or Dave Clarke 5 for about 10 minutes on the way in, was to attack it with a hammer and screwdriver.
After piercing the top of the can in two places after waiting for the eruption to finish the usual practice was to then hold it over a glass while the beer dribbled out. Rather like trying to get the milky liquid out of a coconut. Not being much of a beer drinker I used to have spirited away in my pocket (pardon the pun) a half bottle of Johnny walker or Lambs Navy.
The one Saturday night I had just settled on the armrest of an armchair and started chatting to this young lady who I thought must be Dusty Springfield’s younger sister as I was just telling her how much she looked like her older sister. When this bloke crossed the room and kicked the record player in the air. Strange I thought, well he probably doesn’t like Gerry & the Pacemakers.
Next thing I heard he was screaming “what the hell is going on here, you can all get out” Apparently it was the father of the girl holding the party, and she had told him that she was having three or four friends around. I don’t know how many people there were packed into that two bedroom flat, but all I know is that they seemed to creep out of every nook and cranny of it as the flat emptied.
I think Dusty’s sister and I finished the night at the Ashted Hamlet, and I never got my 7 pint bumper can back.