Birmingham retro: 18 of the biggest queues in city’s history- from milk queue to Birmingham Library opening
What’s the longest you’ve had to queue in Birmingham and why?
Birmingham residents are made of patience. We know how to wait and bide our time to get what we want and these photos from the archives prove that. From photos of the olden days showing punters queuing up to pay betting tax to Spanish and West Indian sports fans waiting to watch their favourite games the city has hosted over the years
From waiting in queues to get basic things like milk and newspapers in the mid 1900s to queuing to get on an airplane last summer at Birmingham airport - residents have done it all.
There have been queues in the hopes of fame and fortune when X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent auditions were held in the city as well. And, more recently there have been long queues to get jabbed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are 18 photos of the longest queues in Birmingham over the years:
1. Betting tax queue
Punters queue up to lay their bets at Steve Wall’s bookmaking stand at Birmingham Race Course on 1st November 1926. The inauguration of a betting tax means that the bookmaker must be well supplied with revenue tickets. (Photo by Kirby/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
2. Milk queue
A milk queue at a Birmingham depot, on the second day of an unofficial strike by the Birmingham Co-Operative Society of Milkroundsmen. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
3. Cricket fans' queue
West Indian supporters outside Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham before the third test match versus England. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)
4. Newspaper queue
31st March 1955: People queuing to buy a newspaper outside the offices of the Birmingham Post in Fleet Street, London, where no national papers are being printed due to a strike. (Photo by George W. Hales/Fox Photos/Getty Images)