From a well-loved Wolverhampton department store to a Kidderminster wave machine, we have compiled a nostalgic list of things you could once do across 1990s Worcestershire and the Black Country that aren’t available anymore.
Heading back 30 years, it was a time when Midland audiences were glued to The Upper Hand, Neighbors and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and listening to Ace of Base, Nirvana and a newcomer to the scene called Britney Spears.
Shops and nightclubs across Redditch and Dudley may have come and gone, but we have 10 of the best here along with iconic buildings now demolished and the haunt of childhood dreams from the heyday of the ’90s.
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If you have other nostalgic places not on the list, let us know in the comments section below.
Kidderminster’s wave machine
Swimmers traveled miles to visit Forest Glades Leisure Center in Kidderminster and its wave machine in the 1990’s.
The Bromsgrove Street complex had a glamorous start, opened by the late Diana, Princess of Wales in 1986, whose job was to switch on the swimming pool wave machine.
Diana, Princess of Wales, at Kidderminster when she switched on the wave machine in 1986
Swimming had never been so much fun for the children and families making the most of this state of the art tech.
But three decades later, the leisure center and its famous wave machine would shut down, in July 2016.
Enjoy an ice cream soda at Beatties in Wolverhampton
The famous Black Country department store was pristine from its haberdashery basement to top floor cafe.
Stools at the counter and booths with views across Wolverhampton made this a charming spot to lunch, along with its ice cream sodas served in tall glasses.
Uri Geller took time out of launching his pottery range at Beatties Wolverhampton to “channel” some of his special power to Wolves through the football shirt of 16 year old Wolves fan Peter King (left).
(Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)
Wolverhampton was the head office of the store where Beatties was founded in 1877 and welcomed stars from Uri Geller to Beverley Knight over the years.
Growing from a small family business of drapers, Beatties expanded across the Midlands including in Dudley, Solihull, Birmingham and Sutton Coldifield. After 2005, it gradually rebranded all its branches under the House of Fraser name and the historic Wolverhampton store shut in 2019.
Get a VHS video from Blockbuster in Bromsgrove
Standing proud at George House, on the corner of Worcester Road, Market Place and High Street, Blockbuster in Bromsgrove was packed out when you could only get the latest films at home by renting them out.
The iconic blue and yellow sign shone bright in the Worcestershire town as families battled to get hold of limited copies of latest movies like Home Alone in 1991 and Jurassic Park in 1993.
When this Blockbuster store closed forever in March 2013, its nine staff were only given 24 hours notice.
Rock on at JB’s music venue in Dudley
Iconic JBs nightclub in Dudley hosted music greats from Dire Straits and U2 to Robert Plant and Blur at its Castle Hill venue and was still going strong in the 90’s.
Sam Jukes owned the Black Country club for over 40 years attracting big name acts like Radiohead but also supporting local bands including The Wonder Stuff and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin.
It was closed in January 2011 a year after it was under threat of going into administration.
Owner Sam Jukes at JBs in Dudley in 2000
(Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)
See monkeys tear off your windscreen wipers at West Midlands Safari Park
Monkeys used to roam freely in the 1990s at Bewdley’s West Midlands Safari Park and no car was safe.
The adorable looking animals would head straight for windscreens and grab the wipers to the giggles of children in the back seat and driver’s horror.
But in 2000, 130 Rhesus monkeys at the Park had to be destroyed because of an outbreak of Herpes B in their blood. Free-roaming monkeys in the drive-thru area never returned after that.
Visit Zodiac toy shop and palm trees in Kingfisher Shopping Centre
Redditch’s Kingfisher Shopping Center was renowned for its real palm trees, planted in the 1980’s and giving the site a certain panache.
More than 30 years on they were removed due to health and safety fears relating to their age and a cafe was later built at the spot instead.
Shops have come and gone during the Kingfisher’s 45 year history but one of the most popular in the 1990s was Zodiac toy store to get everything from a Talkboy to GameBoy and Pog or game Guess Who?
Go to the “biggest ever” illegal rave in Malvern
Raves in warehouses in West Bromwich to Birmingham were part of the dance scene in the late 1980s to early 1990s, but that was soon to change.
The all-night parties with thousands of people were hit with heavy legislation and fines in 1990, but this didn’t stop illegal ones from taking place with pirate radio stations alerting revellers to hidden rave sites.
The ‘UK’s biggest ever illegal rave’ at Castle Morton Common near Malvern Wells in Worcestershire. 23rd May 1992.
(Image: Mirrorpix)
In 1992, a week-long rave at Castlemorton Common, in Malvern, Worcestershire, attracted 20,000 people and ended up being the “biggest illegal rave” ever held in the UK.
It paved the way for the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act giving police greater power to stop gatherings of at least 100 people listening to music together at night and also turn away vehicles anywhere within five miles of a rave.
Get a pick’n’mix at Woolworths in Stourbridge
Woolworths’ Stourbridge store opened in 1926 in the High Street but had moved into Ryemarket shopping center by the 1990s – when its pick’n’mix was a favourite.
Sweet lovers had a huge choice from Cola bottles and chocolate eclairs to Black Jacks, Fruit Salads, pear drops, Twin cherries and more. Woolworths collapsed into administration in 2008 when all 807 of its stores closed including the Stourbridge branch in December of that year. The site went on to become a Home Bargains.
Graham Hick on his way to his century at New Road, Worcester, in 1999
(Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)
See England cricketing hero Graham Hick hit sixes at Worcester
A visit to Worcester’s New Road cricket ground was all the better in the 1990s when Graham Hick was in the Worcestershire team.
The England cricketer started playing for the county in 1984 and was prolific with a bat all the way through to the late 90’s.
He retired from county cricket at the end of the 2008 when he became a coach at Malvern College.
Rollerblading at the Big Bash in the NEC in 1998
(Image: MIN)
Take part in the rollerblading craze in Sandwell Valley
Rollerblading was all the rage in the 1990s as seen on shows like Baywatch. We didn’t have the California beaches and promenades but there was the local park like Sandwell Valley in West Bromwich where everyone would take their new equipment.
It started off as the fastest growing sport in America during the 1990s and soon caught on in the UK too.
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