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'AB Row is a 50 metre long road in the north of the Eastside of Birmingham, England. It is historically significant because it denoted the old boundary between the Birmingham and Aston parishes, until the latter was incorporated into the former. The original boundary stone marking the border of Aston and Birmingham is located in the reception area of Gabriels of AB Row.<ref name="letter">Arthurs, S., Ex City Engineers Dept. (June 10, 2005) Birmingham Mail Letter: Lost stone. Section: Letters; Page 10.</ref>

The area of AB Row is steeped in railway tradition.<ref name="letter"/> Railway pioneer George Stephenson formed the internationally renown Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1847 at Curzon Street railway station.<ref name="letter"/> The little triangle of land in between AB Row, Prospect Row and Belmont Row formed the location for Lower Gorsty Green, with Upper Gorsty Green carried on as Gosta Green.<ref>Chinn, Carl. (July 15, 2006) Birmingham Mail Nechells Green past unearthed. Section: News; Page 25.</ref>

The Co-op furniture factory, a locally listed council owned building, was located on the road. It was closed and in January 2007 it was burned in a suspected arson attack<ref> Huge factory fire treated as arson - Birmingham Post, Jan 11 2007</ref>. Strong winds in the following days resulted in a large portion of the facade collapsing in on itself reducing the likelihood of the facade being retained. Other companies that were located on the road included Percy Gabriel & Co who were brass component manufacturers. They founded a brass foundry at 4-5 AB Row in 1884. The company demolished the building in 1935 to build a more modern and efficient factory. This was completed in 1940, however soon after completion it was destroyed by German bombing aircraft in World War II. The company subsequently moved to another site in Tyseley<ref> G.htm Old Copper - Under Percy Gabriel & Co</ref>. In 1914, a canal ran up past a Co-op Baker in AB Row.<ref>Chinn, Carl. (January 27, 2001) Birmingham Mail Memory Lane: Classroom chums.</ref>

The shortest street name in Birmingham is AB Row, Duddeston.<ref name="watering">Birmingham Mail (February 28, 2004) Those were the days: Brum's favourite watering holes. Section: Features; Page 28.</ref> However, it is not clear as to how AB Row gained its name.<ref>Chinn, Carl. (November 22, 2003) Birmingham Mail TWD: Those were the days: All in a name; City streets go back a long way... Section: Features; Page 31. (questioning How did AB Row gain its name?)</ref> It is believe that AB Row was so named because it stood on the boundary of the parishes of Aston and Birmingham.<ref name="watering"/>

Today, the road is very short at 50 metres in length and is a branch off a junction from Belmont Row and Cardigan Street. A rock climbing centre called " Rockface" was located on the road however it closed suddenly on October 31, 2004.<ref>Fletcher, Tracey; Holyoak, Joe. (November 1, 2002) Birmingham Post Could we really live like this? Today sees the launch of an important document for the future of the section of Birmingham to be known as Eastside - the Eastside Sustainability Vision. Dubbed the 'learning and cultural quarter', Eastside will have a significant housing element and to accompany the document, Tracey Fletcher and Joe Holyoak, of the city council funded Eastside Sustainability Advisory Group, have written Eastsiders - a down-to-earth view of what a more environmentally-friendly way of life could be like in Eastside in ten years' time. Section:Features; Page 11</ref><ref name="fury">Cartledge, James. (November 3, 2004) Birmingham Mail Gone to the wall! Fury as climbing centre is closed. Section: News; Page 3</ref> The Rockface centre was bought by regeneration body Advantage West Midlands, which acquired land in 2004 to be cleared by Birmingham City Council for a huge Eastside development.<ref name="fury"/> The road is now used as an unofficial car park.

The buildings on the road are to be demolished as part of the Ventureast development. It is unknown if the road will be removed as result however the initial masterplan does not indicate that it will remain.

References

<references/>

External links

Joint Venture plan.pdf Map showing location of AB Row - Top left hand corner of area bounded by the red outline.