Sam’s Laundrette

This is the Marie Celeste of Launderettes. It is un-​manned and I’ve never seen anyone open or close the doors. You also very rarely see anyone in there doing their washing, yet this place remains open, day after day, and the machines are all on. Very strange.
You used to have to go next door to The Diner to get change for the machines, but the Diner closed a few months back. I had use for this place last week, but couldn’t work out how I would get change, so I went down the road to another place in Stirchley.

This place was a God send when my washing machine decided to die and sort of explode all over the kitchen floor. I had a huge pile of washing that really needed to be done and began to panic that I would run out of clothes to wear! I quickly Googled local laundrettes and found that this place was a five minute walk from my home. It was the best news ever! I gathered my clothes into a black bag and headed straight down there. When I got there I found that it was fairly cheap and the machines were pretty simple to use — well, if you have used a laundrette machine before. The people that ran the laundrette were in there when I went in and we exchanged pleasantries. I did not need any assistance, but I if I did they seemed approachable and I would have asked. It was quite busy in there so I guess it is a popular place too.

You don’t see too many launderettes around nowadays as the vast majority of the public are content to do their washing in the comfort of their own homes. However, Selly Oak is populated by a large number of student residents and it is mainly them that make use of a service such as Sam’s. This place is cheap and as cheerful as an establishment such as this can be and the people who run the business are friendly. The owners are on hand to help out with any queries that hapless students such as myself may have. So on the whole a solid business providing a service that has become increasingly rare.