On 7 Nov 2005 13:50:09 -0800, wrote:

Is there any hope of putting up shelves on this wall or would it just not take the weight?

Can't tell without trying it - but it's usually possible to do this in
even the worst crumbly brick. Drill at least 1/2 brick's width and
attach vertical battens with as many fixings as you can muster, not just
those for the brackets themselves. For the fixings, use either old
stock Rawlplug compound (lovely asbestos mixture, but effective) or a
modern polyester resin in a self-mixing tube (few quid from Screwfix).