Pubs: Then & Now

#053 Barley Mow, Newbold-on-Avon, Warks : 1995 to 2011

2012-03-01T10:58:00.001Z

My first ever visit to the Barley Mow was on the evening of 17th April 1980 on my first canal trip on Emma Jane. In those days I hadn't started taking a photo of every pub we visited. To get some idea of what it looked like, visit this link which shows the pub in 1976.

My next visit was a lunchtime stop on 1st September 1995 on our trip to take Emma Jane back to her 'new' moorings at Lapworth.

The Barley Mow is right by the Oxford Canal, just down a little lane close to Newbold Tunnel. The remarkable thing is that the next-door building is also a pub, The Boat. That makes it a perfect stop for a mini pub crawl!

Next time was another evening stop on 29th May 2000.

This photo is taken from outside The Boat looking back towards the canal.

Another five years later and we're back!

This was another lunchtime stop on 31st May 2005. By this time it looks like the pub was no longer an M&B house.

And finally...we move on to my most recent visit. This time we were on our way to have Emma Jane assessed for potential repairs to the cabin by Brinklow Boats who are a little further along the Oxford Canal. Unfortunately there aren't any pubs near the cut at Brinklow so we took the onerous decision to stop at the Barley Mow early in the evening on 30th May 2011.

The outside of the pub has had a complete makeover, but inside it hasn't really changed that much. There is a fairly extensive restaurant area serving very good food and, in the bar, there is a skittles table. This is always a bonus for us as we like to have a game of Northamptonshire Skittles (also known as Hood Skittles). We're not very good, but we both enjoy it having originally been shown how to play on our first ever canal trips.

#052 The Kerryman, Digbeth : 1998 to 2011

2012-02-27T09:39:00.000Z

When I first took this photo this was The Roscommon Bar, a small unprepossessing Irish pub along the main road in Digbeth. At the time I hadn't been inside, but I'd walked by on numerous occasions.

It also seems to have the name 'Fitzy's Bar'.

In the intervening years I did visit one Saturday evening and, inside it is quite a bit bigger than it looks from the outside. As it was fairly early (about 10 pm) there weren't too many people inside, but the disco had started already!

I don't know when it changed to The Kerryman, but it has been this for a number of years now.

From the outside it has had a complete makeover and now looks much more appealing. Looking at the website for The Kerryman shows that it is also a B&B and puts on music like many of the pubs in this part of Birmingham. Also, I notice that the opening hours are from 8am most days and on Fridays and Saturdays closing time is 4am! That would be one hell of a session!

To me, this is a great example of what I was hoping to find when I embarked on this project showing how pubs evolve over the years to keep up with the changing times and stay popular with their clientele.

This is the twenty-fourth in my 'Birmingham Eastside' series.

#051 White Horse, Curdworth, Warks : 1987 to 2011

2012-02-18T13:24:00.000Z

In the early 1980's I lived in nearby Minworth and drove by the White Horse on many occasions. In those days it was a fairly ordinary looking red brick pub and I never went inside - it was too far to walk to and not interesing enough to drive to!

The first time I set foot inside was at lunchtime on Thursday 16th July 1987 on our way back to our moorings after a two week canal trip.

As you can see it isn't a red brick buidling any more. In the intervening years since I'd moved away, the old pub had been demolished and a new building put in its place. Inside it was modern and without atmosphere, partly due to the fact that we were there very early and were the only people in there at the start. As I recall the food was good and we left, not to return for many years!

On our canal trips we often pass through Curdworth, but almost never stop in the village. For many years, our preferred stop was at The Kingsley just outside the village. When we first stopped there it was a Beefeater and the moorings were right outside. We revisited it many times until it recently closed and then reopened as a restaurant. Another reason for not visiting Curdworth more often has been the lack of mooring space for our boat, which is still an issue.

In recent years we have stopped a Curdworth a few times, but usually drank and ate in The Beehive which is more of an old style village pub with a separate bar and restaurant area. On our last trip we visited the White Horse on our way back to the canal for our last pint of the night.

This photo was taken on Wednesday 1st June 2011. The White Horse is no longer a proper pub, but is one of M&B's Vintage Inns. I have been there a couple of times outside of boating holidays and it is an acceptable place for food, pretty much like any other Vintage Inn.

I have mixed feelings about Vintage Inns; on the one hand the food is generally good and reliable, which can come in handy on our boating adventures, but on the other hand they're all the same and the faux 'county pub' decor lacks any character. However, in this modern age of pub closures, I'm thankful for small mercies...and at least you can still just order a drink!

"There has been a building on the site of The White Horse pub since Georgian times, when the pub was regularly frequented by blacksmiths, farmers and even other publicans. One one family, the Lucas, ran the White Horse from 1845 until the early 20th century."

This quote is from the Curdworth Parish Council website and just shows how much times have changed!

#050 Fox & Grapes, Digbeth 1998 to 2011 (RIP?)

2012-02-12T11:53:00.001Z

The Fox & Grapes is a pub that I'd visited a few times before I took this picture in 1998. As I recall it was a fairly 'bog standard' boozer and was ideal as a meeting point for an evening's entertainment (either before going into the city or going on to sample the further delights of Digbeth!).

So, this is what it looked like in 1998...and here it is in 2011.

Sadly, it looks to be terminal, but you never know. The whole area is being redeveloped and this is quoted in the "Eastside Masterplan" -

"There is also potential to incorporate the Fox and Grapes within the new station concourse to enhance design quality."

However, as is usual with developers, they are trying to obtain a Deed of Variation to facilitate the demolition of the nearby Island House, so who knows what the fate of the Fox & Grapes will be. I'll keep a watch on the very useful and informative Digbeth Is Good blog for the most up-to-date information.

This is the twenty-third in my 'Birmingham Eastside' series.

#049 The Quiet Woman, Leek, Staffs : 1999 to 2011

2012-02-07T09:30:00.008Z

On our first canal trip visit to Leek in 1999 The Quiet Woman was one of the many pubs we visited. I don't really remember too much about it, but what I do remember about Leek was that there were a lot of pubs in the town - certainly reason enough to go there again!

This photo of The Quiet Woman was taken on the evening of 2nd September 1999 (a Thursday).

From memory it was the our first 'pit-stop' of the evening, but that's about as far as my memory goes!

Our next visit was on 1st September 2011 (again in the evening and again on a Thursday!) and again it was our first stop. Inside it felt like a recently refurbished, 'proper pub'. Although it was early evening, the pub was fairly busy and filling quite quickly with young people who were there for a band, playing later.

From the outside very little has changed in the intervening 12 years, even the pub sign looks to be the same one. This isn't too surprising as it is a listed building and so only very minor changes are allowed. What was surprising was that it was still thriving, but this is probably due to the owners, a small company called The Yard Glass Pub Company that appears to have about 10 pubs. They in turn are part of Sporting Lodge Inns who are based in Leigh, Lancs.

Hopefully this is the way forward for pubs, to be run by individuals or small companies who really care about pubs and are willing to make them welcoming, friendly places that keep the traditional feel (even though most have to sell loads of food to keep going!). All-in-all a good find and a pub well worth visiting again (and spending more time in).

#048 Adam & Eve, Digbeth : 1930 to 1998 to 2011

2012-01-30T09:27:00.001Z

This is another of the Digbeth pubs that I've never been in! In 1998 when I first took this photo of the Adam & Eve I was aware of its existence, but as it was known as more of an entertainment venue I'd not had the urge to visit.

Moving forward to 2011 the pub looked like this.

Despite the change in the colour scheme, the signs on the corner are exactly the same as in 1998! The windows have been replaced and skylights have appeared in the roof.

This is one of the pubs that I've acquired an early picture of from www.digital-photographic-images.co.uk. This picture is from about 1930.

Structurally, the pub is largely unchanged in the past 80 years apart from the colour scheme (I assume!). A chimney has appeared over the corner and the corner windows have been covered over. Interestingly it was run by Allsopps Burton Ales which became part of Ind Coope in 1935, thus dating the picture.

This is the twenty-second in my 'Birmingham Eastside' series.

#047 The Duck on the Pond, Long Itchington, Warks : 1997 to 2011

2012-01-25T11:59:00.001Z

This is a follow-on from #031 from our most recent visit to Long Itchington in November.

Back in 1997 the pub was called the Jolly Fisherman and I don't really remember much about it!

This was taken on 24th August 1997 and was the first pub we came across on our first venture into the village of Long Itchington. We only had a couple of pints before we moved on to the Harvester to eat.

When we got there on 5th November 2011 the name had changed to The Duck on the Pond.

We probably didn't see it at its best as it was our first port of call on the evening and it was very quiet. Inside it is a bit more like a restaurant than a pub and, with it being fairly empty, there was no real atmosphere. (It was about 6pm and the village firework display was on!)

The exterior of the pub is little changed, but there has been some development of the front patio, presumably to accommodate the smoking fraternity.

#046 Queens Arms, Highgate : 1998 to 2011 (RIP?)

2012-01-21T12:12:00.001Z

In 1998 the Queen's Arms on Barford Street was a pub I'd never been in, but had passed many times to and from work.

A few years after this picture was taken I did actually venture in to the Queen's Arms one evening. Inside it was a simple, basic pub with a handful of drinkers in the bar. The room on the right was the only bar that was open and I was concerned at the time about the prospects for its survival as this was a Saturday night.

However, it was the site of a curious meeting. Sitting at the bar was a bloke who said to me, "Don't you do the quiz at the Colebrook?" I didn't recognise him (one of the 'curses' of being a quiz master - they all know your name, but there are too many of them to possibly remember their's!) but he'd been a regular quizgoer until he moved to this side of the city. It is less than 10 miles between the two pubs, but in a city the size of Birmingham what are the chances of such a meeting?

Moving on to 2011 and it looks like the demise of the Queen's Arms is almost complete.

Still attractively painted on the outside, it is currently closed and has been this way for quite some time.

This is the twenty-first in my 'Birmingham Eastside' series.

#045 Lamplighter, Stratford-upon-Avon : 1999 to 2011

2012-01-16T11:45:00.001Z

The Lamplighter is a pub we've visited on many occasions on our annual Easter canal trip to Stratford. If we moor just on the edge of town it is usually our first port of call on our 'crawl' around the town.

Over the years I've struggled to get a decent photo as there are trees at the front and the corner shot (above) is probably the most attractive, but difficult to get it all in. This was the fisrt time we'd ventured in to the Lamplighter on the evening of Friday 2nd April 1999. The pub has changed little over the years. It is a fairly basic pub that serves beer and food; a straightforward place that will never win any awards, but "does exactly what it says on the tin"!

Two years later and we were back. Of all the visits we've made this was the most memorable.

It was Saturday 14th April 2001 and this was our last port of call on our way back to the boat. Our intention was to have one last pint, but we'd made a slight miscalculation. All our previous visits to Stratford had been on Fridays, Good Fridays to be precise, and in those days the pubs closed at 10:30 pm on Good Friday. Of course we'd forgotten it was Saturday and so the pub stayed open till midnight and...well...it's impolite to leave a pub before it is closed!

Our next visits were largely unmemorable, but here are the photos anyway!

Saturday 15th April 2006

Saturday 22nd March 2008

Sunday 12th April 2009

Saturday 30th April 2011

Its quite surprising to see that over the 12 years we've been visiting the Lamplighter it has hardly changed apart from the minor alterations made to the outside. Inside it is still the same, basic pub that it has always been.

#044 Sir Charles Napier, Highgate : 1955 to 1998 to 2011

2012-01-11T13:00:00.001Z

This is another of those pubs that I first discovered on my initial 1998 trip around the area. The Sir Charles Napier looks like a typical back street, corner pub of which there were many more then than there are now.

I've still not set foot inside, but I was pleased to see that the Sir Charles Napier was still in business when I returned in 2011.

Apart from a lick of paint it doesn't appear to have changed in the intervening years, aside from it not being an M&B pub any more. The shamrock leaves indicate that it is another Irish pub. It's unlikely that I'll ever visit the Sir Charles Napier for a drink as it is a bit off the beaten track from my usual pub crawls around the 'Eastside' of Birmingham! But, here is a review.

This is the twentieth in my 'Birmingham Eastside' series.

As I was researching the Sir Charles Napier I came across this website - Digital Photographic Images - which has many old photos of Birmingham pubs. One of the images was of the Sir Charles Napier from 1955. So I've acquired the postcard and scanned it so that you can see how the pub has changed over a longer period.

The main difference, and I can't quite work out how it was achieved, is that in 1955 the junction was a right angle as was the corner of the pub. However in 1998 the junction is an obtuse angle and the pub looks to have been similarly altered, but with no change to the overall appearance of the building!

When I started this blog my intention was to use only photos that I'd taken, but I think in a few cases these old photos add to the detail and interest.

#043 Wheatsheaf Hotel, Stoke-on-Trent : 2002 to 2011

2012-01-05T11:14:00.001Z

When we set off on our Summer canal trip in 2002 we had no plans to visit Stoke. Chester was our original destination, but a 'blown' lock gate meant that we had to quickly make other plans half way there along the Shropshire Union Canal. We decided to revisit Leek on the Caldon Canal and so on Friday 13th September 2002 we moored up at Etruria Junction ready for a night out in Stoke!

The Wheatsheaf Hotel was our last pub of the night and we discovered it completely by accident as we were heading back to the boat.

This photo was taken close to closing time following several pints and a Chinese meal. I remember it being packed and vibrant when we arrived, just in time to get a final pint for the night. It was a very friendly place and the bar we were in was full of Laurel & Hardy memorabilia. We weren't there long enough to discover why, but I'd guess that the owner was a member of the Sons of the Desert, the official Laurel & Hardy fan club, which I ran into once in Birmingham at a convention.

On our latest canal trip we moored at Etruria Junction on our way back from Leek on Friday 2nd September 2011. Over the past few years, Stoke seems to have been largely demolished and the bits that have been rebuilt are retail parks interspersed with vast areas of nothing.

We set off for Hanley with no clear idea of which way to go to find some pubs along the way and after several detours (and the false dawn of a couple of boarded up pubs) we redicsovered the Wheatsheaf Hotel.

From the outside little appears to have changed, but it is difficult to tell as it was dark last time we were there. Inside it was very quiet with a handful of people watching England playing in a Euro 2012 qualifier. At first we weren't sure it was the same place, but then we saw a couple of pieces of Laurel & Hardy memorabilia. The locals were just as friendly as last time we visited, but it seemed as though the pub was in decline along with the surrounding area. Sadly, Stoke has a higher rate of unemployment than much of the rest of the UK and this showed in the surroundings of general decay.

#042 The Spotted Dog, Digbeth : 1998 to 2011

2011-12-30T09:08:00.005Z

There were two Spotted Dog pubs in Digbeth and I've been in both of them. This one is on the corner of Alcester Street and Warwick Street...and is still open.

This is how it looked in 1998, but at that time I'd never been inside.

However, in 2007 I had the opportunity to visit some pubs that we'd never been in on any of our canal trips before. So we did a mini pub crawl through Digbeth and started at The Spotted Dog. This photo was taken on the evening of 24th August 2007.

In the intervening 9 years there are few changes apart from a lick of paint and some greenery added to the outside. Inside I remember it as being a nice, cosy Irish pub with a friendly atmosphere. Our friends were already there and had stationed themselves in the quite substantial garden/patio area. Inside the pub was a fantastic map of Digbeth from the 1800's that showed all of the pubs within about a quarter of a mile. Out of the approximately 20 pubs shown, only 3 or 4 were still in existence! The only downside was that the only lager available was Carlsberg which, in those days, was almost undrinkable (but that didn't stop me!!)

And here we are in 2011! Another lick of paint and the greenery on the corner appears to have grown unchecked! Like many pubs in the area, The Spotted Dog is also a venue for live music. It is also one of the establishments at the forefront of the campaign to keep live music in Digbeth. Over the past few years, more and more people now live nearby in the new developments and some of them don't like the sound of music at night. So they complain and the council have to investigate, resulting in the potential for any of these venues to be closed down. Very frustrating for the pubs that were there and playing music long before the influx of new residents. So far the resistance has been successful.

This is the nineteenth in my 'Birmingham Eastside' series.

UPDATE : #027 The Old Wharf, Digbeth : 1998 to 2011 (RIP?)

2011-12-29T10:14:00.002Z

Sad to report that, since I took my photos in August, The Old Wharf closed on 5th December as reported here. It seems that my optimism from October was unfounded.

Here is another link, to a eulogy for The Old Wharf giving a first hand perspective on the good times had there.

Anyway, here's a picture just to remind you what a striking appearance it had.

#041 The Fountain Inn, Tipton : 2003 to 2011

2011-12-22T10:22:00.000Z

This is a pub I wish I'd visited before 2003. The Fountain Inn has a long history and survived when the Tipton Green area was substantially redeveloped in the late 1970's. Now the pub stands, almost alone, amidst buildings that are less than 20 years old.

Our first visit was at lunchtime on 27th August 2003 on our way back from a canal trip that had taken us to Leicester. As I remember, it was a pleasant pub that served very good pub food at very reasonable prices.

Four years later and we make another lunchtime stop on 6th September 2007 on our way back from our second trip along the Llangollen Canal.

Very little had changed...fortunately.

And so to our most recent visit. Again lunchtime on 6th September 2011, this time on our return from a trip along the Caldon Canal.

Very little has changed, but the vegetation is now in hanging baskets and the signage on the side of the pub is more restrained. Inside it was still the same, but there was one aspect that I've not encountered for a long while. The barmaid was young and gorgeous, far more attractive than you would expect to find in a small backstreet boozer and she was very good at her job (usually ability seems to be in inverse proportion to attractiveness!). This set me to thinking that you don't often find young, attractive barmaids in fairly bog standard pubs any more. I'm sure it used to be a more common phenomenon, but maybe I'm just getting old and developing 'rose tinted' glasses!

The main reason that I wish I'd visited The Fountain Inn sooner is it's history. The pub sign depicts a boxer which, at first sight, seems to be somewhat incongruous with the name. But, as the sign by the door and the statue by where we moored indicate, this was the training base for William Perry, the Tipton Slasher. He was a bare knuckle boxer and was Champion of England from 1850 - 1857. His nickname derived from his style of fighting.

He was originally a canal boatman but became famous as a fighter in his teens. Ultimately he ended up back in poverty after betting everything on his disastrous last fight. Amazing how things don't seem to have changed for boxers in the intervening 150 years!

#040 Moby Dick's : 1998 to 2011 (RIP?)

2011-12-16T10:37:00.003Z

Back in 1998 Moby Dick's was a completely new discovery for me down a side street I'd never been on before.

A typical street corner pub, similar to several others in the area. Needless to say, I never made it back there for a drink.

Onwards to 2011 and it is closed, boarded up and, by all accounts, ready for demolition to make way for the Eastside Locks Development. This is a new concept to me, but looks very good on paper, but whether there will ever be the money to complete the project is doubtful in this economic climate.

Moby Dick's featured, in the distance, in #023 O'Neill's earlier in my blog.

This is the eighteenth in my 'Birmingham Eastside' series.

#039 Saracen's Head, Weston, Staffs : 1987 to 2011

2011-12-11T12:28:00.000Z

The first time we visited the Saracen's Head in Weston was in 1987. We'd passed through in 1981, but were on a tight schedule and didn't stop there. It was a lunchtime stop and the pub is as close to the Trent & Mersey Canal as you can get without being on the bank!

I don't really remember too much about it other than there must have been food on offer as we stopped for lunch on Tuesday 14th July 1987.

I found it difficult to believe that the next time we stopped at Weston was in 1999!

This was an evening stop on Tuesday 31st August 1999 on our way to the Caldon Canal. Apart from the new signage there was a conservatory added to the back. When inside you can see that this feature has been added to give a more substantial eating area making the Saracens Head more of a restaurant than a pub.

We returned again in 2000, this time on the way up to Manchester.

This was lunchtime on Tuesday 29th August 2000.

Next visit was an evening stop on Monday 16th September 2002 on our way back from the Caldon Canal.

It's interesting to note that although seemingly exactly the same, there are subtle changes over the 3 years - mainly in the outdoor seating and the hanging baskets.

It wasn't until this year that we stopped in Weston again...on our way back from the Caldon Canal!

This was on the evening of Saturday 3rd September 2011. Now we can see a lot of changes on the outside - gone are the Bass Worthington signs, gone is the picture of a Saracen's Head and it's frame. The standard of cars in the car park is also somewhat higher than when we first visited here in 1987!

We didn't eat here on this visit (we haven't eaten here since 1999!) but we did pop in for a couple of pints and, inside, it is pretty much the same as I remember it from the last visit.

I'm not sure who owns it these days, but judging from the Saracens Head website it looks as though it is a free house, but it could be owned by a pubco!

#038 Big Bulls Head, Digbeth : 1998 to 2011

2011-12-05T08:41:00.002Z

I'm not sure if I've ever been in the Big Bulls Head in Digbeth. Certainly in 1998 when I took this photo I'd never set foot inside the pub.

It looks like a typical street corner boozer and, although I've done a few pub crawls around Digbeth, I seem to recall that whenever we passed by it was always busy and so we kept on walking.

As the Big Bulls Head is on the main drag through Digbeth I wasn't surprised to see it is still thriving in 2011.

From a physical point of view it has hardly changed in 13 years, but it has obviously been painted and well maintained. The Big Bulls Head has its own website extolling the virtues of its pub food (looks good - proper pub food!!) and their Bed & Breakfast facilities.

This is the seventeenth in my 'Birmingham Eastside' series.

#037 Tame Otter, Hopwas, Staffs : 1986 to 2011

2011-11-30T10:37:00.000Z

The first time I visited The Chequers (as it was known in those days) was by car in the early 1980's. Our first canal stop was on Thursday 11th August 1983 and I seem to remember us making a dash to get there before the shops closed for the night.

Next time we visited was on the evening of Tuesday 29th July 1986. I remember it as a fairly basic local with a nice lounge, but don't recall too much else. It was one of the few non Ansells, non M&B pubs aroound in the Midlands!

On our subsequent canal trips we passed through Hopwas many times, but we didn't stop there again until 2002...and what a change! It was no longer a village local, but it had been converted into a 'Vintage Inn' which is part of the M&B group. It had also been renamed the Tame Otter.

This was a lunchtime stop on Thursday 19th July 2002. Outside, the pub was pretty much the same apart from the new signage, but inside it was totally different. The pub had become a restaurant where you could get a pint.

Again, in the intervening years, we passed through Hopwas without stopping several times (often because the moorings outside the pub were full) until lunchtime on Sunday 28th August 2011.

Inside it is a typical Vintage Inn and was very busy. I'm not keen on the Vintage Inn brand, but it does seem to be popular and the food is generally good...although the sandwich selection isn't great. Here is the website for the Tame Otter. (Interestingly, the website refers to the canal as the Birmingham & Fazeley whereas it is, in fact, the Coventry Canal. They are not completely wrong as this stretch of canal was actually built by the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal Company along the proposed route of the Coventry Canal. The Coventry Canal Company subsequently bought this section of the canal.)

#036 Brewer's Arms/Cleary's, Digbeth : 1998 to 2011

2011-11-27T17:36:00.000Z

Back in 1998 this pub was called the Brewer's Arms. It's not a place I'd ever visited, but looked typical of the many back street pubs in Birmingham.

Fast forward to 2011 and it has been transformed into the Yellow and Green establishment that is now Cleary's!

Unfortunately, beacuse of the building works behind me, I wasn't able to get far enough back to give the same view as in 1998. I've still not been in the building and I'm assuming that it is run by the same people who ran the Cleary's that took over from the Pall Mall which was #011 in this series.

It would appear that it is a successful establishment by the number of friends on their Facebook page. This is the sixteenth in my 'Birmingham Eastside' series.

#035 Rose & Castle, Ansty, Warks : 2000 to 2011

2011-11-24T14:34:00.001Z

When I reviewed our canal trips and my photos I was amazed to find that the first time we ever stopped at Ansty was in 2000, on a week long trip that took us to Coventry. We'd passed by many times but lunchtime on Tuesday 30th May 2000 was the first time we set foot in the Rose & Castle.

As I recall, it was a pub that served very good food, but beyond that I don't remember much else.

Our next visit was another lunchtime stop on Friday 27th August 2004. Again we visited Coventry, but this trip also took us along the Ashby Canal for only our second time.

Now the Rose & Castle was under new management and was more of a restaurant than a pub, but the food was still very good. The exterior had been painted and a new sign was evident.

Tuesday 29th May 2007 (Lunchtime)

Monday 25th May 2009 (Evening)

Tuesday 31st May 2011 (Lunchtime)

On this latest visit we just managed to get there before 2:30 pm and they were happy to serve us food despite being close to the end of their lunchtime period. Many places are not so accommodating! The food again was very good and they manage to strike the right balance between the modern and more traditional styles of British food.

The pub has remained largely unchanged since 2004 and is well worth a visit if you want to eat well.

#034 Billy's Bar, Digbeth : 1998 to 2011 (RIP)

2011-11-20T18:36:00.000Z

This bar was a new discovery for me in 1998 when I photographed it. I never set foot in the place and probably never will now!

This was the scene in 1998.

Fast forward to 2011 and it is now the Birmingham Central Backpackers hostel!

Another pub gone, but at least it is being put to good use.

This is the fifteenth in my 'Birmingham Eastside' series.

#033 Dirty Duck/Black Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon : 1996 to 2011

2011-11-17T15:48:00.000Z

Here's a pub that has not changed in all the years I've been visiting it! I first encountered the Dirty Duck in Stratford in the early 80's, long before our canal trips took us to Stratford.

For those of you unfamiliar with Stratford-upon-Avon, the pub is a two minute walk away from the Royal Shakespeare Company's Swan Theatre and one room is decorated with pictures of many of the thespians who have passed through the doors. However, in all our visits, the only famous person I've seen there was Rodney Bewes (from "The Likely Lads" for our younger and/or overseas readers!) in the 1980's on a summer's evening on the terrace.

Since we've been visiting on the canal at Easter time, I've not seen any more famous people.

Here are the picures: -

6th April 1996

29th March 1997

3rd April 1999 (note new pub sign!)

21st April 2000

10th April 2004

11th April 2009 (compare with 1999 - almost exactly the same!)

30th April 2011

Although it isn't a proper pub it is definitely worth a visit and is usually full. The bar we normally go in is a proper bar, but it is very small so it easily fills up. Although we've not seen anyone famous on our recent visits, a barman told us one night that, when Sean Bean was at Stratford he was actually a member of the Dirty Duck pool team for the duration of his stay!

These aren't all of the photos I've taken, but I think its enough to give a flavour of the place.

#032 Eagle & Tun, Digbeth : 1998 to 2011 (RIP??)

2011-11-13T18:23:00.001Z

When I first took a picture of this pub in 1998 it was called the Cauliflower Ear and I'd never seen nor heard of it before.

Then, in 2002, we stopped in Birmingham on the penultimate night of our trip that was to have taken us to Chester, but ended up with us visiting Leek. In my quest to venture into pubs that we'd not previously visited on our canal trips, we took a stroll into Digbeth and the Eagle & Tun was one of our stops. It was Thursday 19th September and as I recall, we had a great time in there and the place was packed. Notice how it has changed from being an Ansell's pub to a Free House, but inside it was beautifully tiled.

Next time I visited was a few years later, but it was very quiet even though it was a Saturday night. So now we move on to 2011 and it is closed. Apparently it shut its doors in 2008 and there's no real sign of it reopening.

If you panned back from this picture you'd see that there is very little left standing around here. About 100 yards behind me is the Woodman pub which is still open. I think the best bet for the Eagle & Tun is the new High Speed (HS2) Rail project which is planned to terminate at Curzon Street Station which is to the right of where I'm standing in this shot.

You can get a flavour for the interior of the Eagle & Tun here in the video for UB40's "Red Red Wine" which was shot in the pub in the early 1980's. Hopefully it won't be demolished, but I'm not holding my breath.

#031 The Harvester, Long Itchington, Warks : 1997 to 2011

2011-11-10T19:10:00.002Z

We visit Long Itchington many times on our canal trips, but usually we stop at the Two Boats which is on the bank of the Grand Union Canal and we can moor up right outside. However, this weekend we stopped in the evening and, with the clocks going back an hour, we had more time to kill than normal. So, we wandered into the village for the first time since 1997!

Long Itchington is a relatively small village, but it has SIX pubs! We managed a pint in FIVE of them! My first subject, though is the Harvester. In 1997, this was the pub we ate in and, as I remember, it was very good.

Sadly, it's not the best picture. I do remember that it was a small friendly pub and we just managed to get there in time for the last orders for food. This was the evening of 24th August 1997.

Fourteen years later and we're back in the village on the evening of 5th November 2011. We'd had a pint in the Duck on the Pond and the Buck and Bell (which I don't remember being there in 1997, but it probably was! Late Edit: No it wasn't open in 1997 - closed in 1980's and reopened in 2005. Website here) and were ready to eat. The outside of the pub has changed little over the years and the inside seemed to be about the same as before.

The pub part of the Harvester was quite busy, but the restaurant was quite quiet. This was possibly because of the Bonfire Party at the nearby Green Man.

And then it went downhill!! The ONLY lager available was Budweiser Budvar in Light, Dark or Half & Half. This was not ideal, but not the end of the world...until...our pints of this premium lager were served in Wye Valley Bitter glasses. These don't have the nucleation on the bottom and so the lager goes flat very quickly and it doesn't taste as good.

The landlord's first response was sarcasm, suggesting that it would be a disaster if it tasted like Wye Valley Bitter because it was in one of their glasses. Then, when that fell flat, he passed us proper Budweiser Budvar glasses and suggested that we pour it into them!! I told him that wouldn't work as this would over froth the lager and 'kill' it completely.

Needless to say, because of the landlord's attitude he lost out on our patronage for a meal and, probably, several more pints! When will these people learn that poor customer service costs a business money?

LATE ADDENDUM: I contacted The Harvester and sent details of this blog to them. They replied promptly and have apologised for the glasses. So, I'm now a happier bunny. This is how customer service should work!

UPDATE : #008 Navigation Inn, Lapworth : 1986 to 2011

2011-11-08T11:07:00.000Z

Just been out on our boat for the weekend and our first port of call was going to be the Navigation, but it was closed! I was shocked as it has always been one of our favourite haunts when we are on our boat, but according to the 'Towpath Telegraph' the current owners have gone bust - something to do with food hygiene and subsequent loss of business, I was told.

Hopefully it will be bought and reopened soon as it really is a lovely pub. Here's a picture of it from my 'arty' collection.