RE: BIRMINGHAM PUBS as is and was - 20

#286 by Sheldonboy , Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:10 am

Too posh for you Volty

#287 by phil ( deleted ) , Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:23 am

I used to pop up to the Blakesley regularly for a time in the early 60's. They used to have a pretty good dance upstairs, we would stop off at the Richmond occasionally for a quick drink when we got off the bus.

#288 by Sheldonboy , Fri Aug 17, 2012 8:58 pm

Unfortunately Phil most of the pubs around that area were a bit on the rough side, The Blakesley, The Yew Tree, The Ring O Bells, The Richmond, The Bulls Head, The Meadway, The Mackadown, The Lea Village Tavern and a few more.
Most of these I and certainly Volty wouldn't have soiled our boots in. There were a few good pubs too though. At least four of the above pubs are gone now.

#289 by phil ( deleted ) , Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:16 pm

You will remember me telling you that I liked rough pubs, well I drank in all those you mentioned and compared to my local they were nursery schools.

#290 by Voltman , Sat Aug 18, 2012 1:02 pm

I think the pubs were only rough because they were frequented by those who liked rough pubs. A self fulfilling situation.
There is the possibility that I ventured into some of those pubs during my lost months, or was it years? I suppose I will never know.

I did go into the outdoor at the Blakesley for crisps, when I was little, I used to love the smell of beer that wafted up from the cellar drop.
We used to do "penny for the guy" outside the pub and the adjacent shops, one year I was the guy until a shopkeeper came out with a bucket of water.

#291 by phil ( deleted ) , Sat Aug 18, 2012 1:35 pm

Volty

I think a lot of pubs were named as rough houses erroneously by people who visited once expecting to find find that working class pubs were frequented by Lord & Ladies. They also wouldn't have recognised a good pub if it hit them in the eye.

#292 by winkle , Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:14 pm

Quote: Sheldonboy wrote in post #288
Unfortunately Phil most of the pubs around that area were a bit on the rough side, The Blakesley, The Yew Tree, The Ring O Bells, The Richmond, The Bulls Head, The Meadway, The Mackadown, The Lea Village Tavern and a few more.
Most of these I and certainly Volty wouldn't have soiled our boots in. There were a few good pubs too though. At least four of the above pubs are gone now.

OK. That's fighting talk young Sheldonboy. For a start off ALL of the above have gone. But I'll put up some shots that maybe Phil hasn't yet, to illustrate the ambience of most of those palaces of entertainment before their memory fades too far...

Let me explain about the decline of pub culture from my viewpoint, although I'm sure this is not an original dissertation of why things have changed so much. I started in pubs, as already confessed, in 1960 at eighteen, and then spent the next thirty odd years traipsing around the hundreds of Bowling Greens attached to some of our most glorious old pubs of Brum and surrounds. And sampling the fare of course. Must have met thousands of bowlers, and made many many friends for life.

In the 60s and 70s, and part of the 80s, as long as you went into the Lounge areas and avoided the Bars, you were OK. No fights (or perhaps the odd one) nor especially drugs. The only drug we knew was alcohol and fags. I never heard of, or saw, any of my friends or acquaintances take drugs of any sort, even spliffs, until the late 80s early 90s. Which is when I largely packed up pubs (and bowls) for golf. When fighting and aggression reached the Greens, me and most of my contemporaries were off to the Links. And that was a massive culture shock in itself. Like swapping the Trenches in 1914, for the front row of the Vatican chambers. Rules coming out of your ass, and archaic dress codes, but with honesty and respect for rules embodied in all its bezillion rituals. Eventually THAT got up my wick, but for different reasons.

I hear from pals who still frequent boozers nowadays, that even the ones that are left are all mostly strong on drugs, and not at all like my romantic memories of the 60s and 70s. That's progress I suppose, and I lament it greatly. They are welcome to it. But basically what I'm saying is, you speak as you find. You found them dangerous and disgusting, we found them everything we wished for in terms of comradeship and recreation, in our glorious youth and beyond...

Blimey, I'm sounding like a evangelical barmpot. Please forgive, but I feel better now I've had a rant...

So to some pics. I'll try and show all the ones you mentiioned, but the Mackadown is a complete blank. Had my wedding reception there, as dad knew the gaffer very well, and we saw all sorts of musical groups there, like Johnny Ray. I would kill for a pic, but in spite of many years searching, no luck.

Lets start with the Blakesley and the Yew Tree.. one shot of the Blakesley first, then two of the Yew Tree, one aerial view, and one of the frontage..

Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

ps HER dad used the Blakesley, as they lived in Blakesley Road, so I avoided it. Didn't want him to see what I was REALLY like before I'd snagged his daughter...worked well..

#293 by winkle , Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:37 pm

...and the Ring O'Bells, plus a stray from my Richmond collection, and one of the best Bowls team in Yardley (Yew Tree BC) circa 1982)...

Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

#294 by winkle , Sat Aug 18, 2012 2:49 pm

..and the others you mentioned, The Bulls Head (Manor House), the Lea Tavern and the Meadway....minus the Mackadown...'cept for a shot of some drunks lounging about IN the Mackadown, when one of them got married a few hours before...

Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

#295 by Voltman , Sat Aug 18, 2012 3:55 pm

Nice posts Winkle,

I got particularly excited about the aerial view, which book is that from?

Voltman

#296 by winkle , Sat Aug 18, 2012 4:51 pm

It's from "Yardley Revisited " by Margaret Green - part of the 'Images of England' series...glad you liked it. I didn't mean to be rude to Sheldonboy or yourself with my comments...thanks for understanding...Here's another you might like then, from the same source...the Swan Island and surrounds from above

Bild entfernt (keine Rechte)

#297 by Voltman , Sat Aug 18, 2012 5:02 pm

Thanks Winkle, I hope to get a copy of that book.

Don't worry about upsetting me, it can't be done, especially when it's all true.
SB is also not so easy to upset after all these years of abuse from myself.

#298 by Voltman , Sat Aug 18, 2012 5:08 pm

Ordered and will arrive on Monday.

Yardley Revisited (Images of England) [Paperback]
Margaret Green (Author)
Price: £11.69 & Free Delivery with Amazon Prime

#299 by Sheldonboy , Sat Aug 18, 2012 8:16 pm

Quote: phil wrote in post #291
Volty

I think a lot of pubs were named as rough houses erroneously by people who visited once expecting to find find that working class pubs were frequented by Lord & Ladies. They also wouldn't have recognised a good pub if it hit them in the eye.

Phil a blind man on a galloping horse could recognise a rough pub. They came in many guises, Some pubs were known as rough pubs because the cliontele was rough ie; foul language was rife and it was even worse from the men and it was worse still in the bar. You always knew a rough pub when the first aid box was bigger than the ciggarette cabinet. Ambulances called more often than Dray wagons and the Police turned up ten at a time.
What I would call a rough pub was a place I wouldn't take my wife into, (maybe someone elses) .
But after two and a half years of knowing you Phil, I would say a pub to be avoided would be any with you and your mates in.

#300 by phil ( deleted ) , Sun Aug 19, 2012 1:17 pm

SB

In answer to your question on the "passageways" thread I don't think there was a Davenports pub on Holloway Head or Bath Row. The Davenports brewery was there of course but the only pubs other than the Greyhound already mentioned was The Unicorn, the Bowling Green, the Trees Hotel, and the Queens Stores, none of these as far as I am aware were Davenports Houses.

Posts:	43.994
Date registered	12.22.2009

Posts:	43.994
Date registered	12.22.2009

Posts:	18.439
Date registered	02.24.2010

Posts:	98
Date registered	02.22.2011

Posts:	98
Date registered	02.22.2011


	Mainly For Brummies But All Are Welcome To Join In The Birmingham Fun & Chat