#098 New Inn, Harborne, Birmingham : 1998 to 2020 (Revisited)

The New Inn is still a pub that I visit infrequently and, before I chronicle the last eight years, here's what I put in 2012: -

Harborne is a well-to-do suburb of Birmingham, next-door to Edgbaston and close to Birmingham University. Traditionally it has had a good number of pubs and was ideal for student pub crawls (although, sadly, I never partook of the 'Harborne Run'!).

The New Inn is off the High Street and was a lovely little pub with a small bar at the front and a small separate room off the entrance corridor. Through to the rear was a larger lounge and a bowling green out the back. It was always a very popular place. I'm not sure when I first visited and I have no idea exactly when I took this photo except that it was definitely in 1998.

I also don't know when it became a Banks's pub, but I assume it was part of the swap deal that gave Banks's some pubs in Birmingham and M&B some pubs in the Black Country. Here's a link to show what it looked like in 1960.

Over the following years I've been an irregular visitor and witnessed the slow decline of the New Inn. The two rooms at the front stayed pretty much the same, but the lounge was refurbished. In the long term, though, each time we visited there seemed to be fewer and fewer customers. I found this mystifying as, in a place like Harborne, it should have been packed. But it seems the pub trade is changing rapidly and in 2012 the New Inn was reborn.

It is now a Steak and Ale house and is part of the Bitters 'n' Twisted group of bars here in Birmingham. This group has been responsible for the resurrection of the Rose Villa Tavern and also runs two more pubs and a couple of themed bars.

From this picture taken on 16th May 2012 you can see that the outside it has been radically changed and inside it has been completely opened out as it has been transformed from a homely little boozer into a very up market Pub Restaurant. The new New Inn isn't really 'my cup of tea', but it's good to see that it is now successful.

It is interesting how trends and fashions change so quickly. When I went back to the New Inn a few years later, it was still run by Bitters'n'Twisted, but was far less popular than it had been when it was newly refurbished and revamped. This picture is from that time and was taken on 3rd June 2016.

The pub had undergone another external redecoration, but was still relatively unchanged on the inside.

Over the next few years we still popped in now and again, but it always seemed to be fairly quiet each time. Our most recent visit was just before the lockdown. We discovered that it had reverted back to Marston's control (this apparently happened in 2017 after Marston's and Bitters'n'Twisted couldn't agree terms for the rent) and that the new gaffer had plans to get The New Inn thriving again. (It was, again, very quiet for a Saturday evening!). Hopefully, the lockdown will only have delayed the plans, but I suspect it may have destroyed them. Only time will tell.

This is how it looked on the morning of 26th April 2020 as I took my lockdown exercise. It is largely unchanged since the previous redecoration.

Before the pandemic I was concerned for the future of the New Inn and now I suspect that it may be one of the pubs that doesn't reopen. This is a minor tragedy as the New Inn is back to being a proper pub, but because it is away from the main drag it doesn't get the trade that such a pub deserves (and there are plenty of pubgoers that frequent Harborne!). No doubt, all will become clearer in the coming weeks and months.

#064 The White Swan, Digbeth : 1998 to 2020 (Revisited + RIP?)

This is what I wrote about The White Swan back in 2011 - 

The White Swan in Digbeth is another example of the fine pubs designed by James & Lister Lea. This is what it looked like in the mid 1930's.

Picture courtesy www.digital-photographic-images.co.uk.

In 1998 when I took this picture, The White Swan appears to have changed little.

At the time of taking this photo, I don't think I'd been inside, but this was rectified in 2002 when we were in Birmingham on one of our canal trips and ventured into Digbeth for a bit of a pub crawl.

This picture was taken on Saturday 7th September 2002.

It's difficult to tell from this picture if anything had changed. As I recall it was a busy, 'proper' pub only let down by the fact that the only 'quaffing' lager was Carlsberg (probably the worst lager in the world in those days - it is better nowadays!). I've visited at least once more since and found it to be a very pleasant place if you like real pubs.

On to 2011 and this is how The White Swan looks.

Again, it looks almost identical to how it was in 1998. Obviously, it is a Grade II listed building and so there's not much that can be altered, however, none of the buildings that were on either side have survived.

Amazingly it is now a Marston's pub, but you wouldn't know it from the exterior.

I'm not sure whether I'd revisited The White Swan in the intervening years, but I did take a photo on the afternoon of Wednesday 31st January 2018.

Very little had changed and there had been no progress on the development of the adjoining land. A few months later I did pay a visit as part of the Beer & Pubs Forum Proper Day Out in July, but I didn't take another photo on the day!

So, onto the present day. I was aware that the family who had run The White Swan for the last 50+ years were planning to sell up and go back to Ireland, but it was still a shock to find this on the afternoon of Tuesday 18th February 2020. 

This article explains the context much better than I could! Seemingly it is on the market for in excess of £400,000, but I've been unable to find any further details.

It would be a very sad day if The White Swan is truly lost, but hopefully it's Grade II listed status may save it from demolition...fingers crossed!

#232 The Woolpack, Weston, Staffordshire : 2002 to 2016

Weston is a small village in Staffordshire that stands on the Trent & Mersey Canal and for many years, whenever we stopped there, we never ventured beyond the Saracen's Head (#039) which is as close to the canal as you can get without being a canalside pub!

I'm not entirely sure what happened on the evening of Monday 16th September 2002, but I do know that we paid our first ever visit to The Woolpack.

I suspect that there was no food on at the Saracen's Head forcing us to further investigate the village. I do recall that The Woolpack was a very pleasant, comfortable village pub that also did food.

We returned a few years later.

This was on the evening of Monday 4th September 2006 and very little appeared to have changed, outside or inside.

Our most recent visit was at lunchtime on Monday 28th March 2016.

Not surprisingly it had undergone a complete external makeover, but inside it was still as pleasant and welcoming as before.

The Woolpack is a Marston's pub and worth a visit if you're passing by for good food and a pleasing pub experience.

#227 The Talbot, Market Drayton, Shropshire : 2002 to 2016 (RIP?)

Market Drayton, on the Shropshire Union Canal, is a fantastic stop for pub lovers with many in the town itself. The Talbot stands close to the canal which is a ten minute walk from the town centre. This goes some way to explaining why our first two visits were our last pub stops in each instance.

Our first encounter with The Talbot was on the evening of Tuesday 10th September 2002.

We'd had a session in Market Drayton and popped in to the pub for a 'night cap' (hence the dodgy photo!). As I recall it was a pleasant, friendly place.

We were back again on the evening of Monday 29th August 2005 - again the last stop for the evening!

Difficult to spot any changes, but some attempt to trim the ivy appears to have been made.

Our next stop there was at lunchtime on Tuesday 4th September 2007 on our way back from Llangollen. It was our second visit to Market Drayton on that trip, but on this occasion we only visited The Talbot.

Little, if no change apart from the growth/recession of the ivy over parts of the pub

Our most recent visit was at lunchtime on Monday 8th August 2016 and this is the scene we encountered.

The Talbot was closed and up for sale. But at least much of the ivy had been cut back!

As of writing it is still closed, but there is a petition to get it reopened. It will be a shame if The Talbot disappears, but unless there is a sudden upsurge in pub drinking, I don't think it will survive as a pub.