#060 The Moseley Arms, Digbeth, Birmingham : 1998 to 2021

 The Moseley Arms is one of the survivors and looks like it will return after the pandemic (fingers crossed) and here's what I wrote in 2011 and 2018:-

"The Moseley Arms is a pub I'd never been inside when I took this picture in 1998. In fact, I hadn't really noticed it even though I must have driven past it on numerous occasions on the way to work (one of my alternate routes when the main one was blocked)!

A typical street corner M&B pub, but a bit off the beaten track for Digbeth pubs.

As we move to 2011, I still haven't been inside the pub, but I was pleased to see that it was still standing.

It is not now an M&B pub and the outside has been extensively redecorated and re-signed, but essentially it is unchanged. It appears to be thriving and has its own website (now broken), although this is still a little spartan at the moment. The Moseley Arms is, like many Digbeth pubs, a music venue.

So, now we're in 2018 and I'm pleased to report that The Moseley Arms is going strong, but has now transformed itself into a 38 room hotel.

The signage looks to be unchanged, but the rest has been redecorated and the hotel rooms added to the left of the original pub building.

Interestingly, the website describes it as both a pub and as a hotel - yet another survival model that seems to work here for what was once a simple back-street boozer." 

 

Now we're in 2021, the website is still up and it looks like The Moseley Arms will be reopening soon.

Little has changed in the last three years apart from another repainting of the exterior.

#042 The Spotted Dog, Digbeth, Birmingham : 1998 to 2021

As the last post was about the former Spotted Dog pub, it seems only fitting that this should be about the surviving Spotted Dog pub. Here's what I wrote in 2011: -

"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."

 

So, we move on to 2018 and, to all intents and purposes, the pub has remained unchanged (virtually) for 20 years. A bit of paint, varying amounts of ivy and over the last few years the hanging sign has gone.

I'm unable to comment on the interior because, although it was on the itinerary of our crawl through Digbeth in July, it never opened and sadly we couldn't sample its delights.

 

Finally we get to 2021 and you'll see little external change.

 Apart from the rampant ivy...and the hanging sign is back!

 

However, will it survive the pandemic? Only time will tell and a £10,000 fine for a breach of the regulations in November surely won't help (Details here)
 

 In an ever changing world it is to be hoped that an 'unspoilt by progress' establishment such as The Spotted Dog will survive!