#062 Town Crier, Digbeth : 1998 to 2011

This is a pub I've never been inside although I've passed by on many occasions. This is how it looked in 1998.

A rather unprepossessing appearance, but surprisingly it has survived into 2011!

Quite a few external changes have occurred in the intervening thirteen years. Most notably, it was an M&B pub and now it is Banks's. The Off Licence (or 'outdoor' as we Brummies call it!) is closed and boarded up and the windows have been replaced. Apart from that, there have been signage and other changes as well.

Apart from that I don't have much more information.

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

#061 The Mary Arden, Wilmcote, Warks : 1997 to 2011

If we hadn't recently sold our boat Emma Jane I would have been showing you a picture of this pub from 2012 taken only a few days ago on our annual Easter trip to Stratford. However, this year we've hired a boat for the first time and enjoyed the delights of Chester. Anyway, back to history!

This was our second visit to Wilmcote and the photo was taken on Saturday 29th March 1997. As I recall, we had a couple in the Mary Arden before moving on to the Mason's Arms, #006 in this series. I don't remember much else about it from that time other than it was an alright place to visit, but not a proper local like the Mason's Arms.

Our next visit to Wilmcote wasn't until 2000 and the Mary Arden was unchanged.

This photo is from Friday 21st April 2000 which is pretty much the latest that Good Friday can happen.

Unusually, in 2001 we stoped at Wilmcote twice! Once on the way down to Stratford and again on the way back up.

These were taken on Sat/Sun 14/15th March 2001, both lunchtime stops.

We were back again in 2002 and this is the scene that greeted us.

For the first time in this blog, I've actually captured a pub being refurbished! This was taken on Saturday 30th March 2002, but the redecorating has hardly got underway as all of the signage is still the same.

And this is what it looked like afterwards.

This picture was taken on Saturday 19th April 2003, now just called The Mary Arden. The inside had also been refurbished, but I found it to be cold and not very welcoming.

We have visited here every year since (apart from 2007), but I won't bore you with all of the pictures as the pub has changed little in the intervening years!

Saturday 15th April 2006

Saturday 11th April 2009

Saturday 3rd April 2010 - the 'lintels' above the windows are now black.

And finally...Saturday 30th April 2011. Not Easter, but the weekend of the Royal Wedding.

The Mary Arden is not a place I'd say is a must visit pub, but it is perfectly pleasant and does good food. It is situated very close to Mary Arden's House (just behind and right of me as I took this picture) and has it's own website. 

#060 The Moseley Arms, Digbeth : 1998 to 2011

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, although this is still a little spartan at the moment. The Moseley Arms is, like many Digbeth pubs, a music venue.

I've also applied the Photo Digital Art 'magic' to The Moseley Arms!

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

#059 Tom o' the Wood, Rowington, Warks : 1986 to 2011

When I first visited the Tom o' the Wood it was a great country pub in a perfect location just by the Grand Union Canal.

This shot was taken from the canal bridge in July 1986 before we started a canal trip that took us to Leicester.

The next visit was in 2000. In the intervening years our boat, Emma Jane, had been 'up north' on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and then 'down south' on the Grand Union. Although we moved the boat back to the Midlands in 1995, the Tom o' the Wood wasn't a regular stop, but we did visit at lunchtime on Saturday 27th May 2000.

The main sign on the side had changed and the ivy was starting to take over, but inside it was pretty much the same as before...apart from the extension/conservatory that had been added.

We were back again in 2001 at the start of our trip that took us to Aylesbury for the first (and so far only) time.

This was taken at lunchtime on Saturday 25th August 2001 and, apart from the extra growth of the ivy, it was still unchanged.

The next time we stopped at the Tom o' the Wood was on Friday 27th May 2005 on our way to Nuneaton where Emma Jane was going to get a new roof.

And what a disappointment it was! It was no longer a country pub that did good meals, it was an up market restaurant where you could get a pint! As I recall, it was lunchtime, but there were no sandwiches on the menu! On the outside, the ivy seemed to be taking over and the traditional pub sign had disappeared.

Over the next few years it went through several owners and,I think, was just called The Wood for a short while!

Our most recent visit was on Friday 4th November 2011 on what turned out to be our final ever trip on Emma Jane.

The Tom o' the Wood is under new ownership and it is their intention to turn it back into a country pub again, but on the evidence we saw it is still more of an eating place than a proper pub, but in rural Warwickshire, that's what will be successful. At least they've reinstalled the pub sign and trimmed the ivy!

Here is the above photo converted to a 'painting' which is my current project under the name Photo Digital Art.

Finally, where does the name come from? According to their website the name goes back to a 17th Century corn mill.

#058 Spotted Dog, Digbeth (RIP) : 1998 to 2011

This is the other Spotted Dog in Digbeth that is on the corner of Meriden Street and Bordesley Street. When I took this photo in 1998 I'd not set foot inside the pub.

In 2002, on the evening of Thursday 19th September, we were in Birmingham on one of our canal trips and took a stroll into Digbeth. Among the pubs we came across was the Spotted Dog and ventured inside.

Not my best photo, but this was taken with my old Fuji SLR camera that dates back to the mid 70's so I was always 'guessing' the settings for night time photography. This time I was also 'challenged' as to why I was taking the picture. This is a fairly common occurrence, mostly with slightly out-of-the-way pubs that don't expect photographers. Once I explain that we're on a canal holiday and I take a picture of every pub we go in, they are always fine about it.

The only things I remember about it is that it was fairly quiet, typical back street pub. It was run by a black manager/landlord and the clientele were exclusively black, which you don't see very often.

A few years later I revisited the Spotted Dog on a Saturday night and it had transformed into a lively music venue seemingly specialising in up and coming bands.

So, when I came to take this photo in 2011 I was somewhat surprised to see that it was closed.

It had also changed its name to TJ's.

On Sunday I took part in the enjoyable Digbeth Photo Walk, organised by Pete Ashton & Matt Murtagh, that took us past the Spotted Dog which is still unchanged from when I took this picture. 

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

#057 The Unicorn Inn, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent : 2002 to 2011

Stoke-on-Trent is one of those places that I find very confusing! We don't visit that often on our canal trips, but I generally get lost when we do. We first came across The Unicorn Inn pretty much by accident and were very glad we did. I remember it as a lovely little pub that was well appointed and friendly.

This photo was taken on Sunday 15th September 2002 in the evening.

In the intervening years we've passed through Stoke quite a few times, but not ventured in to Hanley. Stoke is quite a sprawling city and so we've been to most parts over the years. This time we moored at Etruria Junction and headed off towards Hanley. As I've detailed before, there have been a lot of changes and, it seemed to me, that much of the area had been flattened!

After we'd rediscovered The Wheatsheaf Hotel, we set off to find another pub recommended by the locals...and got lost again. Luckily we managed to stumble across The Unicorn Inn again.

This photo was taken on Friday 2nd September 2011, again an evening visit. The outside has been extensively redecorated, but inside it is still a proper pub that is still popular.

#056 The Woodman, Digbeth : 1998 to 2011 (RIP??)

The Woodman is one of the finest examples of what proper city pubs can be. It is one of the earliest of the pubs designed by James & Lister Lea. It is one of the pubs that I had occasionally visited before I took this photo in 1998.

As I remember, it has a compact front bar and a lovely, quiet back room that still had gas lights on the tiled wall. In 1998 this was still a busy and popular pub, but how times have changed.

In the intervening 13 years there have been massive developments in this part of Digbeth. The whole area behind The Woodman has been flattened and is now (or it was the last time I looked) somewhat neglected grassy area.

To give some geographical perspective, the city centre is off to the right. Behind me is the Thinktank which opened in 2001 and houses the Birmingham Science Museum and is part of the Millennium Point development. To the left of The Woodman is New Canal Street which leads to the old Curzon Street Station and the (closed) Eagle & Tun which was #032 in this series.

Curzon Street was the site of Birmingham's first raiway terminus and is a listed building. This will be the future Birmingham terminus of the HS2 High Speed Rail Line.

Here is the view from the back of The Woodman and the Eagle & Tun is to my right. These pubs are both under threat from the developers who have previous for demolishing old buildings that are in their way. Personally, I'd have thought that incorporating such lovely old buildings into a new development would make the final experience so much better. What could be better than to step off a high-tech, hi-speed train, that has whisked you to Birmingham from London in less than hour, into a lovely old pub for a pint? Obviously I'm biased, but surely even the developers can see the attractions of mixing the new with a bit of the old.

More about this can be found on the Digbeth is Good website which is better informed about these matters that I am!

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