Blog Surfer

Monday 30 April 2012

#064 The White Swan, Digbeth : 1998 to 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.

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.

And here's The White Swan given the Photo Digital Art treatment.

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

No comments:

Post a Comment