I've known this pub from the days I was a student here in Birmingham. Back then it was The Trafalgar and for a few years my friends lived in the house next door (on Trafalgar Road). It was a lovely, cosy pub with several rooms including a bar, lounge and a small 'snug' room. That was in the early 80's and, as with many things, it gradually went into decline.
Some time later it was refurbished in an attempt to bring it back to life, which was successful in the short term, but it also destroyed the intimate character it previously had. This is the first photo I took of The Trafalgar.
We were on our Spring canal trip and, because of a delay at the Shirley Drawbridge, we'd not made it into Birmingham and so we moored up in King's Heath and caught the bus to Moseley for an evening of nostalgia. This was on Saturday 25th May 1996 and it was still called The Trafalgar.
It was a couple of years before we returned and the name had been changed to The Patrick Kavanagh Bar.
I'm not sure exactly when this was taken, but I do remember the visit which was some time in 1998. We walked in one early evening to be confronted with this scene - there were no bar staff to be seen, but there were two rather large Alsatians wandering about and a man lying on the floor, unconscious! We turned around and left quite quickly!
We didn't return again until Saturday 29th May 2010. This time we'd moored up at Bournville and after a visit to my local, the Country Girl in Selly Oak, we'd caught a taxi and gone to Moseley for yet another trip down memory lane.
This time it was a much more welcoming experience and the pub was quite lively...a vast improvement over the experience 12 years previously! (Still not as good as 30 years ago...but then again, what is?)
Finally, here is my latest photo, taken on Sunday 11th November 2012 on a stroll around Moseley to catch up on the pubs of my youth!
The Patrick Kavanagh Bar had yet another external coat of paint...and a new satellite dish. The pub's website is here and, if you're in Moseley and on a pub crawl, this is another one to add to the list of potential venues.
I also lived next door to the “Traf” for a year as a student! In 1991 with my friends from Birmingham Uni Drama dept. It was a hub of alternative life: New age travellers, Rastafarians and a whole medley of wonderful characters. Holly knitted beautiful hippy jumpers, I fell in love with Dave and I remember a lot of dreadlocks and dogs on ropes......affectionately. I remember Tolkein’s garden and the cafe next to The Trafalgar. Thank you Moseley x
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