#012 Forge Tavern, Digbeth : 1998 to 2018 (Revisited)

These were my observations in 2011: -

Back in 1998, this was a pub I'd driven past on many occasions (to and from work) but had never ventured inside.

Then in 2000, we made an unscheduled detour through the less salubrious areas of Birmingham on our narrowboat. This photo was taken at about 9 pm on Thursday 1st June 2000 (same day as the 2nd photo of the Dog & Doublet - Pub #002 in this series). Earlier in the trip, we'd visited the centre of Coventry on my recommendation that we had enough time to do that and get back to our moorings by Friday evening - I'd miscalculated slightly! We'd moored at Bordesley Junction and were concerned that it wasn't the most secure of moorings. This was after finding that our first choice was actually private property and we couldn't access the road! Fortunately, the boat was safe and we had a quick pint here before venturing into Birmingham to find food...and more drink! As I recall it was a fairly basic Marston's pub and we got a friendly welcome - pretty much all you want from a pub!

Good news! It is still there and been redecorated at least twice since 2000!

Sadly, the news in 2018 is not so good. There was a fatal stabbing outside the Forge Tavern in July 2017 (link) and the pub's licence was revoked. It has been closed ever since with no imminent hope of reprieve. This is how it looked on Tuesday 23rd January 2018.

   

#060 The Moseley Arms, Digbeth : 1998 to 2018 (Revisited)

This is what I wrote in 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 (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.