Stirchley in The Time of Coronavirus - Part 5

This will be my final pictorial report on Stirchley during the 2020 lockdown (but there may yet be 2021 reports to come...who knows?).

It took me many years of living in Stirchley to discover our very own park, hidden away by the side of the Co-op (soon to be Morrison's).

Stirchley Park - 25th March 2020

Stirchley Park - 11th January 2013

 The street art changes fairly regularly, partly because it gets vandalised quite often. The extra path has been added so that you can do a circuit of the park and more, small trees have been planted.

Also backing onto the park is Stirchley Library, which at the moment is shrouded in scaffolding.

Stirchley Library - 27th March 2020

Stirchley Library - 11th January 2013

Since I last reported on Stirchley, in 2013, the future of the library has been in jeopardy, but the scaffolding is a good sign that it will endure for a while longer.

Another Stirchley stalwart is the British Oak pub which has changed little in the intervening years.

British Oak - 25th March 2020

British Oak - 11th January 2013

Before the lockdown, the British Oak seemed to be doing quite nicely and I hope that it makes a success of the return...whenever that is. It is Grade II* so hopefully it will be back soon.

Whatever happened to Drums International?

Drums International - 4th April 2020

Drums International - 11th January 2013

This was one of the quirky shops along the Pershore Road, but unfortunately it closed down in August 2018. It was another of those 'Aladdin's Cave' type shops, but for drummers...every High Street should have one...sadly in these times it just didn't work out.

Oulsnam Estate Agents - 4th April 2020

Laing Estate Agents -11th January 2013

It wasn't long after the 2013 picture was taken that Laing were bought out by Oulsnam and another local firm had been consumed into a larger chain.

Before I sign off there are a couple of places that I didn't photograph in 2013. The first is an example of discovering something new that, really, I should have noticed long before!

The Central Bakery -5th April 2020

Until the other day I hadn't realised that this was originally the site of the bakery for the whole of the Midlands Co-op Society. The blue plaque, which was installed in 2018, is in honour of Mary Ellen Cottrell who has an impressive list of firsts.

Finally, as this is supposed to be a blog about pubs, we have the Wildcat.

Wildcat - 5th April 2020

This micropub was originally in smaller premises further along the Pershore Road and, because of its success, the owner decided to move to these, larger, premises. They reopened in June 2019 and promptly ran out of beer as they were so much busier than anticipated...hopefully, when this is all over, they'll have the same problem again!

Two doors down from the Wildcat is Alicia's Micro Bakehouse, Stirchley's very own artisan pizza place. Last time I was by there it was takeaway only which looks as though it will continue for the foreseeable future.

Another two doors down is Cork 'n' Cage, another micro bar/eatery which was also thriving before the lockdown. I do hope that they're able to weather the storm otherwise there's a good chance of losing the vibrant variety that these places had brought to old Stirchley Village!