#112 The Horseshoe, Kings Heath, Birmingham : 1987 to 2012

I'm not sure whether I'd visited The Horseshoe before, but this is the first picture I took.

This was on the lunchtime of Saturday 4th July 1987 at the start of a two-week trip that took us down to Worcester, up to Middlewich and included my first trip through Harecastle Tunnel.

We didn't return for another nine years, largely because Emma Jane was moored 'oop north' and then 'darn sarf' for the intervening years!

This was on the evening of Saturday 25th May 1996 and it wasn't our intended destination for the night, but because of a delay at the Shirley Drawbridge, we couldn't make it all the way into Birmingham before nightfall. We only had one pint here before going into Moseley for a pub crawl. In those days The Horseshoe was a small friendly local with two rooms. They did good lunchtime food, but it was never an ideal overnight stop.

Next year and we were there TWICE!

Friday 30th May 1997 (Lunchtime)

Thursday 4th September 1997 (Lunchtime)

Both of these visits were the final lunchtime stops of our holiday, leaving us a four hour journey back to our moorings.

We were back again a couple of years later and there were more changes to the exterior of the pub.

Another lunchtime stop at the end of another canal trip, this time to Leek on the Caldon Canal - Thursday 9th September 1999. The Horseshoe had been extensively refurbished and was now no longer a Bass pub.

Our final canal visit was a year later at the end of a trip that had taken us to Manchester.

This was on Friday 8th September 2000. In subsequent years, we stopped visiting The Horseshoe for a couple of reasons. The first is that the moorings became increasingly difficult as the bank became more and more overgrown. The second reason was that we were getting there too early and The Drawbridge at Shirley became our final lunchtime stop of choice.

Although we didn't stop there again, I've got a couple of photos taken in passing.

This is the view from the canal and was taken on Friday 25th May 2009. At this time The Horseshoe looked to be closed.

However, when I was driving by last year, I found that The Horseshoe is alive and well!

This was on the afternoon of Monday 3rd December 2012 as I was testing out my new camera. It appears that The Horseshoe has been refurbished again, but I've not set foot inside since 2000 so I can't comment on the interior!

#089 Prince of Wales, Birmingham : 1996 to 2012

For those of you who know the city, this is the Prince of Wales pub in Birmingham city centre on Cambridge Street, behind the Rep and Convention Centre. (I will be reporting on the Prince of Wales in Moseley at a later date.)

My first ever visit to the Prince of Wales was in 1976 when I was a student and went along to a meeting of the Birmingham University Real Ale Society which was in an upstairs room. In those days it was an Ansells pub and was one of the very few places that sold hand pulled beer. However, as I recall I didn't take to the beer on offer and ended the evening drinking Rum & Blacks!

My first canal related visit was at lunchtime on Sunday 29th May 1996.

I don't really recall what it was like, but I also don't think it has changed much inside in the subsequent years. In recent years it has been a good place to visit for lunch as they do good pub food in a proper pub bar environment. Back in 1996 it was still an Ansells pub.

Our next visit was on Saturday 28th August 1999 at the start of a trip to Leek on the Caldon Canal.

In the intervening years it had become a Festival Alehouse and the external signage had changed. Inside it was largely unchanged.

It wasn't until lunchtime on Sunday 30th May 2004 that we revisited the Prince of Wales again.

The outside had been completely redecorated and stayed this way for our subsequent visits.

Thursday 1st September 2005 (Evening).

   Saturday 3rd June 2006 (Evening).

Saturday 26th May 2007 (Lunchtime).

Saturday 24th May 2008 (Evening).

Then we had a few years when we didn't pop into the Prince of Wales.

Tuesday 6th September 2011 (Evening).
This was actually my last visit as a drinker. It is interesting to note that the exterior has not changed even down to the red Biffa skip outside, usually to the right hand side of the pub.

This final photo was taken on Tuesday 28th August 2012.

As I live in Brum and because we didn't visit any repeat pubs on the canal this autumn I thought I'd better get some pictures of local pubs I had visited to keep this blog going! I would guess that the inside hasn't changed much despite the complete external makeover. (...but where's the Biffa skip??)

I can't seem to find a website, but if ever you're in Birmingham city centre, near the convention centre, I'd suggest that a visit to the Prince of Wales is well worth it if you want a proper pub.