#032 Eagle & Tun, Digbeth, Birmingham : 1998 to 2021 (RIP)

 This will be my third and final report on the fate of the Eagle & Tun pub. This is from my 2016 write up: -

"When I first took a picture of this pub back in 1998 it was called the Cauliflower Ear and I'd never seen nor heard of it before.

Then we stopped in Birmingham on the penultimate night of our trip that was to have taken us to Chester, but ended up with us visiting Leek. In my quest to venture into pubs that we'd not previously visited on our canal trips, we took a stroll into Digbeth and the Eagle & Tun was one of our stops. It was the evening of Thursday 19th September 2002 and as I recall, we had a great time in there and the place was packed. Notice how it has changed from being an Ansell's pub to a Free House, but inside it was beautifully tiled.

Next time I visited was a few years later, but it was very quiet even though it was a Saturday night. So now we move on to Monday 15th August 2011 and it is closed. Apparently it shut its doors in 2008 and there's no real sign of it reopening.

If you panned back from this picture you'd see that there is very little left standing around here. About 100 yards behind me is the Woodman pub which is still open. I think the best bet for the Eagle & Tun is the new High Speed (HS2) Rail project which is planned to terminate at Curzon Street Station which is to the right of where I'm standing in this shot.

You can get a flavour for the interior of the Eagle & Tun here in the video for UB40's "Red Red Wine" which was shot in the pub in the early 1980's. Hopefully it won't be demolished, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

That's what I wrote back in 2011, but late last year I got a comment on the blog that the Eagle & Tun was back in business. Well, it's taken me a few weeks to get around to it, but here's the picture from Friday 5th February 2016!

I didn't go inside, but with smokers outside the door, it seemed to be doing OK. Hopefully this will be a long term going concern and survive into the 'brave new' era of HS2."

 

Since then I made one more visit to the Eagle & Tun, on the afternoon of Wednesday 11th July 2018, as part of one of the Proper Pubs Days Out - report here 

In the original plans for HS2, this pub was going to be preserved and become part of the new entranceway to the station. Unfortunately, as often seems to happen with modern developments, the preservation of old older architecture seems to fall by the wayside as plans get revised.

 

So, now we're in 2021, this is the scene that I found on the afternoon of Saturday 16th January 2021.

The Eagle & Tun was finally demolished in October 2020...another sad loss amongst so many others!

#280 The Flapper, Birmingham : 2002 to 2020 (RIP)

 After the longest break in my blogging history (even longer than LifeAfterFootball's short-lived 'retirement'!), I'm back with some new pubs.

The first time I visited The Flapper was in the early 1980's when it was called (if I remember correctly) The Longboat. Sometime after that it was renamed as the Flapper & Firkin. I don't have pictures of the pub in those incarnations except for this one from lunchtime on Wednesday 14th August 2002.

It was never a pub we visited often as it was a bit 'barn-like' for our tastes.

The next image was taken from our boat Emma Jane on the evening of Thursday 29th May 2008 as we'd turned around in Cambrian Basin which the pub overlooks.

By this time it had been renamed The Flapper and you can just see where the '& Firkin' used to be on the end wall!

I did visit the pub a year later for a gig by Lisa Knapp and Leafcutter John supposedly based on, and inspired by, the sounds of canals and the boats. This was on the evening of Sunday 27th September 2009. I didn't take a picture.

The next image is from the morning of Saturday 27th August 2011 as we waited for our third crew member to join us for a trip to Leek on the Caldon Canal.

By now it had been redecorated and the main sign now said The Flapper.

The next image isn't related to our canal trips, but I was out and about in Birmingham trying to get some decent sunset pictures and this was on the late afternoon/early evening ('Preevening' as Sheldon Cooper would call it!) of Saturday 17th November 2012.

A very serene scene!

Over the next few years we didn't pass by The Flapper very often and, when we did, I failed to take a picture! Except, here's one I took on the morning of Wednesday 1st April 2015 (that I've just found in my archives!)

...and then I found another picture from my archives. This one is from the afternoon of Tuesday 6th September 2016.

This next one is from a somewhat rainy morning of Saturday 8th June 2019, taken from the top lock on the Farmer's Bridge Flight.
 

Still an unchanging feature of Cambrian Wharf and a popular music venue, sadly not to my taste.

The next two images, both from the morning of Thursday 23rd July 2020, sadly show an ex-pub.

To look at those two images it is hard to believe that The Flapper had been closed for almost 8 months and is scheduled for demolition in the fairly near future. (Although, it appears to be in Planning 'Limbo' as the plans to build a 27 unit accommodation block were rejected!)

Although not to my taste, it is sad to see the demise of another pub and, by all accounts, a popular music venue!

#221 The Badger Inn, Church Minshull, Cheshire : 1987 to 2016

The village of Church Minshull is set some way away from the canal and so it is always a bit of a walk to the pub. The stretch of canal in question is the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal that links Middlewich to the Shropshire Union! Over the years we've ventured along this section of canal somewhat infrequently and often been caught by surprise by it's length (11 miles) and the very deep locks.

Our first stop at Church Minshull was at lunchtime on Saturday 11th July 1987.

As I recall The Badger Inn was a very pleasant country pub that did good food.

It was many years later that we returned at lunchtime on Thursday 12th September 2002.

 We'd been planning a trip to Chester, but we'd got as far as Bunbury when we were informed that Beeston Iron Lock had had a gate "blow out" so the canal would be closed for several days. So we turned around and decided to head for Leek on the Caldon Canal instead.

Amazingly, after 15 years, the pub was almost completely unchanged!

We were passing by again at lunchtime on Thursday 31st August 2006 only to find that The Badger Inn was closed. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo.

By the time we were passing again, I knew that the pub had reopened, and this is what we found at lunchtime on Monday 22nd August 2016.

At first glance it looks as though not too much has changed apart from the replacement windows. I also thought that it was amazing that the old hanging sign had remained, but on closer inspection you can see that they have produced a replica sign, but this time the badgers are headed in opposite directions!

Inside, the pub (or should I say restaurant) was completely modernised and extended, serving very good food. Hopefully it will continue to thrive and, if you're passing by do pop in - The Badger Inn website is here.

#032 UPDATE Eagle & Tun, Digbeth : 1998 to 2016 (Back from the Grave!)

When I first took a picture of this pub back in 1998 it was called the Cauliflower Ear and I'd never seen nor heard of it before.

Then we stopped in Birmingham on the penultimate night of our trip that was to have taken us to Chester, but ended up with us visiting Leek. In my quest to venture into pubs that we'd not previously visited on our canal trips, we took a stroll into Digbeth and the Eagle & Tun was one of our stops. It was the evening of Thursday 19th September 2002 and as I recall, we had a great time in there and the place was packed. Notice how it has changed from being an Ansell's pub to a Free House, but inside it was beautifully tiled.

Next time I visited was a few years later, but it was very quiet even though it was a Saturday night. So now we move on to Monday 15th August 2011 and it is closed. Apparently it shut its doors in 2008 and there's no real sign of it reopening.

If you panned back from this picture you'd see that there is very little left standing around here. About 100 yards behind me is the Woodman pub which is still open. I think the best bet for the Eagle & Tun is the new High Speed (HS2) Rail project which is planned to terminate at Curzon Street Station which is to the right of where I'm standing in this shot.

You can get a flavour for the interior of the Eagle & Tun here in the video for UB40's "Red Red Wine" which was shot in the pub in the early 1980's. Hopefully it won't be demolished, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

That's what I wrote back in 2011, but late last year I got a comment on the blog that the Eagle & Tun was back in business. Well, it's taken me a few weeks to get around to it, but here's the picture from Friday 5th February 2016!

I didn't go inside, but with smokers outside the door, it seemed to be doing OK. Hopefully this will be a long term going concern and survive into the 'brave new' era of HS2.

 

I also took the liberty of giving it the Photo Digital Art treatment!

 It is now five years since I started this blog and over the coming months I'll be updating all of the Digbeth entries to see what has changed, what has remained the same and what has gone forever!

#075 Millrace, Milton, Staffs : 1999 to 2011

On our first trip along the Caldon Canal we stopped at Foxley on the way back from Leek only to find that the pub there was shut! So it was a short walk back along the towpath to Milton where we discovered the Millrace.

This was on Friday 3rd September 1999 and, as I recall, it was a friendly local, but there wasn't any food available apart from crisps and nuts.

The next time we were cruising along the Caldon Canal we stopped at Milton on the way to Leek at lunchtime on Saturday 14th September 2002.

Not much change, apart from the extra satellite dish on the side. Still no food on offer so we ended up at the Miners Arms (see #055).

It was quite a few more years before we returned to Milton, this time an evening stop.

This photo was taken on Tuesday 30th August 2011 and I'm pleased to report that the Millrace is still a friendly local. No food available, but they did direct us to a very good curry house just up the road. The outside hasn't changed that much, but they are back to just the one satellite dish. The large sign on the end wall (previously a Burtonwood Beers sign) indicates that the Millrace is now home to the Outer Circle Scooter Club.

The Millrace is now a Marstons pub. If you're looking for a friendly local that is still a proper pub, then the Millrace is worth a visit if you're in the area.

#073 The Bull, Aston, Birmingham : 2002 to 2011

Considering that I've lived in Birmingham since 1979 it is quite surprising that the first time I set foot inside The Bull in Aston was in 2002; Thursday 19th September 2002 (at lunchtime) to be precise! That would be just the 200 years since it opened!

We'd been on a canal trip that had taken us to Leek on the Caldon Canal and had moored at Aston Junction. Normally we would have gone to the Sacks of Potatoes, but The Bull was a pub I'd previously noticed from the flyover and thought it was worth a visit...and what a good decision that was. It was a cosy, proper pub with friendly staff and very good food. (and it still is!)

Next visit was on Wednesday 1st September 2004 (lunchtime again) near the end of a trip back from Oxford.

No change, inside or out.

Our next visit was on Thursday 7th September 2006 (luchtime unsurprisingly) on our way back from a trip that took us to the Anderton Boat lift.

Still no change...which is good!

Our final visit, to date was on Saturday 27th August 2011, this time at the start of our journey to the Caldon Canal. Yet another lunchtime stop!

Finally! Some changes! OK, they've only painted the outside AND put some bench seats outside, but at least that's progress. Inside it was the same as before which was good news (Well, there might have been a few more jugs hanging up, but its impossible to be sure as there are soooo many!). For more details and historical information you can visit their website here.

#049 The Quiet Woman, Leek, Staffs : 1999 to 2011

On our first canal trip visit to Leek in 1999 The Quiet Woman was one of the many pubs we visited. I don't really remember too much about it, but what I do remember about Leek was that there were a lot of pubs in the town - certainly reason enough to go there again!

This photo of The Quiet Woman was taken on the evening of 2nd September 1999 (a Thursday).

From memory it was the our first 'pit-stop' of the evening, but that's about as far as my memory goes!

Our next visit was on 1st September 2011 (again in the evening and again on a Thursday!) and again it was our first stop. Inside it felt like a recently refurbished, 'proper pub'. Although it was early evening, the pub was fairly busy and filling quite quickly with young people who were there for a band, playing later.

From the outside very little has changed in the intervening 12 years, even the pub sign looks to be the same one. This isn't too surprising as it is a listed building and so only very minor changes are allowed. What was surprising was that it was still thriving, but this is probably due to the owners, a small company called The Yard Glass Pub Company that appears to have about 10 pubs. They in turn are part of Sporting Lodge Inns who are based in Leigh, Lancs. 

Hopefully this is the way forward for pubs, to be run by individuals or small companies who really care about pubs and are willing to make them welcoming, friendly places that keep the traditional feel (even though most have to sell loads of food to keep going!). All-in-all a good find and a pub well worth visiting again (and spending more time in).

#043 Wheatsheaf Hotel, Stoke-on-Trent : 2002 to 2011

When we set off on our Summer canal trip in 2002 we had no plans to visit Stoke. Chester was our original destination, but a 'blown' lock gate meant that we had to quickly make other plans half way there along the Shropshire Union Canal. We decided to revisit Leek on the Caldon Canal and so on Friday 13th September 2002 we moored up at Etruria Junction ready for a night out in Stoke!

The Wheatsheaf Hotel was our last pub of the night and we discovered it completely by accident as we were heading back to the boat.

This photo was taken close to closing time following several pints and a Chinese meal. I remember it being packed and vibrant when we arrived, just in time to get a final pint for the night. It was a very friendly place and the bar we were in was full of Laurel & Hardy memorabilia. We weren't there long enough to discover why, but I'd guess that the owner was a member of the Sons of the Desert, the official Laurel & Hardy fan club, which I ran into once in Birmingham at a convention.

On our latest canal trip we moored at Etruria Junction on our way back from Leek on Friday 2nd September 2011. Over the past few years, Stoke seems to have been largely demolished and the bits that have been rebuilt are retail parks interspersed with vast areas of nothing. 

We set off for Hanley with no clear idea of which way to go to find some pubs along the way and after several detours (and the false dawn of a couple of boarded up pubs) we redicsovered the Wheatsheaf Hotel.

From the outside little appears to have changed, but it is difficult to tell as it was dark last time we were there. Inside it was very quiet with a handful of people watching England playing in a Euro 2012 qualifier. At first we weren't sure it was the same place, but then we saw a couple of pieces of Laurel & Hardy memorabilia. The locals were just as friendly as last time we visited, but it seemed as though the pub was in decline along with the surrounding area. Sadly, Stoke has a higher rate of unemployment than much of the rest of the UK and this showed in the surroundings of general decay.

#032 Eagle & Tun, Digbeth : 1998 to 2011 (RIP??)

When I first took a picture of this pub in 1998 it was called the Cauliflower Ear and I'd never seen nor heard of it before.

Then, in 2002, we stopped in Birmingham on the penultimate night of our trip that was to have taken us to Chester, but ended up with us visiting Leek. In my quest to venture into pubs that we'd not previously visited on our canal trips, we took a stroll into Digbeth and the Eagle & Tun was one of our stops. It was Thursday 19th September and as I recall, we had a great time in there and the place was packed. Notice how it has changed from being an Ansell's pub to a Free House, but inside it was beautifully tiled.

Next time I visited was a few years later, but it was very quiet even though it was a Saturday night. So now we move on to 2011 and it is closed. Apparently it shut its doors in 2008 and there's no real sign of it reopening.

If you panned back from this picture you'd see that there is very little left standing around here. About 100 yards behind me is the Woodman pub which is still open. I think the best bet for the Eagle & Tun is the new High Speed (HS2) Rail project which is planned to terminate at Curzon Street Station which is to the right of where I'm standing in this shot.

You can get a flavour for the interior of the Eagle & Tun here in the video for UB40's "Red Red Wine" which was shot in the pub in the early 1980's. Hopefully it won't be demolished, but I'm not holding my breath.