The Harborne Run

As we're still living in the time of coronavirus I thought that I'd combine my (semi) regular exercise with more photography/artistry and put together a virtual pub crawl.

Since the loss of Alan Winfield, there haven't been many tales of epic (or otherwise) pub crawls that I've seen recently. We get write-ups of our Proper Pub Days Out, but these are genteel affairs compared to the mythical pub crawls of yesteryear.

Friends of mine who are native Brummies used to take part in the Harborne Run every Christmas Eve, but that was before I knew them, so I've never taken part in it. I shall attempt a pictorial re-creation of what would still constitue an epic alcoholic journey through Harborne...assuming that all of these pubs re-open after the pandemic.

Personally, I'd start at the 'Top' end of Harborne, but I've read of people starting at the other end. The first two pubs on the old crawl are no longer in existence - the Duke of York and the Kings Arms (see here). Some people may choose to start in The Bell (a lovely pub), but I feel that it is a bit too far off the beaten track. This would be my starting point for the 'New' Harborne Run.

The Vine - May 2020

Not long after the demise of the Duke of York and the Kings Arms, The Vine was boarded up and looked like it was going as well. Fortunately, it got a complete refurb and was expanded. It is now one of M&B's 'Sizzling Pubs'.

Moving swiftly on and just around the corner is The New Inn.

The New Inn - May 2020

This was the subject of my previous post, so there's little more to say about this lovely Marston's pub.

Next on the journey is The Junction which we've accessed from the road to the left (below).

The Junction - May 2020

Over recent years, The Junction has undergone various guises - it was a 'proper' M&B boozer, then an O'Neill's, followed by gastro-ification (is that a word?) and now it is one of M&B's Castle pubs. (A little less gastro; a bit more pub!)

Now we've reached the main body of the Harborne Run. Next up is the Slug & Lettuce (on the left from the view above).

Slug & Lettuce - May 2020

I haven't been in here for many years, usually because it is heaving whenever we've been passing. This is part of the Stonegate group of pubs and is a typical Slug & Lettuce. I'm fairly sure that this wasn't one of the original destinations on the Harborne Run.

On the other side of the High Street and a litle bit further down the hill is the other Stonegate pub - the Harborne Stores. (This is next door to Harborne's very own micropub, The Paper Duck, which I've decided to leave out of the itinerary for purely selfish reasons!)

Harborne Stores - May 2020

This is an 'old school' boozer and is always packed. It is usually like stepping back in time to how pubs used to be with regard to the atmosphere.

Further down the High Street we take a right before The Schoolyard (aka Harborne Clock Tower) and head a short way up York Street to the White Horse.

The Schoolyard - aka Harborne Clock Tower (not a pub) - May 2020

White Horse - May 2020

This is another Harborne gem of a pub which has it's own on-site brewery (Ostler's Ales). It is a perennial Good Beer Guide entrant, and rightly so (occasionally, they even manage to obtain a barrel of Batham's Bitter!)

Now, the itinerary could go in one of two directions; up York Street to the Hop Garden or back to the High Street (my choice!). Diagonally opposite York Street is where we'll find the Brewer's Social (another pub not on the original Harborne Run).

Brewer's Social - May 2020

In recent history this was a cake shop and café which morphed into a pop-up pub run by Sadler's of Lye in the Black Country. I missed visiting as that incarnation and then it shut. Subsequently, Sadler's were bought out by Halewood and the local brewery closed down, so I didn't expect it to reappear, but here it is. Definitely worth adding to the route of the crawl.

Next, and we've almost got to the bottom of the High Street, it's The Plough.

The Plough - May 2020

I have mixed feelings about The Plough. In the 'good old days' this was a proper pub with a small, intimate bar and service for the 'lounge' (and 'garden') was through a hatch. Almost 20 years ago it closed and after extensive remodelling The Plough reappeared as an upmarket gastro pub, losing all of it's character in the process. Despite my reservations, though, it is a very popular venue and during the current crisis they are serving takeaway coffee and food.

Across the road is the final pub on the High Street; the Green Man.

Green Man - May 2020

I'm sure that this is the pub you've all been waiting for. What tour of suburban Birmingham is complete without a visit to an Ember Inn?

Again, we're faced with a dilemma - nine pubs visited (ten if you've been in The Paper Duck) - and there are two left to go, but in different directions, so it is unlikely that you'd do both.

Closest, and a five minute walk around the back of the Green Man on Metchley Lane is the Hop Garden (formerly The Sportsman).

Hop Garden - May 2020

I haven't been here for so many years that I have no idea what it is like inside, but it seems to have beome another real ale 'paradise' and they are offering takeaway beer sales during the lockdown. Hopefully that will be enough for them to survive into the future.

However, if you don't fancy that, from the Green Man you could take a ten minute walk down Harborne Road to The White Swan.

The White Swan - May 2020

 Back in the day this used to be known colloquially as the Dirty Duck (not to be confused with The Duck on Hagley Road which for many years, in the 70's and 80's, was an oasis of real ale in the Ansell's/M&B desert that Birmingham was in those days!). The main hanging pub sign did, for a while, reflect the dual name of the pub, but it has now been somewhat gentrified and is part of M&B's Premium Country Pubs collection.

So, there you have it, a modern-day Harborne Run fit for the 21st Century and, assuming they all survive, an unrivalled selection of pub diversity, in such a small space, than you could find anywhere else in the country.

For more information on Harborne and it's pub history (including the Harborne Run) you can check out the Wikipedia page!

#098 New Inn, Harborne, Birmingham : 1998 to 2020 (Revisited)

The New Inn is still a pub that I visit infrequently and, before I chronicle the last eight years, here's what I put in 2012: -

Harborne is a well-to-do suburb of Birmingham, next-door to Edgbaston and close to Birmingham University. Traditionally it has had a good number of pubs and was ideal for student pub crawls (although, sadly, I never partook of the 'Harborne Run'!).

The New Inn is off the High Street and was a lovely little pub with a small bar at the front and a small separate room off the entrance corridor. Through to the rear was a larger lounge and a bowling green out the back. It was always a very popular place. I'm not sure when I first visited and I have no idea exactly when I took this photo except that it was definitely in 1998.

I also don't know when it became a Banks's pub, but I assume it was part of the swap deal that gave Banks's some pubs in Birmingham and M&B some pubs in the Black Country. Here's a link to show what it looked like in 1960.

Over the following years I've been an irregular visitor and witnessed the slow decline of the New Inn. The two rooms at the front stayed pretty much the same, but the lounge was refurbished. In the long term, though, each time we visited there seemed to be fewer and fewer customers. I found this mystifying as, in a place like Harborne, it should have been packed. But it seems the pub trade is changing rapidly and in 2012 the New Inn was reborn.

It is now a Steak and Ale house and is part of the Bitters 'n' Twisted group of bars here in Birmingham. This group has been responsible for the resurrection of the Rose Villa Tavern and also runs two more pubs and a couple of themed bars.

From this picture taken on 16th May 2012 you can see that the outside it has been radically changed and inside it has been completely opened out as it has been transformed from a homely little boozer into a very up market Pub Restaurant. The new New Inn isn't really 'my cup of tea', but it's good to see that it is now successful.

It is interesting how trends and fashions change so quickly. When I went back to the New Inn a few years later, it was still run by Bitters'n'Twisted, but was far less popular than it had been when it was newly refurbished and revamped. This picture is from that time and was taken on 3rd June 2016.

The pub had undergone another external redecoration, but was still relatively unchanged on the inside.

Over the next few years we still popped in now and again, but it always seemed to be fairly quiet each time. Our most recent visit was just before the lockdown. We discovered that it had reverted back to Marston's control (this apparently happened in 2017 after Marston's and Bitters'n'Twisted couldn't agree terms for the rent) and that the new gaffer had plans to get The New Inn thriving again. (It was, again, very quiet for a Saturday evening!). Hopefully, the lockdown will only have delayed the plans, but I suspect it may have destroyed them. Only time will tell.

This is how it looked on the morning of 26th April 2020 as I took my lockdown exercise. It is largely unchanged since the previous redecoration.

Before the pandemic I was concerned for the future of the New Inn and now I suspect that it may be one of the pubs that doesn't reopen. This is a minor tragedy as the New Inn is back to being a proper pub, but because it is away from the main drag it doesn't get the trade that such a pub deserves (and there are plenty of pubgoers that frequent Harborne!). No doubt, all will become clearer in the coming weeks and months.

Sunny Selly Oak under Shutdown

Since the 'lockdown' started, I've grasped the opportunity to take pictures during my permitted daily exercise. 

Selly Oak is probably my next nearest suburb with pubs (Bournville is nearer, but publess!). I've also recently updated the previous Selly Oak pub entries on this blog.

So here we go with a wider view of Studentville Selly Oak.

Bristol Road, Selly Oak - April 2020

This is the classic picture postcard view of Selly Oak from the middle of the Bristol Road outside Selly Oak Station. It was about 2pm and you can see how little traffic there was, enabling me to get exactly the view I wanted (without much chance of getting run over!). Sadly, in reality, the bridge is sporting lots of grafitti that I've 'painted over' to give the view as it should be.

As I'm not a regular visitor, pretty much all of what I know about Selly Oak is the pubs, three of which I've reported on earlier.

Bristol Pear, Selly Oak - April 2020

This is the view from under Selly Oak Railway Bridge and shows the last pub I had a pint in before the lockdown. The Bristol Pear is a pub we pop into on the odd occasions when we're having a few drinks in Selly Oak, but it was on our last visit when I noticed this, directly opposite the pub, for the very first time!

Selly Oak Library - April 2020

Selly Oak Library (currently closed) is a replica of Stirchley Library (operational before the lockdown) and was built in 1909 (four years after Stirchley's). It is a Carnegie Library, has it's own Wikipedia entry and is Grade II listed.

Moving further down the Bristol Road towards town, we come across a 'new' pub that we had the chance on our most recent visit of going into for a pint, but we decided against!

The S'oak, Bristol Road - April 2020

Back in the late 70's when I was a student this was a row of shops, one of which was a very good secondhand bookshop. When The S'oak first opened (and I don't remember exactly when that was!) it only really occupied the corner part of the building, but has expanded over the years to occupy the whole ground floor.

As I was searching for details about the history of the pub, I came across this review on Pubs Galore by the late, pubman extraordinaire, Alan Winfield: -

"The S'oak looks like a modern pub that is housed in an old building,this was one of my Sons locals when he was at Birmingham University a few years back.
Once inside there is a very large single room with the bar in the middle area,the floor is bare boarded,the seating is tall tables and chairs and normal tables and chairs,there is a pool table to the rear right,the TVs were showing the FA Cup Final.
There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Daleside G&P which went down well,the other real ale was GK Radio X Amplified.
I thought this was a decent enough pub to have a drink in."

Next door is the third of the 'student' pubs on the main drag of the Bristol Road.

Goose at the OVT, Selly Oak - April 2020

In the years that I've known this pub it has had four names (Bournbrook Hotel, Farce & Firkin, Old Varsity Tavern, Goose at the OVT) and been transformed, from a quite rambling multiroom pub, into something of a 'beer barn', originally, as M&B's answer to Wetherspoon's.

There is just one more pub on the Bristol Road and it is in the other direction. The Bear & Staff has an interesting back story!

Bear & Staff, Selly Oak - April 2020

Back in the day, near the junction of Bristol Road and Oak Tree Lane stood The Oak pub which was demolished in 1983 to make way for road widening. It was replaced by the Great Oak in 1985. A shiny new pub which I visited on the opening night. Less than 10 years later it was demolished to make way for Sainsbury's to expand their carpark in 1994! (see details here on this and the rest of Selly Oak's lost pubs!)

This was when the Bear & Staff came into existence, about 100 yards from where the Great Oak stood. It wasn't a new build. Much to our frustration this was, apparently, one of the best Italian restaurants in Birmingham (according to a taxi driver we met who regularly ferried people from BBC Pebble Mill to the restaurant!). Right on our doorstep and we never knew!

It is now a fairly bog-standard Marston's pub which was recently refurbished.

Finally, we come to the one Selly Oak entry not on the Bristol Road...and no prizes for guessing which pub it is...I give you the Country Girl!

Country Girl, Raddlebarn Road - April 2020

I've written plenty about what is, essentially, my local. So, I'll leave you with an image of it on a bright, sunny, early Spring day during the lockdown of 2020.  

Stirchley in The Time of Coronavirus - Part 1

Yesterday I ventured out for the first time in a few days and I thought that I might as well take my camera with me and take some photos as I got my 'exercise'! (As an aside - is the Great British weather mocking us? When we were free to roam anywhere it was continually pissing down and everywhere was flooded...now we're under 'house arrest' it gloriously mocks us with unbroken sunshine and warmth!)

Back in 2013, at the beginning of Photo Digital Art, I wandered around my home suburb of Stirchley with the express aim of - "If I can make Stirchley look good, I can make anywhere look good!" I think I managed that (although I'll let you be the judges of that!) and so here begins my follow up to "Paean to Stirchley" (Part 1 and Part 2).

Stirchley in The Time of Coronavirus - Part 1 (and I don't yet know how many parts there will be!) begins at my favourite place in Stirchley...the cafe!

Shuttered up with no chance of reopening for the foreseeable future - I now have to make my own breakfast! (At least I've managed to obtain plenty of bacon...so far!)

Moving on to a sight which must be very worrying for the owners. The Three Horseshoes pub had been in (terminal?) decline for many years, when it suddenly closed and became a hive of activity. A complete refurbishment and transformation into The Bournbrook Inn was almost finished, the opening was imminent...and then coronavirus happened!

I'm not sure where the 'Established 1836' comes from, so I may need to do a bit more research!

Moving along the Pershore Road and past the British Oak we come to this little selection of shops/businesses.

Caspian used to be my go-to pizza place, but there's now so much more choice in Stirchley. If I hadn't done this picture I wouldn't have noticed that Elite Letting Solutions has been replaced with Yoga Borne! But my main worry is Phull Watch Co. I am a regular visitor - once every five years - when I need a new battery in my watch! It is a proper 'old school' watch/clock shop and the turban wearing Mr Phull is always on hand to efficiently replace the battery in my watch. I don't know how many years he's been there, but I do hope he returns when this is all over!

A little further along the Pershore Road, and on the other side, we reach Loaf; Stirchley's very own bakery and cookery school.

Stirchley Stores is no more, but Loaf has expanded to fill the void. Akash and Midland Computer are still going...hopefully! The masked couple (sign of the times!) buying bread from the 'outdoor' are people I occasionally see in the café and we had a brief chat (staying 2 metres apart!). Then Tony moved his van out of the way for my final picture of this little tour.

Although the shop is closed for the duration, it is protected by King Kong who appeared five years ago and is now one of the landmarks of the city!

I'll follow up with more images and observations from Stirchley in The Time of Coronavirus in the coming days/weeks.

#064 The White Swan, Digbeth : 1998 to 2020 (Revisited + RIP?)

This is what I wrote about The White Swan back in 2011 - 

The White Swan in Digbeth is another example of the fine pubs designed by James & Lister Lea. This is what it looked like in the mid 1930's.

Picture courtesy www.digital-photographic-images.co.uk.

In 1998 when I took this picture, The White Swan appears to have changed little.

At the time of taking this photo, I don't think I'd been inside, but this was rectified in 2002 when we were in Birmingham on one of our canal trips and ventured into Digbeth for a bit of a pub crawl.

This picture was taken on Saturday 7th September 2002.

It's difficult to tell from this picture if anything had changed. As I recall it was a busy, 'proper' pub only let down by the fact that the only 'quaffing' lager was Carlsberg (probably the worst lager in the world in those days - it is better nowadays!). I've visited at least once more since and found it to be a very pleasant place if you like real pubs.

On to 2011 and this is how The White Swan looks.

Again, it looks almost identical to how it was in 1998. Obviously, it is a Grade II listed building and so there's not much that can be altered, however, none of the buildings that were on either side have survived.

Amazingly it is now a Marston's pub, but you wouldn't know it from the exterior.

I'm not sure whether I'd revisited The White Swan in the intervening years, but I did take a photo on the afternoon of Wednesday 31st January 2018.

Very little had changed and there had been no progress on the development of the adjoining land. A few months later I did pay a visit as part of the Beer & Pubs Forum Proper Day Out in July, but I didn't take another photo on the day!

So, onto the present day. I was aware that the family who had run The White Swan for the last 50+ years were planning to sell up and go back to Ireland, but it was still a shock to find this on the afternoon of Tuesday 18th February 2020. 

This article explains the context much better than I could! Seemingly it is on the market for in excess of £400,000, but I've been unable to find any further details.

It would be a very sad day if The White Swan is truly lost, but hopefully it's Grade II listed status may save it from demolition...fingers crossed!

#245 The Station, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands : 2004 to 2018

"But the Royal Borough of Sutton Coldfield isn't on the canal!", I hear you say.
"And, you'd be right", I reply. "Let me tell you a tale...if only I could remember the details!"

It was the evening of Tuesday 31st August 2004 and on our journey back from Oxford (the long way around) we moored for the night at The Kingsley (#178) on the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal. This was a place we'd often stopped at but, for some reason that escapes me now, we caught a cab into Sutton Coldfield. (I presume that it was because we fancied a pub crawl in, relatively, new surroundings than a night in one pub we were very familiar with.)

I had been to The Station previously (and enjoyed it) but not as part of a canal holiday.

As I recall it was a proper pub...but no other memories remain. (We did visit a couple more pubs and finished the night in a local Chinese restaurant where I encountered the best ever Chinese curry sauce! Not yet returned!)

I don't think that I've actually had a drink in The Station since then, but in my other life as an artist, I frequently attend craft markets in Sutton and the cheapest car parking is in the station car park. (No not the pub car park, but the one in the actual station next door to the pub - clear?)

So, on Saturday 17th August 2013, I took this picture on my way back to the car park. Unsurprisingly, it had undergone a complete redecoration. The Station is one of the most popular pubs in Sutton Coldfield and also hosts a comedy club.

I was back, with my camera, but not at the market on Saturday 5th May 2018 to see the newly redecorated version of The Station.

Quite a bold repainting job; and I'm pleased to report that The Station is still as popular as ever.

This is what it looks like given the Photo Digital Art treatment.

 

In the Footsteps of Phyllis...(Part 1)

This entry doesn't exactly fall within the usual remit of this blog, but it's near enough for me. I first discovered the photos by Phyllis Nicklin a few years ago, initially, via the BrumPic website and was immediately fascinated by these pictures of a Birmingham in the 50's and 60's from a time before I came to the city. 

A brief biography of Phyllis Nicklin can be found here on the BrumPic website.

The initial photos had been digitised and stored at Birmingham University, but a couple of years ago Dave Oram of BrumPic discovered another set of photos at the university leading to the exhibition 'Nicklin Unseen'.

I had thought about seeking out some of the locations and taking contemporary photos, but decided that it was far too big an undertaking. I did however use a picture of The Great Stone pub in Northfield for this blog entry - #158.

However, that's as far as it went until I recently became aware that The Grid Project had decided to take on the job and invite participation from Birmingham's photographers. I jumped at the chance and I've now submitted my first six pictures.

Dave Allen (no relation) is curating the project and has limited everyone to six pictures initially so that everyone gets a fair crack of the whip. My six included five canal locations...and The Great Stone!

So, I set off for deepest, darkest Northfield to take a picture of The Great Stone - this is the scene that greeted me.

One of the banes of my photographic life - the big white van! I've lost count of the number of times that a delivery van or lorry has spoiled a potentially great photo. It also wasn't the best time of day for the light and so I decided to return another day (the next day as it turned out!).

© Peter Allen (2017) for The Birmingham Photographic Grid Project 2017

Amazingly, roadworks had appeared overnight, but at least the white vans were much less conspicuous. 

Phyllis Nicklin (1953) © The University of Birmingham

This was Phyllis' photo - not too much has changed in 64 years.

As I returned to my car someone asked me if I knew where The Great Stone was. "The pub is just over the road" I replied, but he was actually looking for The Great Stone. It is to be found in the village pound behind the gate to the right of the pub. His reaction was one of underwhelmment; it isn't a massive boulder and he was concerned that his brother and wife would not be impressed when they visit from Leicestershire. I made sympathetic noises and departed.

My next location was way over the other side of town in the shadow of Spaghetti Junction. This was the one picture that I had really wanted to attempt.

Phyllis Nicklin (1968) © The University of Birmingham

The title of this one is Hockley Brook, Salford, Birmingham and I couldn't immediately place it. The map location given was also incorrect, so I was intrigued to track down the actual location. I realised that it was on the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal just before it meets the Tame Valley Canal and the Grand Union Canal at Salford Junction. We've sailed over this aqueduct many times, but I had never seen it from this perspective.

© Peter Allen (2017) for The Birmingham Photographic Grid Project 2017

This is how it looks now - almost everything around the waterways has changed, but the canal, River Tame (flowing from right to left under the canal) and Hockley Brook (running parallel to the canal) follow the same course.

My next location was only a few yards away on the Tame Valley Canal. I knew exactly where this one was because we'd traversed this section of canal last June.

Phyllis Nicklin (1968) © The University of Birmingham

© Peter Allen (2017) for The Birmingham Photographic Grid Project 2017

All that remains is the canal and the toll island, everything else has been consumed by Spaghetti Junction. I was quite surprised to see a boat approaching, as the Tame Valley Canal isn't one of the busiest waterways (although it is well worth a visit!). The people on the boat had just bought it from Walsall and were taking it to Market Harborough - perfect boating weather!

Onwards! My next destination was Farmer's Bridge. This time I knew exactly where I was going.

Phyllis Nicklin (1953) © The University of Birmingham

© Peter Allen (2017) for The Birmingham Photographic Grid Project 2017

This is the start of the descent of the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal through the thirteen Farmer's Bridge Locks. Back in 1953 the canal arm to the right extended much further than it does today; now it is known as Cambrian Wharf which is overlooked by the Flapper pub (unseen to the right).

As I was strolling by the locks after taking this picture I met a chap who'd known the pub as Noah's Ark back when he was a student in the 80's and he was marvelling at how it had all changed since those days.

This is one of my favourite views of the canals in Birmingham and here's one of my Photo Digital Art pictures that I took last summer.

© Photo Digital Art 2017

 My final destination was Gas Street Basin. At first glance, I thought that I'd been given the same two pictures, but on closer inspection, the photos were taken seven years apart, from the same location.

Phyllis Nicklin (1961) © The University of Birmingham

© Peter Allen (2017) for The Birmingham Photographic Grid Project 2017

Phyllis Nicklin (1968) © The University of Birmingham

© Peter Allen (2017) for The Birmingham Photographic Grid Project 2017

It is interesting to note the subtle differences between 1961 and 1968 and the not-so-subtle changes since. I do remember the days before the footbridge was built and back to a time when just about the only access to the canals in Birmingham was at Gas Street Basin.

I had a long chat with a couple of Canal & River Trust fund raisers who were valiantly (but in vain, whilst I was there) trying to sign up new 'Friends' of the CRT. One is a fellow boater and her boat is moored at Calf Heath on the Staffs & Worcs Canal and the other is an archaeology student at Birmingham University (perhaps she might get involved in the project).

So, there you have it, my experiences on my first Birmingham Grid Project outing. These photos won't be uploaded to the project website for a few days, but once it gets into full swing you'll be able to see just how much Birmingham has changed since Phyllis Nicklin took to the streets with her camera. I can't wait to see the other photos (and get out to do some more myself!).