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Stag and Three Horseshoes - Quinton

  • Thread starter www.midlandspubs.co.uk
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www.midlandspubs.co.uk

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Does anyone have any memories of this place?

Stag and Three Horseshoes - Quinton [pic attached]



In 2008 this pub received a makeover in which the building was painted white. All that lovely inter-war brickwork ruined forever.

The pub is pictured here just after it opened on July 23rd 1937. Replacing an older Stag and Three Horseshoes, this large structure was designed by the architectural firm of Scott and Clark.

Notice how the old coffee house was left standing close to the corner of Kent Road. This was later removed to facilitate the new road junction and the completion of the pub's large car park. With saloons that size you could get a lot of vehicles on that car park, providing of course, the customers could afford a car!

** note: I live in a house built in 1933 and it has a garage that was clearly built for one of these cars. I tried parking my Peugeot in there - I got the car in but I couldn't open the doors to get out!!

One has to wonder what the original role of that coffee shop was. It has the look of a smithy. Indeed, it is probable that a blacksmith operated next to the original pub as the name includes the "Three Horseshoes."

The sign of the Horseshoe can indicate that part of the pub was once used as a smithy. I have visited a fair number of pubs where the earliest licensees were also blacksmiths. One of the reasons is that many pubs were inns and built on turnpikes or highways. Consequently, a good number of their customers were travelling through with a horse or carriage.

Most Horseshoe pubs use a simple visual sign. However, the sign is made more significant by the virtue that it is related to the long-held tradition of a horseshoe being lucky. Single horseshoe signs have always been found on pubs that have a reputation for being lucky. The horseshoe was originally thought to be a protection against witches. It is important for the ends of the shoe to face upwards so that the 'luck' will not run out.

A lot of pubs located near a blacksmiths forge were called The Three Horseshoes. Naturally a horse having only three shoes would have to stop to be fitted with a fourth.

The original pub at the top of Long Lane and Mucklow Hill was not always called the Stag and Three Horseshoes. It was changed by Ann Green in the 1870's. Prior to this the pub was simply known as The Reindeer. However, 1841 Bentley's trade directory records the pub as the Reindeer and Horseshoe with victualler and butcher William Garrett as licensee. The maltster kept the inn with his wife Mary. They were succeeded by the Green family who kept the pub for the rest of the 19th century.

Lucy Green was both a victualler and farmer of 37 acres. A number of pubs in this area between Halesowen and Birmingham formed part of a farm. Lucy had been married to the butcher Thomas Green and lived at nearby Moor Street until she took over the Reindeer Inn. At the pub she was helped by her son William who was also a cattle dealer. Younger son Edward also helped with duties around the pub and farm. Lucy Green employed two servants. Donna Andrews worked as a bar maid.

In the early 1850's William married a woman from Cakemore called Ann and together they took over the running of the Reindeer Inn. During the 1850's they had two daughters, Sarah and Mary Ann. William died at a relatively young age and Ann Green continued as licensee of the Reindeer Inn for a generation.

Mitchell's and Butler's were responsible for the rebuilding of the Stag and Three Horseshoes. A long serving manager for the Cape Hill brewery was Albert Hands who was manager from the 1950's to the 1970's. The pub closed in 1987 for six months for major alterations. This could be when the building was converted into a Toby Carvery. The pub was closed again in 2008 for another makeover.

Cheers
Kieron www.midlandspubs.co.uk
 

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  • Quinton The Stag & Horseshoes.jpg
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I live a 2min walk from the Stag, used to always be in there 20yr ago but pubs change and not for the better sometimes. If I recall anything that i can tell you I will get intouch.
 
Hi Patty
Here's list of ALL licensees between 1959 and 1993 just in case it helps with the grey matter!!

Kind regards
Kieron www.midlandspubs.co.uk


Licensees of the Stag and Three Horseshoes
1959 - 1972 Albert Clarence Hands
1972 - 1979 Reginald Jones
1979 - 1985 Ronald Trevor Wagstaff
1985 - 1988 Laurence Francis Nicholas
1988 - 1988 Richard Graham Norton
1988 - 1988 John Poolton
1991 - 1992 David John Walker
1992 - 1992 David Malcolm Keen
1992 - 1993 Eric Schwarzer
1993 - John Mason Harris
 
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