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IRISH CENTRE DIGBETH TO CLOSE

Astoness

Astoness

TRUE BRUMMIE MODERATOR
Staff member
another loss for digbeth. the owners wanted to build a new centre on the site but the council would not agree to how high the building should be.... if the new build was too high for the council that seems a bit unfair considering the height of all these new buildings are that are going up :rolleyes:

www.bbc.co.uk

Sadness as Birmingham's Irish Centre closes after 50 years

The centre said the area is "changing rapidly" as it announced plans to move elsewhere.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
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Sad news indeed. I have many fond memories of Digbeth Irish Centre and seeing bands from Ireland play there. However, it has to be said, that whatever Digbeth is changing into, there is very little Irish heritage left there. St Anne's church, once a major part of the Irish community has been on its last legs for years. The few Irish pubs left were fading fast the last time I went down there, several years ago. Perhaps Kings Heath is a better location, as I believe there is still a strong Irish community in that part of the city?
 
i agree john...lets hope that the new venue will be a great success because digbeth as we knew it will be lost in the coming years...

lyn
 
Oh Dear! Does that mean that the St Patrick's Day parade will move too? Can't see them managing to close Kings Heath High Street at all let alone for a whole morning. That's very sad news.
 
The Kings Heath site is not in the centre of Kings Heath. It is on Wheelers Lane just down from the Billesley pub. At present it is a club and sports ground for WMPTE (or whatever they are called now). I think the article suggests they will continue to share facilities. No idea what they will do with the parade.
 
this snippet from the link i posted

Digbeth has been a hub for the Irish community in Birmingham and is the site of a huge annual St Patrick's Day Parade, which organisers confirmed would continue in the area.
 
Thanks Lyn. I think I had read an earlier article from the Mail which was vague about the future of the parade.
 
pjmburns said:
Thanks Lyn. I think I had read an earlier article from the Mail which was vague about the future of the parade.
Click to expand...

hi jan reading my link it does seem as though its intended to keep the parade in the digbeth area although having said that it may prove difficult in the coming years owing to all the redevelopment that will be happening...we shall have to see i guess

lyn
 
The Irish Centre seen in March 2013.



There is other sites down there that was Renault and Peugeot both now demolished and the replacement buildings yet to be built.
 
I guess that demographics are playing a part here. Many second and third generation Irish people may still have a keen identification with Ireland. However they may not see the need to have a strong involvement with a club that was set up primarily to cater for their parents and grandparents generation. I hope the new place succeeds but if it is to be based away from the mainstream around Wheeler's Lane, as opposed to being close to the city centre, or the centre of Kings Heath, its profile may well drop.
 
I will add one thing to my band playing at the Irish Club, It could get very rowdy at times, but great fun, everyone had a grand time
 
oldbrit said:
In the 1950s My band played at an Irish Club off the Cov Rd in Digbeth maybe the same building? Lots of fun. View attachment 139780
Click to expand...
The DRUMMER in my band was EDDIE (or TED as I knew him) HAYNES (Look at the drum top left pic) The late NORFOLK BRUMMIE A long and very prominent member of this forum, a good mate sadly missed, who by the way I found again after all those years, thanks to this forum
 

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JohnJames said:
Sad news indeed. I have many fond memories of Digbeth Irish Centre and seeing bands from Ireland play there. However, it has to be said, that whatever Digbeth is changing into, there is very little Irish heritage left there. St Anne's church, once a major part of the Irish community has been on its last legs for years. The few Irish pubs left were fading fast the last time I went down there, several years ago. Perhaps Kings Heath is a better location, as I believe there is still a strong Irish community in that part of the city?
Click to expand...
I grew up in Small Heath. As a toddler we lived on the Stratford Road. I went to Golden Hillock (infants) Tilton Road, infants and juniors, Holy Family Annex. We first used St Annes for Mass and the club that used to be on the corner before it was built behind the church. Our whole communities in Sparkhill and Bordesley Green were Irish and West Indian. There is no Irish Community in Birmingham anymore. I left and now live in Ireland. Peaky is fiction, 100%. The real gangster of Birmingham was from Small Heath and he had a very well known club. He's still alive but his fighting days are over.
 
jim1uk2001 said:
I grew up in Small Heath. As a toddler we lived on the Stratford Road. I went to Golden Hillock (infants) Tilton Road, infants and juniors, Holy Family Annex. We first used St Annes for Mass and the club that used to be on the corner before it was built behind the church. Our whole communities in Sparkhill and Bordesley Green were Irish and West Indian. There is no Irish Community in Birmingham anymore. I left and now live in Ireland. Peaky is fiction, 100%. The real gangster of Birmingham was from Small Heath and he had a very well known club. He's still alive but his fighting days are over.
Click to expand...
Similar background to mine and I am also now living in Ireland. I do believe that there is still a semblance of an Irish community in some parts of Brum, including Kings Heath but probably mostly second and third generation now as the generation of 1950s immigrants like my parents die off. Amongst other drinking dens, I went to the Garry Owen many times from when it started off in a large Nissen hut. I remember that they had great steaks
 
oldbrit said:
"Large Nissen hut" that sure rings a bell We played there in the mid 1950s??
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It was club called the Iron Curtain before becoming the Garryowen around 1969. Not sure about in the 1950s as a little bit before my time but the building looked like a transplanted WW2 military accommodation building. Would be interesting to discover how it ended up as a club and drinking den in Small Heath. Does any member know?
 
I'd completely forgotten about the wmpte grounds, as you say so many works sports grounds lost.
 
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