• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Pubs on the Coventry Road, Small Heath.

A slight possibility for the name might be the Peter Walker & Co brewery. This should be distinguished from Peter Walker & Son, which later became Tetley-Walker and part of Allied Breweries. Peter Walker & Co bought the Willow Brewery at Wrexham off Robert Evans and had some pubs in Birmingham. The only one in Birmingham I have record of is The Rainbow in Bordesley High St (https://www.breweryhistory.com/Defunct/WM_Birmingham.htm), but the Midland pubs site says (https://www.midlandspubs.co.uk/breweries/staffordshire/peter-walker.htm) that they had pubs (presumably meaning more than 1) in Birmingham. Possibly those referred to previously were two of them. The brewery was taken over by Atkinsons, and I don't know about the Small Heath Tavern, but the George can be seen to be Atkinsons in the photo. A bit dubious an explanation perhaps, but was the Smallheath Tavern Atkinsons also ?
 
Well Mike, I'm not sure but I think the Small Heath Tavern ended up as a M & B House so there is a possibility that it was previously an Atkinson House
 
Mike
Ignore what I said previously The Small Heath Tavern was started out as a Walkers pub as well as can be seen from this photo so your theory about the Wrexham brewery is very likely correct.
 

Attachments

  • img256.jpg
    img256.jpg
    232.8 KB · Views: 90
Heres some you missed, Small Heath Tavern, Regents Park Tavern, Tile Cottage and the Old Gate. O0
My mom and dad ran the Small Heath Tavern in the late 1960's also the Charles Napier pub, Gooch road, in 1965. Do any of you know, how I can get hold of records, that I can have copies of, to give to my mom? We are trying to find photos etc and I am not sure how to go about it. I do t live in Birmingham any more, but would love to do something
 
Hi Bernadette

I can't help you with any records, though I'm not quite what records you would be looking for. There are photos of the Small Heath Tavern on this thread that you can copy and whilst I realise that the Sir Charles Napier was not on Coventry Rd in Small Heath I will supply you with a couple of photos of the pub which was on the corner of Bissell Street and Gooch St in Balsall Heath
 

Attachments

  • Balsall Heath Gooch St Sir Charles Napier.jpg
    Balsall Heath Gooch St Sir Charles Napier.jpg
    184.5 KB · Views: 31
  • Highgate Gooch St The Sir Charles Napier.jpg
    Highgate Gooch St The Sir Charles Napier.jpg
    202.4 KB · Views: 29
Last edited:
I have a building whose purpose I should like to identify. This one is on the Coventry Road. Viv.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    114.1 KB · Views: 55
yes Alan you beat me to it the brighton arms and it was liam occonor the last owner to have that pub whom bought it from the brewery ......
 
One to watch. The current state of the Brighton Arms. Hopefully there's a future for it. Such an interesting building, pity if it should 'disappear'. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
Well Mike, I'm not sure but I think the Small Heath Tavern ended up as a M & B House so there is a possibility that it was previously an Atkinson House

The Small Heath Tavern was part of the Peter Walker estate. The company had offices in Colmore Row and had a number of pubs in Birmingham. The Wrexham name wasn't simply colloquial - the pub is listed as The Wrexham in Birmingham's licensing records. I believe that it was a branding exercise and that the pubs were supplied with lager brewed at Wrexham.
 
Does anyone know what The Small Heath Tavern, Coventry Road in 1851 was known as in later years. I have an ancestor and his family on the census living at the Tavern for that year.

Hi Scarlet
Just joined the group. I have an ancestor who ran Regents Park Tavern Coventry Rd in 1911, so its probably the same one.
 
My mom and dad ran the Small Heath Tavern in the late 1960's also the Charles Napier pub, Gooch road, in 1965. Do any of you know, how I can get hold of records, that I can have copies of, to give to my mom? We are trying to find photos etc and I am not sure how to go about it. I do t live in Birmingham any more, but would love to do something
[/QUOTE
 

I am assuming that your dad was Thomas Boyle as I see he was licensee of the Sir Charles Napier for a few months in 1966 and previously the licensee of the Small Heath Tavern between November 1965 and July 1966.
 
I knew it as the Wrexham. It was dead in the week but busy on match days. There's a photo in the following link: http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/warwickshire/birmingham_b10_smallheathtavern.html Small Heath had its glory days from the 60s until the early 80s when everyone I knew started to move out. It was one of the best places to drink. My local was the Gunmakers on Green Lane. I also used the Brighton, Wrexham, New Inn (Nest), White Lion, Vine (Grapes), Black Horse, the Emerald, the Marquis, Cricketers. The Vine (grapes) and the Malt Shovel were favourite with older generation West Indians. I also used a lot of pubs in Bordesley Green but it was different to Small Heath. Small Heath as it was, no longer exists.
 
Just a little bit of information about the now demolished Old Lodge at 53 Coventry Road (corner of Bordesley Park Road). In 1881 a distant relation, James MASON, was the publican and in 1891 he was still living there at the age of 48 but is shown as a retired brewer. This may possibly be because his wife Selina died in 1889. By 1891 the pub had been renumbered to 101 and 103 Coventry Road.

Maurice :cool:
 
Last edited:
James had not been at the pub very long in 1881, as, although he is listed in the 1882 Kellys, in the 1880 edition the licensee is George Nicholls. The pub number changed between the 1884 and 1888 Kellys directory and James is still listed as the licensee up till the 1895 edition (which probably refers to 1894). In the 1896 edition the place is run by the unusually named George Slide
 
Thanks, Mike. In 1871 he was living in Windsor Street and working as a carpenter & joiner. While he was there, his son, also James, was a hairdresser and presumably doing it on the premises as he was doing 10 years later at 68 College Road.

They're bit of an odd family and probably the equivalent of today's pop culture - everybody thought they could run a pub, but it was a substantial building, yet they only appeared to employ one live-in young servant.

Maurice :cool:
 
Yes Maurice. He advertised several times for a servant girl. In 1885 he seems to have wanted to go upmarket a bit as he applied for a wine licence. He also seems to have been into horses and mechanical models
 

Attachments

  • Birm mail.27.7.1882.jpg
    Birm mail.27.7.1882.jpg
    72.2 KB · Views: 9
  • Birm post.4.9.1885.jpg
    Birm post.4.9.1885.jpg
    182.5 KB · Views: 9
Back
Top