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Beeches pub

zonda

Brummie babby
Anybody on this site that used to go to the Beeches pub on Thornbridge avenue in Great Barr? I used to go there during the seventies.
 
Hi Zonda,
I used to play on the pub car park as a kid long before the 70's. Can remember my dad sending me with a bottle to be filled up with 'Nut Brown Ale' from their 'Outdoor'. They obviously didn't think kids would drink the stuff in those days. Probably by the time you were there, it had become more refined. I notice there is a good view of the pub on Google's street cam. First time I've seen the place for ages.
oldmohawk
:)
 
Hi there yes we used to use it as Pete's brothers lived close by. It did go down the hill slightly and there was a lot of trouble so we gave it a miss. Jean.
 
Yep I remember the Beeches pub and the fish shop opposite I also remember the pillar box our lot had a leap frog craze I nearly landed on my nose but just managed to keep my balance every time I post a letter the thoughts come flooding back a lot of my school mate lived on the Beeches estates thanks for the memory cheers Tom:)
my timescale the early 50s
 
Hi, Lencops,
That was the time I remember from. As a local pub, some regulars had their 'own chairs' in the bar/lounge and anyone else sitting in them were in trouble. I remember standing in very long queues at the fish & chip shop watching the potato peeler in action. I knew the people who lived in the house next to the pub, they had a nice fence one side of their garden by the bowling green, and who could forget the field and brook behind the pub - the estate's local play field.
oldmohawk
 
Hi,oldMohawk,
My uncle used to be the "bookie"at the Beeches Pub, Jim Sillars was his name,he collected bets from all the pubs in the area during the war & just after,this was when bookmakers were illegal but I think the police turned a blind eye.

Brian Harding
 
Regarding the Beeches Pub, I have never seen a photo of it taken in the 1940s/1950s.
It often gets mixed up with early photos of the Beeches Pub that used to be in Northfield.
Some comments about this are in the Old Pub Thread in #191 and an explanation in #452
 
Its ironic that although I lived in Scarsdale Road, a 5minute walk away I never once stepped through its front door.I had plenty of pints(glad to say not on one night) at the Old Horns,The Towers,Tennis Courts,Church Tavern,Boars Head,Golden Hind and used the Drakes Drum as my local.Cheers
 
lesr1,
I also visited those watering holes you mention,when it was my 18th birthday[1951] my dad took me to the " Beeches"to buy me [as he thought] my first point as we got to the bar the barman looked at me & said your usual Brian,well if you could have seen my dads face it was a picture but the laugh was on me as dad made me pay for the beer,we both laughed for many years about that.
 
In the early 50’s in the summer on a Saturday evening my parents used to go to the Beeches. I went with them and played in the grounds whilst they were in the Assembly Room (I would call it a lounge now!!!). They supplied me with a glass of pop (“don’t break the glass” and “keep off the bowls lawn”!!!!) and a packet of Smiths Crisps (salt in a blue twist inside). I played out the back until the light was failing and home we went. Tried to explore the pub a few times =random sharp words=parent court=stinging sensation=back outside till time to go!!
When I was 9 or 10 my job on a Sunday was to go and buy the beer-Bottled Nut Brown and a pint of draught bitter. These days Social Services would be knocking on the door!!!
I remember (as much as the grumpy recorder in my head permits!!) the pub had quite a few rooms- if you were facing the front of the building the Assembly was on the far left, next right was the public bar (very sparse and typical), outdoor (tiled walls and floors with a metal railing structure and the serving counter was just like the bar elsewhere in the pub-in fact part of the bar which ran across the pub), another bar, a smaller “Smoke” and a ladies only room (bar!!!). Toilets at each end of the building. In the early 60’s from around the time I was 16 or so at Sunday lunchtime I used to go and watch the group playing in the Assembly. Beer I think around 1/3d to 1/9d per pint. Happy days.
I last went there in 1989 on a family visit back to the Midlands and there was a bouncer on the door!!!! The place had changed considerably---I think some rooms had been knocked through. Time passes but a bit disappointing.
 
Thanks DJRVST - Great description of the pub, brings back many memories, particularly the tiled walls and floors of the outdoor which I also visited to buy Nut Brown Ale for Dad.
I used to watch 'regulars' walk up our road to the pub in the evenings, and quite often saw some of them stagger back much later. I've never seen a photo of the pub from the 1940s/50s and have not seen the pub for years. I've just had a look on street view and it looks quite reasonable, probably very different inside, but the outside is a typical example of a 1930s suburban pub.
 
Hi Jean - I'm so out of touch I had never heard of Hungry Horse pubs but I've had a search on Google and am now up to date.
Strange things on Google Street view, on the corner of Hassop Rd/Thornbridge Ave, the image is dated 2009 and no sign of Hungry Horses. Move slightly along Thornbridge Ave and the image date jumps to 2012 and the Hungry Horse pub appears. I must say the pub looks ok and they have put a little walled garden in front.
Phil
 
hi jean;
Its amazing how these pubs are turning around now with these eating houses it was like years ago ; it was ansells pubs
that ruled the rost by out doing the M.B . PUBS like one on every corner until they had the last big strike and folded and they
had a cooperative to set up the aston brewerys in thimble lane aston; orgaised by the sacked workers whom decided enough was enough and set up there own brewery down there ; with the help of doug elliss son inlaw ;
but not only that the pub game is now folding and the licence committes of brum along with the licencesing poice officiers help
are closing down pubs left right and centre ; through variuos reasons ;such as trouble and druggs
they are now making them family orinated which is good ;and the only way these pubs get the licence is either making it a private club ; which is a
nonesence performance they still have the riff raft back in and the drunkeds and druggs ; and the only way foreward now is eating house such they call them the hungry horse pub ; i have been to one or more of these house some are good some are bad
with the service and with there menus ; some are situated in the wrong area and also on council estates which if you lived on your estate ; would you go to your local pub ; i think not especialy if you only live within the mile you certainly would not go i am sure ;when you can cook at home ;
decent eating houses are in demand these days and regards some of these resturants ninety nine of them should be closed down if you seen behind the scene
best wishes astonian;;
 
Do you also remember the old ladies coming out of the outdoor at the "Beeches" around about 7pm with a jug of draught ale covered with a tea towel for their husbands !!!,this was in the 1940s
 
Hi Phil and Alan. Old plumber I am sure somewhere on this thread someone mentions the outdoor and folk carrying their ale home in a jug?. The present manager of the Beeches treats his staff very well not like the one at Castle Brom. The last time I ate at the Beeches the manager did the cooking too and it was great but he moved to the Boars Head. So did we. Funny Phil I couldn't see any hungry horses on the map either!!!!!!!.
 
File.jpg
I was able to get hold of a copy of this picture of The Beeches pub on the Beeches estate in Great Barr. It is from around 1935 and the only picture i have seen of the pub without the motorway. I hope everyone likes it

kelly
 
kelly i think you have found a little gem there..from memory members are trying to find old pics of this pub...well done you ive just saved it..

lyn
 
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Thanks Kelly, I've said a few times in this thread and the Old Pubs thread, that I've never seen an early photo of the Beeches Pub and now I have !
It is also interesting to see the general view of the Beeches Estate.
 
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