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Gents Only rooms in pubs

jmadone

jmadone

master brummie
Just caught the last 5 minutes of a programme on t.v. featuring historical pubs and introduced by the Hairy Biker cooks. My wife mentioned that she could remember a pub we had visited that had a "snug". I couldn't recall it but told her I did remember that lots of pubs I used to frequent before I met her, had a G.O. or Gents Only where females, including the female bar staff, were prohibited. My local, The Sheldon, certainly had one and I can recall that when the Swan at Yardley was rebuilt there was one there called, if I am right, The Tartan Room. Did any other forum members use a G.O.?
 
The Cottage of Content on Kyrwicks Lane in Sparkbrook had a Gents Only, and I think the Belgrave on the corner of Moseley Road and Belgrave Road also had one.
 
"The Maypole", which stood at the Maypole Island on Alcester Road, had a gentlemens smoke room until about the early 1970s. It was converted into a restaurant [ladies admitted of course]. My father-in-law, Tom Budd, gave up using it in disgust & transferred his drinking to the British Legion. The Maypole was later demolished & replaced by an Aldi store.
 
I recall the Erdington Club, on Sutton New Road had a policy of men only in the snooker room right up until the mid-90’s
 
superdad3 said:
"The Maypole", which stood at the Maypole Island on Alcester Road, had a gentlemens smoke room until about the early 1970s. It was converted into a restaurant [ladies admitted of course]. My father-in-law, Tom Budd, gave up using it in disgust & transferred his drinking to the British Legion. The Maypole was later demolished & replaced by an Aldi store.
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The Maypole had a variety of rooms, apart from the "Smoke". I'm pretty sure there was a Ladies Only room too. Looking from the car park, these rooms were acessed through a door on the left. The door in the middle was the main bar and the right hand one led to the Assembly room, where concerts were held.
Back in the 50s the place used to be packed and it was a big pub.
I'm pretty sure a hotel was built on the site of the demolition.
 
I think the gents only room at the newly rebuilt Swan in Yardley was the Highlandier room, which had a tartan carpet.
 
Elmdon Boy said:
I think the gents only room at the newly rebuilt Swan in Yardley was the Highlandier room, which had a tartan carpet.
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You may well be right, all I can remember is that there was a Scottish connection and lots of tartan carpeting.
 
Our Dad told me, years ago that the Swan, Yardley, (probably the old one), was the biggest pub in Brum and that the Maypole was the second biggest.
 
maypolebaz said:
The Maypole had a variety of rooms, apart from the "Smoke". I'm pretty sure there was a Ladies Only room too. Looking from the car park, these rooms were acessed through a door on the left. The door in the middle was the main bar and the right hand one led to the Assembly room, where concerts were held.
Back in the 50s the place used to be packed and it was a big pub.
I'm pretty sure a hotel was built on the site of the demolition.
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Should have checked with my wife first - a real brummie who was born just around the corner from the Maypole - she agrees with you - Aldi is a bit further down the road from the island - she thinks the hotel is a travel lodge........
 
maypolebaz said:
Our Dad told me, years ago that the Swan, Yardley, (probably the old one), was the biggest pub in Brum and that the Maypole was the second biggest.
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The Swan (from the 70's) was in the Guinness book of records for having the longest bar space in the UK - that would be the of all the bars including the one in the ballroom area I guess.
 
superdad3 said:
Should have checked with my wife first - a real brummie who was born just around the corner from the Maypole - she agrees with you - Aldi is a bit further down the road from the island - she thinks the hotel is a travel lodge........
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Quick question, superdad. Whereabouts was your wife born then ?
 
The Shaftsmoor Pub had a G.O. Which my Dad used and later when my Mom joined him they drank in the large Assembly Room and sat at the same table every Sunday night with a group of friends.
 
PatHayward said:
The Shaftsmoor Pub had a G.O. Which my Dad used and later when my Mom joined him they drank in the large Assembly Room and sat at the same table every Sunday night with a group of friends.
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Yes,I was told about it,possibly one of the last to survive in the area,around the mid seventies.
 
What was the idea behind gents only rooms in pubs. Was it to give the man a sanctuary to escape his nagging wife!!!!;)
Only joking ladies, I love you all.
 
Women had to be restricted in those days in pubs. I remember going on a brewery visit in the black country with a group, which included Sarah, who drank pints. After the tour we went to the brewery tap, but Sarah was treated with great suspicion when she asked for a pint. Women should not do things like that
 
A Sparks said:
The Swan (from the 70's) was in the Guinness book of records for having the longest bar space in the UK - that would be the of all the bars including the one in the ballroom area I guess.
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I used a pub here in Leicester called The Dominion,in Leicester talk,The Dommy. Anyway i got talking to the landlord one day,hearing my accent asked where i was from.
Telling him i was a brummie and giving him a rundown of my old haunt.s,he said he managed The Swan once upon a time,but the pub actually had a manager for every room,nice feller,and a good gaffer, so had no reason to doubt him.Though The Dommy is now a mini Tesco,shame,as was a decent place for a beer or two
 
Elmdon Boy said:
What was the idea behind gents only rooms in pubs. Was it to give the man a sanctuary to escape his nagging wife!!!!;)
Only joking ladies, I love you all.
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Possibly to do with reliving working men of their wages before they got home from work to spend on their family’s
 
I always understood that it was a place where men could express their views and use the language of the workplace, i.e. profane language, without upsetting any women that may have been offended by the use of such language.
 
My husband agrees with that comment. When he worked at the Three Horseshoes on the corner of the Coventry Road and Horseshoe Lane in the early 70s it had two bars, a lounge, smoke room and a G.O.
Yardley Wood Social Club had men only in the snooker room.
 
Perhaps your husband served me to a few pints as I, together with a few my of friends, used the Three Horseshoes in the late 60s and early 70s. We used the GO exclusively.
 
Women would often go into the ‘Snug’ - less visible there. Remember Ena Sharples and Winnie Caldwell in Coronation Street ? Always in the snug.

I still don’t like going into a pub on my own. And it’s taken me a long time to go up to a bar to buy drinks on my own. ( Well that’s my excuse !) Viv.
 
The Redhill in Hay mills had a gents only. I remember a time in the early 50s when mom wanted to speak to dad about something important. He was in the gents only she would not go in and fetch him so she sent me, and dad was not pleased.
 
jmadone said:
Perhaps your husband served me to a few pints as I, together with a few my of friends, used the Three Horseshoes in the late 60s and early 70s. We used the GO exclusively.
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Quite possibly. The gaffer was John Davidson and his wife was Jo. Paul (my husband) remembers a gentleman who always ordered his pint of mild using a form of backslang.
 
pjmburns said:
Quite possibly. The gaffer was John Davidson and his wife was Jo. Paul (my husband) remembers a gentleman who always ordered his pint of mild using a form of backslang.
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Would he ask for a "Top Joint" of "toe Nail"? More rhyming slang than backslang. (backslang would be a tinp of dlim)
 
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