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Hill Street Pub

Dennis Williams

Gone but not forgotten
Someone on another Channel posted this pic of an old pub in Hill Street.....the 'ORIGINAL' QUEEN'S HEAD.....with no comment....now it is not mentioned in McKenna's Pubs of Brum books, and I can so far find no mention of it anywhere at all.....the old drawings and paintings of Hill Street, however, show similar looking Pubs, but with no names.....and one has those characteristic railings and slope in the Pub pic...and from the 1778 Maps, given that Hill Street was built circa sometime after 1750, as a continuation of Tonks Street, it looks like it might have been on the corner of Hill Street and Navigation Street, where Chetwynds was much later...? Now I think that the infamous Golden Eagle was corner old Swallow Street, Hill Street, and I was rather hoping that the Queen's Head was it's predecessor, but maybe not.....what does the team think?...pretty please......


51668653_10216202863198189_2397824681659858944_n.jpgHill St Painting.jpgHill Street old print.jpg29542284_430196504086786_3744419534494316_n.jpgHill St Map 1778.jpg
 
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Dennis. I think the question is whether the pub is actually in Hill St Birmingham (I add the Birmingham as there have been other instances where a photo has been attributed to Birmingham when it was from another town). I can find no evidence of a pub of that name in Hill St, though admit I cannot be certain of that, The pub on the corner of Swallow St was in 1869 transferred to Frances Ward, and was then known as Derby House.
 
I too have searched for the QH in Hill St ‘B’ham’, but can find no references Mike. I wonder if the Queens Head photo is of Hill Street in Walsall as I found a couple of references to a Queens Head, Hill Street in the Walsall Advertiser. One is dated 1867. Viv.
 
hi dennis i am sure this has been discussed before but i think the hill looks too steep to be our hill st..

lyn
 
The only pub shown on my 1901 map is just below the General Post Office, no pub shown on the corner of Swallow Street, was that the Golden Eagle.
 
Great info lads and lasses...knew you would fix it....had a suspicion it was a 'foreigner'...! You lot really are special.....with grateful thanks.....it's a bit like that Broad Street...Wolverhampton pic that puzzled some folk yonks ago....
 
Now I remember - thought the photo looked familiar ! Looked at Lyn’s Walsall link and it’s hard to imagine the photo is of that street. But who knows.

Re the Golden Eagle, the one we all remember was built about 1930, and there was a GE on the site before that time. Looking at newspaper references, I suspect that in its earlier days it had another name. Any ideas ?

I’ve found a ‘GE’ ref in 1884 but nothing before that time. Possible earlier names might be The Jim Crow Liquour Vaults & Tavern (near to New St in a ref in 1865) or the Unicorn Inn (at #103, ref in 1870). Or maybe it was the Horse & Jockey (ref in 1860 places it near the railway station) or the Sampson and Lion Liquuor Vaults and Commercial Tavern (ref in 1865 states near the railway station and town hall). I have no precise idea where these were located on Hill Street, but they all were once on Hill Street. Viv
 
hi viv did you take a street walk up hill st its still got its cobbled road...love to see that:)

lyn
 
it is viv...next time i am over that way i must take a better look at hill st:)
 
Apart from the Golden Eagle...I did a bit some time ago about an old Pub on the other side of Hill Street (photo included).....I think mikejee sorted it's name.....but I am so doddery now, can't remember!...and here are a few photos that show a few oldies mentioned by Joe McKenna....maybe included in these old photos.....and his text, which might bring back a few more memories....?

"Hill Street Pubs by Joe McKenna"
The Golden Eagle stood on the corner of Hill Street and Swallow Street in one form or another for over 206 years. The original house was an end terrace house, depicted though not named on Thomas Hanson's Plan of Birmingham for 1778. The Golden Eagle was first named in the Birmingham directory of 1829. Joseph Wasdell was its landlord.

Its address was given as 49 Swallow Street. Wasdell died at the age of forty-seven on 19 March 1842.

In an 1870 drawing of Hill Street, the Golden Eagle is shown as a three-storey house with a corner doorway and a large lantern above the door. Alterations and updates were carried out to the house in 1878 by architect Charles Brook Dobson, and in 1888 by William Horton.

Taken over by Ansells, the old house was pulled down, and a new Golden Eagle, designed by Frank Osborne, was built in 1935.

The ground floor of the Eagle was faced in polished black granite, above the corner entrance was a very Germanic-looking golden eagle. During the 1970s and 80s, the large upstairs assembly room was used for live music at the weekends. The Golden Eagle closed on 5 January 1984 for the redevelopment of the area. For a decade or so previously it had been a bikers' pub, so naturally the various bikers groups descended on their old stomping ground for a last nostalgic drink.

Unfortunately words were exchanged, and a riot broke out. At the end of the night the pub itself was badly damaged; there was blood and skin all over the place, four customers were arrested for being drunk and disorderly, and one policeman was sent off to hospital with a suspected broken nose. Its replacement was the more up-market Henry's, built a few years later, a little further up the hill. It was situated in an interesting new build on the corner of Paradise Street and HillStreet. Henry's adopted an Art Nouveau decor, right from its entrance lamp, very Paris Metro in concept, right throughout the building. It was high Victoriana, with little embellishments that showed that someone had made an effort in its creation. The original entrance lamp has now gone, and the house has been renamed Victoria's.

Further down, on the other side of the road, was the Horse & Jockey at 13 Hill Street. It was established in 1822 by Thomas Greensill. In 1875 the house was renamed Sir John Barleycorn, soon shortened to John Barleycorn. The house closed in 1883. At 14 Hill Street, in the previous century, was the Saracen's Head. In existence by 1767, John Bolton was listed as its licensee. He was followed from 1773 by John Hardman. He established a building society here as an advertisement in Ariss Gazette for 5 February 1776 relates. Hardman died on 23 August r Sro. Five more licensees followed at the Saracen's Head, before its closure in 1842.

At 23 Hill Street was the Bull's Head, of 1823, under James Cottrell. It briefly became the Theatre in 1852-3, with Adam Uriah Bryant as landlord. In 1855 it was renamed the Star & Garter under incoming owner and licensee James Price. This house closed in 1870. Nearby on the corner of Hill Street and 13 Cross Street was the short-lived beerhouse, the Swan & Railway of 1855, under George Stainton. At 35 Hill Street was the Jolly Bacchus, an early nineteenth-century public house established by 1822, which closed about 1842. At 45 Hill Street was Tonk's Hotel, taking its name from John Tonks. It opened in 1859, but had closed by 1862.

Of boxing interest was the Sampson & Lion, at 46 Hill Street. Jabez White, a former Birmingham boxer of national repute, kept the house from torr to 1914. The Sampson & Lion is first recorded one hundred years earlier in 1811. John Atkins was its first known licensee. In 1883, the Staffordshire brewers Fox & Co. bought the house, but it was later taken over by Ind Coope & Co. The Sampson &Lion surrendered its license in _1936.

The Rodney at 51 Hill Street was opened by William Harper in 1821. He was a plater by trade. The house first appears by name in Pigot's Directory of 1828. In 1882, nearby slum Green's Village was demolished for the cutting of John Bright Street, and so too was the old Rodney. The Derby House in Hill Street lost its license about this time, though it had not been scheduled for demolition. The house was purchased by the well known and highly respected publican George Mountford in 1885, and he succeeded in having the Rodney's license transferred to the Derby House. On the approval of the Licensing Justices, he reopened the house as the Hill Street Stores.

The Falstaff, at 72 Hill Street, originated in 1812 under Henry Taylor, whose obituary appears in the Gazette for 26 May 1823. He was followed by Joshua Knight, landlord for sixteen years, who, on retiring, was succeeded by Elizabeth and Mary Grundy. The house closed about 1845. The Lord Hill was at ioj Hill Street. It was named after Rowland Hill (1772-1824), Lord of Hawkstone, second in command at the Battle ofWaterloo. The Lord Hill originated c. 1817. It had two known licensees, Thomas Linton and Walter Grosvenor. It was taken over by Edward Tidman, 1831 and renamed the Unicorn. It closed in 1870.

Also at 103 Hill Street, but only after some street renumbering, was the Jim Crow. The pub was named after an American Negro minstrel. This pub in Hill Street, not far from the notorious Green's Village, developed a reputation as a bit of a thieves den, and place of low repute. It closed apparently on the recommendation of the police, c. 1871.

Two short-lived houses in Hill Street: the Artillery Man of 1818, run by James Martin, and the Bacchus run by James Doughty from 1812 to 1818. The Acorn, on the corner of Hill Street and Cross Street, later renamed Severn Street, had a bewildering number of addresses due to redevelopment in the area. A casualty of the Blitz, it closed in 1941.

The Grapes at 78 Hill Street originated in 1840, Samuel Sims was its first landlord. The house was acquired by the Manchester Brewery Co. Ltd in 1898, who were later taken over by Ansells. Under them the old house was demolished, and a new house built to the design of John P Osborn & Son in 1938. It was three storeys in height and faced in a combination of block and slab terracotta. The completed pub was featured in the Brick Builder for September 1938.Visually the Grapes was very similar to Osborn's other Hill Street pub, the Golden Eagle.The Grapes closed in 1964, and was rebuilt to a much plainer design. By the 1980s the house was looking a little seedy. It was extensively refurbished, and re-opened as Hill Street Q's, a development devoid of character. It had become a large room. In September 2005 the pub closed and became a mini-mart.

Just the other side of Severn Street is the Bright House, an M&B pub, taking its name from the nearby John Bright Street. The house began life as the 1960s Glue Pot. Why it was so named was always a bit of a mystery. Looking a little stale by the 1970s, it was closed down and totally refurbished. The house reopened as Sam Weller's in July 1979. The name comes from a character in Charles Dicken's Pickwick Papers. In September 2005 the pub's name was changed to the Bright House. This 1960s triangular block in which Bright's is situated was built to replace a Blitzed site. Before the war M&B had another public pub on this site, the Malt Shovel at 88 Hill Street. An early Victorian house, it was updated by architect R.J. Matthews in 1884. In 1899, M&B bought the house, and brought in James & Lister Lea to design an extension. They submitted plans on 31 May 1899 for a semi-circular structure to Matthews' house. More than twenty years after the end of the war, M&B submitted plans for the development of this large corner block. The result was the Savoy Hotel, and a new public house, the Alhambra. The decor of the house was Victorian, many of the original features had been saved after the closure of the old Woodman in Easy Row. The pub was on two levels, with a second entrance around the corner in John Bright Street. Losing popularity its name changed to the Parasol.

Three houses in Hill Street still remain. The Spread Eagle, a beerhouse, appears in the obituary of its former owner, 'Mrs Higson', in the 21 November 1821 edition of the Birmingham Gazette. The Rose & Crown at 1 Hill Street, on the corner of
New Inkleys, originated post-1818. The first known licensee was John Harbidge, who died in August 1829. The Rose & Crown closed in 1856 for the building of New Street Station.

The last of the public houses in Hill Street is the existing Crown Hotel, on the corner of Station Street. It is first listed in Kelly's Directory of Birmingham for 1896. The Crown was a William Butler's tied house, allegedly designed by Birmingham architect Thomas Plevins. The house still retains much of its original features, including its long public bar, and an original large M&B mirror. The first licensee of the Crown was John Webb, landlord for over twenty years. In 1996 it gathered the Dutch overspill from Raphael's, as Dutch, Scots and Swiss football supporters watched their teams on the big TV screens, and played pool against the natives. It was a good time.

Anyone got any photos of some of these ancient hostelries.....?



17389251_1935060756726686_2467441565491342894_o.jpg17353461_10155021897911067_3298386380414809076_n.jpgHill Street looking up 1910.jpg17021901_10210585277661575_6347417273340163357_n.jpg
 
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Hi
Not sure what I'm doing here but I am very interested in The Unicorn Pub Hill Street as my great great grandfather is listed as living here on the 1871 census as a Licensed Victualler. Any Help greatly appreciated.
 
This must have been a beerhouse. Thus it is not named in the directories. Can you give us the name of your gg grandfather or the number of the place in hill st, so we can identify it?
 
Annette
The pub seems to be unusual in that it was called by two names. There are references to it as both The Unicorn or the Jim Crow back as far as 1845. although the Jim Crow seems more common and usually appears in directories.
Aris Birm Gaz.14.7.1845.jpg

Robert took it over in 1865. Previously it had been run by Samuel Worthington, but it went of for sale in 1864 and 1865 and Samuel died in 1865. The licence was suspended for a while and Robert took over and seemed to have a second business selling canaries, which from other references seem popular at the time !!

Birm post.4.10.1865.jpgBirm Gaz.28.9.1865.jpgBirm Gaz. 9.12.1867.jpgAris birm Gaz,28.6.1865.jpg

He did fall foul of the law a few times
Birm. . 9.1.1869.jpg
The reference to him in the 1871 census seems to be shortly before he left, as the pub and contents are up for sale inBirm post .20.11.1871.jpg
The building is not listed as a pub again as far as I can see . It does not appear in directories again and by 1976 103 and 104 are an undertakers
On the c1889 map below 103 and 104 seem to be one building. The position of 103 is marked in blue. Probably this was a new building and
the old pub was demolished before the undertakers moved in
map c1889 showing 103 Hill St.jpg
 
That’s fascinating. Thank you. The canaries entry does say Mill St but I’m guessing it’s a typo. How do you find out all this stuff?
 
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