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Hunters Moon Castle Bromwich

Ingrid the pub has changed since then and is well worth a visit if it is pub grub you are after. We are going one lunchtime next week with our son and daughter in law. Jean.
 
I was a 'regular' in the Hunters' from 1970 for a good few years, first in the "International Lounge" under the managers' accomodation, [the two storey bit at the back]. The topless barmaids were in the function room on Sunday lunchtimes in the mid/late 70's, then the pub underwent a mini refurbishment and the Lounge, as above, became the bar and the old Bar and Outdoor became the lounge. Around this time quite a few local acts would 'play' in the Function Room, Bands such as 'Quill'[resident band?] and the Black Abbotts [of Russ Abbott fame] played there quite often too.
The name of the Manager and his Wife escape me at the moment but many of us 'regulars' remember the boss of the door staff for the Function Room, no names, but 'Norman the Doorman' had a good ring to it and as long as you behaved there was never a problem! Just remembered the name of the Licencee's Mr & Mrs Price, Head Barman for a while, during this time was Roy Irwin, his future wife Linda also worked behind the bar at the time.
 
My sister and I lived nearby and used to go round there to buy pop and crisps from the Outdoor.....as kids weren't allowed inside. This would have been mid 50s. I went to Heathlands Primary School with boy called Kenneth who's father was the licensee
 
Hi Ingrid and welcome to the forum. The pub sure has changed a lot over the years. We had a meal there a few weeks ago and are going again shortly. Will take a photo for you. Jean.
 
Remember getting on the 28 to go there for a couple of gigs. They were one of the first to have that lighting which shows up certain clothes as fluorescent (showed up all the bits as well). Funny how you associate venues with certain music, and this one for me is Spencer Davis and Keep on Runnin. God knows how I remember but also heard a rumour that night about Lulu and Stevie Winwood. Really weird how the brain stores that stuff. Or maybe I'm just really weird
 
Hi All.
My memories of the Hunters Moon take me back to the years 1960/63 when on a Saturday night they would have a Free & Easy,there was a lady who sung "Bobbies Girl" every week and was a cue to send all us men to the Gents and also a guy named John who gave a fair version of the big hit of the time "Moon River".

Regards Acklam19.
 
I remember going to the Hunters moon Sunday afternoons in the early 70s to watch some nice ladies dancing on stage
 
Hmm Chris Michael and his mates were often there while i was home cooking lunch:upset:

My two friends is going there tomorrow to meet some old friends...I would love to be a fly on the wall...
 
I was a 'regular' in the Hunters' from 1970 for a good few years, first in the "International Lounge" under the managers' accomodation, [the two storey bit at the back]. The topless barmaids were in the function room on Sunday lunchtimes in the mid/late 70's, then the pub underwent a mini refurbishment and the Lounge, as above, became the bar and the old Bar and Outdoor became the lounge. Around this time quite a few local acts would 'play' in the Function Room, Bands such as 'Quill'[resident band?] and the Black Abbotts [of Russ Abbott fame] played there quite often too.
The name of the Manager and his Wife escape me at the moment but many of us 'regulars' remember the boss of the door staff for the Function Room, no names, but 'Norman the Doorman' had a good ring to it and as long as you behaved there was never a problem! Just remembered the name of the Licencee's Mr & Mrs Price, Head Barman for a while, during this time was Roy Irwin, his future wife Linda also worked behind the bar at the time.

I read all the posts with interest, especially this one from Bilboc, it was my Mum and Dad, Harry and Diana Price that kept the Hunters Moon form 1966 to 1975, they moved there with myself and my younger brother in 66, i would have been 8 at the time and my brother 3, it was my Dad Harry that initiated the change of the then 'smoking room' to the first Discoteque in the country at the time, called the Safari Discoteque, all the walls were painted with wild animals in UV ink and when the UV lights were switched on they all glowed, as did all the guys white shirts, and the ladies white underwear im sure ! there were numerous problems in the early days with local youths fighting each other, the police were called almost every evening i recall, i have some evening mail cuttings that my late mum kept, the worst incident was when a police panda car was overturned and some cut and bruised police too ! after a year it was closed and converted into the first Caberet Retaurant in the country i believe, there were shows 6 nights a week and the infamous Stag show on sunday mornings, when you could come and watch 'blue' comedians and several 'ladies' removing thier clothing every week ! the queue to get in first and get the front row tables stared about an hour before we opened i recall, the bar staff had to pull off about 100 pints to keep up with the rush of Bitter and brown of milds on the bar i recall ! after the sucess of the shows a couple of years later we closed for another complete refurb, the room was extended out the back in an L shape and a new stage was built with an all new state of the art lighting and sound system (which i was lucky to operate every evening at the age of 13 !) some very happy memories there, including many Weddings for local people that were catered for in the 60's on saturdays, there must be plenty of local couples in thier 60's and 70's now that had thier wedding thier at the time..
 
My memories of the Hunters Moon is from two periods, firstly 1956-58 as a small child when we lived on the newly built Firs Estate, it seemed to be some sort of small prefabricated structure then. We moved away only to return to the area in Hurst Lane in 1964, I lived there until I married in 1978, the local I used was the Bradford Arms, but occasionally we would go in the lounge of the Hunters Moon and also the rather nice function room they had there, I remember a rather nice dinner dance from my girlfriends work held there in around 1972-73
 
You all may find the attached picture of interest. I can't remember where I got it from, probably off the web somewhere. Terry
 

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it was my Dad Harry that initiated the change of the then 'smoking room' to the first Discoteque in the country at the time, called the Safari Discoteque, all the walls were painted with wild animals in UV ink and when the UV lights were switched on they all glowed, as did all the guys white shirts, and the ladies white underwear im sure !

I can vouch for that. Can't remember the exact year but remember getting the 28 to a few discos there. Round about the time that the rumour was flying about that Lulu was getting it on with Stevie Winwood
 
Just seen this as I was reminiscing about local places of my teenage years. The Safari disco was one of our favourite haunts from the summer of 1967 even though my friend and I were only 15 we got in. We had some great times there. Yes at times we'd hear that there was a bit of a fight or as they called it then "knock" but it didn't seem that often to us and was usually outside not in. The great thing about this place was that Mon,Tues & Wednesday nights were free which suited a lot of us down to the ground as most people were at college or apprentices at Fisher & Ludlow. The majority of people were fairly local. Made some great friends there and we were gutted when it was closed for change of use. We moved on to the Chesterfield in Castle Brom.:sneakiness:
 
This brings back the memories for me. Spent a large part of my life ( & money) in the Hunters Moon. From around 1980 -1990 ( before i got married!)
Used to go to the disco there with the lads Charlie Stokes, Colin Parfitt, Graham Hancock, Brett Jordan, Kevin Humpries, Kevin Ingall (romper), Gary Irons ( who believe runs the post office at the Fox n Goose) John Hughes, Paul Littley, Brian Buckley and many others! Good times.

One weekend we went camping in Breen near Western Supermare & got chucked off the campsite on Saturday after midnight, when i woke up the next morning there was 4 of us in my car on the Hunters car Park! It must have been on auto pilot! Happy Days
 
I used the Hunters during the late 60s and remember 1967 well. The disco played Whiter Shade of Pale a lot and when i hear it now it reminds me of that great summer. Beatles Sgt Peppers came out. I was with mates from Firs Estate, Neil Giles, Eddie Hunter, Colin Hayles, John Burgess from Belchers Lane. Dated a girl from Prestons Florist at the Swan Yardley. I remember several times walking home to Sheldon from the Hunters, never a problem those days.
 
Yes you're right Whiter Shade of Pale was always on and another of my favourites from there was See Emily Play. You hear some of these songs now and in your minds eye you can see the disco with the jukebox in the corner by the stage. If ever I pass by there I always smile at the memories. Happy days.
 
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