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Once upon a time, there was a Tavern

K

Kandor

Guest
I remember we got into town that night at about 8 o'clock, It was a cold November night but the 55 bus dropped us less than 400 yards away, a few minutes brisk walk..
We got into the pub at about 8 10pm, the three of us, Steve Grater, Steve Cox and myself, we knew quite a few of our friends would be down there already and even more would arrive later.
I remember going to the bar and buying three pints of Lager, Steve C meanwhile had put some money into one of those new fangled video machines, the bat and ball game..sure, old fashioned and simplistic now, but then? wow!
I had always been a bad loser at most things, thankfully, I've mellowed now and although I still like to win, its not the be all and end all that it once was.
Damn..I was losing and losing badly...I punched the machine and walked away, Steve C shouted to me to come back..I turned from the middle of the pub and did what was for me a strange thing...I actually listened...
I put my hands on the button and then my whole world roared like a thousand thunderstorms raging in my head.
I flew through the air doing a complete somersault before hitting the wall at the bottom of the stairs...I could smell burning, my ears hurt like I had never known, with my eyes wide open I couldn't see an inch in front of me...
The IRA had detonated the second of their bombs that night in Birmingham..
I was lying in the rubble that seconds before.....was the Tavern in the Town.
Anyone who says they saw legs and arms missing etc, well, take it from me, they certainly weren't in there at the time.
Every light blew in the pub, plunging it mixed in with the dust, into total darkness, you couldn't see a thing.
My both eardrums burst with the concussive effects of the bomb, I had taken shrapnel to over 15 parts of my body, and my hair had burned off due to the heat effects of the blast, Later, I noticed sacs of fluid hanging from my fingertips that had been directly exposed to the bomb
My trousers had blown apart at the seams due to the pressure going up my legs and being unable to escape at the waistband, my nylon sweater had melted to my body..
I started to rise to my feet but kept falling over, my balance gone, along with my eardrums..I remember crawling up the stairs and as I did so, my arm slipped through a jagged hole in the stairs where the bomb blast had punched through...I got to the top of the stairs, I still think to this day, the first person to get out of there that night...Town was in uproar....no one stopped to help me...
My dad always said to me, 'Les, if you're ever in trouble, tell me'
Dad, I was in trouble...I decided there and then to make my way home to Hindlow Close in Nechells....I 've always had this thing about, you cant die on your feet...I had to stay up, I was determined to...
I look back on it now and liken it to learning to ride a bike, I'd go a few yards then simply and slowly...just fall over...I was in no real pain, Shock yes, fear perhaps, pain..not yet, that was later...I remember the only time I cried...it was when I got to the long wall going down Curzon St...I cried because it meant I could stop myself falling over as I made my way home..I saw a friend called Jimmy Kennedy as I neared home, he was with his girlfriend Lucy, they were going up to town because Lucys' sister was in the same pub..Jimmy later said ' I looked like a monster'...Looking back, I cant remember why he didn't help me.
I got home, I dont remember how long it took, I just know it was slow and hard..
I knocked my house door and our Lodger, Arthur Powell opened the door and I fell into his arms..I was home, I was safe...A neighbour two doors away took me up to the Accident hospital in Bath Row, He was an Irishman named Mr Quinn.
Folk over the years have said 'I bet you must hate the Irish'
How can I ? my brother married a girl from Limerick..they have two fabulous children...tell me, which part of them should I hate?
Les Robinson
 
Tavern

What a story Les,
I felt both numb and shocked after reading it, I remember the bombings well, I have read a lot of peoples recolections since the bombings , but none so graphic as yours, I trust that you are ok now les.

Thank you for reliving and sharing the awfull experience with us.

Kind regards Rob.
 
Thanks Rob

Hi Rob,

Thank you for your kind words,
It was a long, long time ago mate and to be quite honest I have never in my whole life let it affect me.
I guess I was very lucky in the sense I never lost any limbs and that none of my friends were killed.
We were also fairly fortunate that our main crowd didn't get in there til usually 8 30 etc...by which time, the thing had already happened
It has a happy ending Rob, there was a young girl in the pub called Rosalyn Claridge, I had been seeing her on and off for over 4 months, we'd actually split up a few times and were in the middle of another 'break' that night.
On August 6th 1977, I married her and 6 years later the second of my daughters were born,
We are still together and very happily married 26 years later.
I have loved my three girls all my life...not just theirs.
My cup truly overflows...
Rob, I'm in Tamworth, are you near there?
 
I've just been reading Les Robinson's (Kandor) tale as recounted by himself in todays Birmingham Mail. It's worth a read if only to remind us of exactly what happened that night and that officially no one has yet been punished for that terrible night.
 
I read the article last night Phil and remember reading Les's account on BHF of the terrible night in Brum all those years ago. The fact that no one has still been brought to justice for these terrible events is totally wrong. Thanks for posting Phil.
 
Well said Phil,

And with due deference to my friend Kandor (Les), a brilliant truthful article,
A Blues fan that this Villa man respects.


Last night a St Phillips (Pigeon Park to Brummies) a tribute was paid by many Relatives & Friends
of OUR 21 so cruelly torn away from us on that terrible night.

The Choir sang beautifully, the Poet wonderful, the reader of the 21 names,,just held firm, a Big man,
the candlelit service honouring the tomb outside,, words fail me here,

Who killed OUR kith & kin in those Pubs ? Will the truth ever be told ? John Y
 
Thanks Phil for that link. I didn't realize that Les was there that terrible night. Thank goodness Steve was made to stay at home that night by his parents. Have signed that petition John.
 
HI LES;
That was a very heart warming and damageing story of a fact that we the people of birmingham will never forget
the night of birmingham and its people was damage and the courage of all the people whom chanced there own lives in order to save and rescue strangers with there own lives sadly the police arrested the wrong people thats for sure; but the police did work hard on this case ;
they was aware of a cell net operating in the city but i beleive because of the arrest of these guys they was sure they had the right people
so they could not change there minds and release them ; but i am pretty sure the police will go through it all again;
it will take time to shift through what they have got that i do know and with gods way they think they have got it covered by getting away with it but think not as this is a political subject i have to be careful to what i can say on this forum about these guys
as i do have a angle on this ; if you pardon the expression ;
as you have said to a previuos member how do you choose which one out of your family ;you cannot ;its not just because they are irish ;
that aint got nothink to do with it ;
my wife and inlaws are irsh and my belated father inlaw came from limerick and the mother inlaw from naeice southern irland
and when all this happenend i was married into this family with my own kids growing up and i had two brotheres over in ireland fighting these
thugs ; as that whatthey was in them days ;and beleive me or not my own mother and part of my family turned there back on me and said do not bring your wife here we had a big fall out with my mother ; she hated the iris commutity just like the emediate reaction from most english people ;
but i will say alot of these guys are still around to be brought back to book ; so heavens abouve i hope the police do go through with the
opening of the files and get the real cow boys whom was responible ;
i would trul like to say more but i cannot for legal reasons ; i was not aware of the service that took place in the st phillips
i would have turned out ;at that time i was running the blarney stone pub when this kicked off; i say no more than that ;
thank god you all pulled through ; take car ; best wishes astonian;;
 
My Sister had a good friend called Linda Cox.She frequented the tavern .had her own stool by the bar ,The night of the bomb she moved away to speak to someone when the bomb exploded .Had she been sat at the bar in her usual place she would have been killed.She escaped with shrapnel wounds...but the shock was severe .however she got over it and moved to spain .If youre out there lyn .HI........xx Many were killed and badly injured and as previously stated noone has been made to pay for these hyenous crimes against innocent people ......Brummies certainly pulled together that night .!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Hadn't read Kandors account before, how lucky you were and how brave to walk that distance, especially with burst ear drums. Glad to hear all turned out well for you and you bear no grudge against the irish, most of whom were as appalled by the actions as anyone else.
The memorial service last night sounds lovely a time to remember.
We were lucky that night, had been to town on a school trip, and went down New Street on the bus minutes before the blasts.
Sue
 
our dad was also very lucky that night sue...had he been able to stand a round with a couple of his mates he would have been in the tavern at that time but he was a bit short...he didnt go thank god...only the year before i was a regular myself at the tavern then i married and stopped going up town...

lyn
 
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It's strange how many memories forum members have. Michael and I were newly married. His best friend was supposed to meet him in the Tavern on that night. He worked at Hills Glass and the had an emergency job in so he had to cancel. We went to visit Michaels parents in Castle Bromwich and heard the blast but didn't know what it was until later. His friend lives in OZ now and has just been back on a visit we went for a meal at what was The Hunters Moon for nostalgia...a terrible time for our city and the Irish population.
 
My present husbands sister Margaret worked in the Indoor Market and she and other friends from the market went to the Tavern once a week , that week however there was a good film on in town and one of the group wanted to see it so the rest of the group , some reluctantly, gave in and went to see it.

My exhusband was on late nights as a bus driver.The buses were turned around before they reached Town but no explanation was given and it was later that he found out the reason.

I remember the radio the next day, the Ed Doolan show was awful, they had to keep cutting the broadcast as so many people were phoning in so full of hatred for the Irish.
Dreadful , because the Irish population in Birmingham,including my lovely brother in law Lexi ,R.I.P, were as shocked and outraged as we all were.
 
Every time I see threads about the pub bombings, and there are a few on this forum, most of the posts are about how hard it was for the Irish comunity. I'm amazed by how many people almost seem to forget that 21 people died, and over 200 had horrific injuries.

yes I do realise, and do remember how the Irish in Brum, some of them friends were given a hard time, I'm not condoning it, and didnt participate. but none of them died, or afaik, were badly injured as a result. So lets get a grip eh. It was nearly 40 years ago, and the powers that be have made no real effort to prove who did it, despite being given the names on several occasions.

If its not done soon it will be too late, its already getting so its not PC to even mention it.

I trust your all supporting the Justice for the 21 campaign, and have all signed the e petition.
https://justice4the21.blogspot.co.uk/

https://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/24443
 
fatfingers said:
Every time I see threads about the pub bombings, and there are a few on this forum, most of the posts are about how hard it was for the Irish comunity. I'm amazed by how many people almost seem to forget that 21 people died, and over 200 had horrific injuries.

yes I do realise, and do remember how the Irish in Brum, some of them friends were given a hard time, I'm not condoning it, and didnt participate. but none of them died, or afaik, were badly injured as a result. So lets get a grip eh. It was nearly 40 years ago, and the powers that be have made no real effort to prove who did it, despite being given the names on several occasions.

If its not done soon it will be too late, its already getting so its not PC to even mention it.

I trust your all supporting the Justice for the 21 campaign, and have all signed the e petition.
https://justice4the21.blogspot.co.uk/

https://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/24443
Click to expand...

Well said mate !
I was with the army in Germany when all that was going on. We shared a barracks and socialised with an Irish regiment. Our upstairs neighbour had a brother in "The Kesh". We got on well with them.
No one could ever accuse me of being anti-Irish but we had a deep hatred of the IRA in all its forms.
 
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