That record shop redken, was where I bought my first EP Elvis Volume 2: So Glad, You're Mine - Old Shep - Ready Teddy - Anyplace Is Paradise. Can't remember if it was 3/9d or 6/9d. Played it to death on my Dansette Record Player (A red and grey un). I can hear my mom now: "Turn that noise down!"
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Pubs on the Coventry Road, Small Heath.
- Thread starter skylark
- Start date
vickyj1981
New Member
The wrexham changes names befor being knocked down to the Greenaway, also do anyone remember the watering hole on the bi island on kingston hill now a MCcdonalds??
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
Scarlet
I always knew the Small Heath Tavern as the George Wrexham on the few occasions that I used it in the late 70's, I'm not sure if that was the official name then but the locals had called that for a long time.
I always knew the Small Heath Tavern as the George Wrexham on the few occasions that I used it in the late 70's, I'm not sure if that was the official name then but the locals had called that for a long time.
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Hi all -
I registered here because of this thread. My great-grandfather on my Dad's side was Jack Henry Hall (< link) who not only played for both Leicester
and Birmingham, among others, but was the landlord of the Small Heath Tavern until his death in 1949. My Dad remembers staying there, so I am sending him the pictures from this thread as I am sure they will spark a few memories. He too remembers it being referred to as 'The Wrexham' but is not sure why - but given that he stayed there in the 40's when it was the Small Heath Tavern, it must have been the Wrexham before that sometime (I am guessing?).
Thanks all -
Jon (who supports neither Leicester nor Birmingham!)
I registered here because of this thread. My great-grandfather on my Dad's side was Jack Henry Hall (< link) who not only played for both Leicester
and Birmingham, among others, but was the landlord of the Small Heath Tavern until his death in 1949. My Dad remembers staying there, so I am sending him the pictures from this thread as I am sure they will spark a few memories. He too remembers it being referred to as 'The Wrexham' but is not sure why - but given that he stayed there in the 40's when it was the Small Heath Tavern, it must have been the Wrexham before that sometime (I am guessing?).Thanks all -
Jon (who supports neither Leicester nor Birmingham!)
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Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
I realise this is a little off thread but there is a tenuous link, this pub is the called the George that was on Ladypool Rd in Sparkbrook a couple of miles away from the Small Heath Tavern. The thing is this pub was also known to the locals as the Wrexham. Does anybody know why this alternative name was used for these pubs. Is there a historical reason?
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A slight possibility for the name might be the Peter Walker & Co brewery. This should be distinguished from Peter Walker & Son, which later became Tetley-Walker and part of Allied Breweries. Peter Walker & Co bought the Willow Brewery at Wrexham off Robert Evans and had some pubs in Birmingham. The only one in Birmingham I have record of is The Rainbow in Bordesley High St (https://www.breweryhistory.com/Defunct/WM_Birmingham.htm), but the Midland pubs site says (https://www.midlandspubs.co.uk/breweries/staffordshire/peter-walker.htm) that they had pubs (presumably meaning more than 1) in Birmingham. Possibly those referred to previously were two of them. The brewery was taken over by Atkinsons, and I don't know about the Small Heath Tavern, but the George can be seen to be Atkinsons in the photo. A bit dubious an explanation perhaps, but was the Smallheath Tavern Atkinsons also ?
Bernadette Asbury
New Member
My mom and dad ran the Small Heath Tavern in the late 1960's also the Charles Napier pub, Gooch road, in 1965. Do any of you know, how I can get hold of records, that I can have copies of, to give to my mom? We are trying to find photos etc and I am not sure how to go about it. I do t live in Birmingham any more, but would love to do something
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
Hi Bernadette
I can't help you with any records, though I'm not quite what records you would be looking for. There are photos of the Small Heath Tavern on this thread that you can copy and whilst I realise that the Sir Charles Napier was not on Coventry Rd in Small Heath I will supply you with a couple of photos of the pub which was on the corner of Bissell Street and Gooch St in Balsall Heath
I can't help you with any records, though I'm not quite what records you would be looking for. There are photos of the Small Heath Tavern on this thread that you can copy and whilst I realise that the Sir Charles Napier was not on Coventry Rd in Small Heath I will supply you with a couple of photos of the pub which was on the corner of Bissell Street and Gooch St in Balsall Heath
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Radiorails
master brummie
356 Coventry Road;
https://whatpub.com/pubs/BIR/3332/brighton-arms-birmingham
https://whatpub.com/pubs/BIR/3332/brighton-arms-birmingham
One to watch. The current state of the Brighton Arms. Hopefully there's a future for it. Such an interesting building, pity if it should 'disappear'. Viv.
www.midlandspubs.co.uk
Pub Historian
The Small Heath Tavern was part of the Peter Walker estate. The company had offices in Colmore Row and had a number of pubs in Birmingham. The Wrexham name wasn't simply colloquial - the pub is listed as The Wrexham in Birmingham's licensing records. I believe that it was a branding exercise and that the pubs were supplied with lager brewed at Wrexham.
ilovecats128
New Member
Hi Scarlet
Just joined the group. I have an ancestor who ran Regents Park Tavern Coventry Rd in 1911, so its probably the same one.
Thanks
jim1uk2001
master brummie
www.midlandspubs.co.uk
Pub Historian
I am assuming that your dad was Thomas Boyle as I see he was licensee of the Sir Charles Napier for a few months in 1966 and previously the licensee of the Small Heath Tavern between November 1965 and July 1966.
jim1uk2001
master brummie
I knew it as the Wrexham. It was dead in the week but busy on match days. There's a photo in the following link: http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/warwickshire/birmingham_b10_smallheathtavern.html Small Heath had its glory days from the 60s until the early 80s when everyone I knew started to move out. It was one of the best places to drink. My local was the Gunmakers on Green Lane. I also used the Brighton, Wrexham, New Inn (Nest), White Lion, Vine (Grapes), Black Horse, the Emerald, the Marquis, Cricketers. The Vine (grapes) and the Malt Shovel were favourite with older generation West Indians. I also used a lot of pubs in Bordesley Green but it was different to Small Heath. Small Heath as it was, no longer exists.
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Just a little bit of information about the now demolished Old Lodge at 53 Coventry Road (corner of Bordesley Park Road). In 1881 a distant relation, James MASON, was the publican and in 1891 he was still living there at the age of 48 but is shown as a retired brewer. This may possibly be because his wife Selina died in 1889. By 1891 the pub had been renumbered to 101 and 103 Coventry Road.
Maurice
Maurice
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James had not been at the pub very long in 1881, as, although he is listed in the 1882 Kellys, in the 1880 edition the licensee is George Nicholls. The pub number changed between the 1884 and 1888 Kellys directory and James is still listed as the licensee up till the 1895 edition (which probably refers to 1894). In the 1896 edition the place is run by the unusually named George Slide
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Thanks, Mike. In 1871 he was living in Windsor Street and working as a carpenter & joiner. While he was there, his son, also James, was a hairdresser and presumably doing it on the premises as he was doing 10 years later at 68 College Road.
They're bit of an odd family and probably the equivalent of today's pop culture - everybody thought they could run a pub, but it was a substantial building, yet they only appeared to employ one live-in young servant.
Maurice
They're bit of an odd family and probably the equivalent of today's pop culture - everybody thought they could run a pub, but it was a substantial building, yet they only appeared to employ one live-in young servant.
Maurice
