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Royal Hotel, Sutton Coldfield

Bikeral72

master brummie
Not a pub that was listed as a Birmingham venue, but probably is now, as Sutton Coldfield now comes under the Birmingham banner.
We used to frequent the Royal, when it was the "in" place to be, back in the early 60's, especially on a Sunday lunch time. We would gather for a few pints and a chat with regular pals, every week. It was a Sunday ritual.
Sadly, the last time I went there a couple of years ago, it had deteriorated to the level of a dump. I prefer to remember it as it was, a classy place, for us to meet dressed up for the occasion.
Are there any other forum members that used the Royal, back in the early 60's.
 
My dad was very good at taking us out for birthdays, anniversaries and so forth, and we did go for dinner at The Royal at least once when I was a teenager in the 1960's. Yes, it was considered to be very posh and up-market. When I was older I never saw it as a place to go for a pint or two - there were some good 'proper' pubs in Sutton in those days. The last time we went in was for some live music about 2 years ago, and although I wouldn't quite describe it as a 'dump', it certainly didn't have the class and the grandeur it once had. Is it still a hotel, or just a restaurant, or what?

G
 
Same as Big Gee, went there for special family meals, but in the 70's, also went there for live music a few years ago and though the decor left much to be desired, the music was good!
Sue
 
My dad was very good at taking us out for birthdays, anniversaries and so forth, and we did go for dinner at The Royal at least once when I was a teenager in the 1960's. Yes, it was considered to be very posh and up-market. When I was older I never saw it as a place to go for a pint or two - there were some good 'proper' pubs in Sutton in those days. The last time we went in was for some live music about 2 years ago, and although I wouldn't quite describe it as a 'dump', it certainly didn't have the class and the grandeur it once had. Is it still a hotel, or just a restaurant, or what?

G
I'm not sure whether it is still a hotel Big Gee, as I don't live anywhere near Sutton Coldfield now. I moved from that area in 1963 when I got married and after a 6 year spell in Lichfield, we moved to the Leamington Spa area, as I was then employed at Rootes in Coventry. I did frequent it as I said a couple of years ago whilst visiting friends up there. Maybe my phraseology was a bit harsh, but it wasn't anything like it used to be.
 
Same as Big Gee, went there for special family meals, but in the 70's, also went there for live music a few years ago and though the decor left much to be desired, the music was good!
Sue
Oh well, times change, and they all have to make a living. It was a privilege to live life in the 60's, and the memories still linger on, as the best decade in my life.
 
When I ventured into Sutton (I had a girl-friend who lived on Park Road) we'd usually go to either The Three Tuns or The Museum (long gone) - or both. The then- management of The Royal weren't very keen to allow hippies to drink there, so we avoided it. I too thought the 60's the best time to live. I turned 21 in 1967, and was having the time of my life. Maybe The Sixties deserves its own thread?

G
 
When I ventured into Sutton (I had a girl-friend who lived on Park Road) we'd usually go to either The Three Tuns or The Museum (long gone) - or both. The then- management of The Royal weren't very keen to allow hippies to drink there, so we avoided it. I too thought the 60's the best time to live. I turned 21 in 1967, and was having the time of my life. Maybe The Sixties deserves its own thread?

G
What a good idea Big G, a 60's thread, I must dream up some memories. I was living in Lichfield in 1967, my oldest was born in 64 and the next one in 67, we moved to Leamington Spa area after that in 1969. What a decade, it was all parties then, a plenty of fun.
 
The back bar at The Royal was our local in the 60's. Crowd of us there every night before moving to whatever party was going .The bar man was Paddy Delaney. The front bar was for the older people,incuding Eddie and Mollie. He was a retired bookie and would always buy you a drink, a very nice couple.
For a few years there was also a Jazz Club saturday nights in a building to the side of the main hotel.
Went back a few years ago,what a dump it has turned into. The Three Tuns has gone up market (and rather twee) whilst The Royal has gone down. You could get a decent meal in the restaurant in The Royal then,now I think they could manage crisps if you were lucky. Times change.
 
Of coarse, the Tree Tuns was close by as well. Yes the demise of the Royal was very apparent when I was last in Sutton, such a shame, but that is the trend nowadays. All we have left now are the great memories of what it was like in the "Swngin' Sixties"
 
So sorry to see the Royal referred to as a "dump", havn't been there for a good number of years, but drive past it at least once a week. I used to go there in the late 50's early 60's. Was in the Young Conservatives and we always finished off there, oh Happy Days. Used to frequent the Jazz Club, the walls used to run with water, it got so hot in there I imagine there wasn't much ventilation. In those days I used to skip jive, can just about manage a few quicksteps and waltzs now.
 
So sorry to see the Royal referred to as a "dump", havn't been there for a good number of years, but drive past it at least once a week. I used to go there in the late 50's early 60's. Was in the Young Conservatives and we always finished off there, oh Happy Days. Used to frequent the Jazz Club, the walls used to run with water, it got so hot in there I imagine there wasn't much ventilation. In those days I used to skip jive, can just about manage a few quicksteps and waltzs now.
Well, times change Katie. It was a very prestigious place in the 60's, the sort of place you liked to be in, the sort of place you mixed with people of the same ilk (Without being snobbish) It was somewhere to go that was welcoming, warm and friendly. Unfortunately times have changed it into a dump. There is no better word for it.
 
My wife was telling me earlier, when I mentioned this thread, that last year a friend of hers tried to get a live-music club going at The Royal (we're into that kind of thing), and she went to the first and only evening. She says that although The Royal isn't as bad as rumour has it, it does need a face-lift, and also the price of the drinks at the bar is of rip-off proportions. I think maybe The Royal is in the same category as La Reserve in Sutton Park, which was the height of steak-house Berni Inn-type chic in the 1960's, but deteriorated into somewhere very ordinary.

G
 
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