Smethwick

[Stokkie]

I think I went there late 50’s or maybe 60/61, really just to see it, not my usual stomping grounds.

Yes, I think all the Smethwick lads and girls have been going to see the place which is legendary rather than to drink. The ball rolling uphill illusion must be done every evening for years!

 

[Stokkie]

Love it! I happen to be drinking a Sweetwater IPA and will have a glass of Pino with my dinner, which is my wife’s stir fry…
Cheers!

Morelands old Crafty Hen in a bottle for me. Greene King now own the brewery and much else. Strangely in petrol station near our holiday cottage is a beer cave, a refrigerated room to walk into for drinks. This is a novelty to me.

 

[Stokkie]

Stokkie, back in 2000, one of the units I was running what is the largest manufacturer of beer kegs in the US. They were made out of 304 stainless steel and while we made a lot of kegs in the US it was nothing compared to the European manufacturers. During the eight years running that business unit, I got so much different feedback from different breweries.The warm beer irony in the US he’s actually a bit of a myth. Most breweries recommend that the beer is is served between 45 and 48° F, which is just a little cooler than many cellars in the UK. In the US there has been a resurgence of what are called craft beers, this brings them much closer to the beer from the UK. As long as they are cool and wet and taste good, I’m OK with that

I’m always impressed by the depth of experience and knowledge on this forum!

 

[Stokkie]

I remember the crooked house when it was genuine and you could truly be puzzled by a coin apparently running uphill on a table. Then they refurbished it and put in artificial crookedness which was exaggerated. Not the same

At 66, I am too young to have seen it before they made crooked doors and windows to fit. The Black Country tries to market itself as heritage. Sadly there’s very little manufacturing now.

 

[mikejee]

At 66, I am too young to have seen it before they made crooked doors and windows to fit. The Black Country tries to market itself as heritage. Sadly there’s very little manufacturing now.

I first saw it when it was genuine in probably 1968-9. The later "improved " version I saw would have been around 1980 I think

 

[Astoness]

same here mike...went a few times 70/1 quite strange watching a marble roll down a ledge inside the pub...one felt a tad tipsy before going inside

lyn

 

[Pedrocut]

The situation in 1952, Birmingham Gazzett…

 

[Pedrocut]

In 1923 it is reported that at one time it had started to straighten itself, but is dropping back again, the slant having
been increased by about 2 feet in the last year or two.

In 1910 it was flooded by the collapse of the adjacent railway bank.

 

[Stokkie]

St Paul's Church West Smethwick was redundant and finally demolished in 1992. The 17M fibreglass spire was built in two sections by Brylan Plastics of London and donated to Avoncroft Museum in Bromsgrove. It appears as the green verdigris of weathered copper and is quite attractive. You can enter the supporting building and look up into the spire.

St Pauls Smethwick Working Mens Church was built in 1857 by public subscription out of white Staffordshire bricks. It burnt down in 1963 and a modern church was constructed with the fibreglass spire which was craned in.

 

[paul stacey]

Of course I remember the crooked House,nearly every one of my generation dos, went quite a few times, and the "caves", at Kinver Edge, if I am not mistaken, don't remember the church unfortunately, though I do have a vague memory of my daa speaking about a fire in Smethwick around that time period,

 

[Stokkie]

The Old Swan Inn AKA Ma Pardoe's was mentioned earlier in the thread. I had lunch and a couple of beers there yesterday. Inside it is remarkably unchanged, apart from cleaning the tobacco smoke off the ceilings.

 

[paul stacey]

my goodness O do remember "The Old Swan", last time I had a beer there was about 1964/5, the exterior defiently has'nt changed !!

 

[Lloyd]

Had a few meals (and pints!) in there. But - it's Netherton, not Smethwick....

 

[Stokkie]

Had a few meals (and pints!) in there. But - it's Netherton, not Smethwick....

Yes, Netherton of course. I think it crept into the Smethwick thread as there isn't one for the Black Country and most young pub-goers in Birmingham and the Black Country have been there. My first visit for 40 years.

 

[Richard Dye]

The Old Swan Inn AKA Ma Pardoe's was mentioned earlier in the thread. I had lunch and a couple of beers there yesterday. Inside it is remarkably unchanged, apart from cleaning the tobacco smoke off the ceilings.

Stokkie, remarkable that it is mostly unchanged! I see local beer, is. It mild, bitter etc or craft type beer? Just curious.

 

[Stokkie]

Stokkie, remarkable that it is mostly unchanged! I see local beer, is. It mild, bitter etc or craft type beer? Just curious.

Richard, I'm pleased to say that Pardoe's beer is still home brewed in the brewery at the rear of the pub. They are traditional 'real ales'. My ex-student and I drank 'original' which is a weak bitter, there's a mild (which remains popular in the Black Country though an old man's drink - I include myself here! It's called 'Dark Swan.'

There's an 'Entire', 'Bumble Hole', the strongest beer - named after what is now a local nature reserve. There's an IPA type made in house (NPA naturally), and for lager drinkers the British made Carling and Stella Artois and Guinness. Tim the landlord does a fine job.

Derek

 

[Astoness]

The Old Swan Inn AKA Ma Pardoe's was mentioned earlier in the thread. I had lunch and a couple of beers there yesterday. Inside it is remarkably unchanged, apart from cleaning the tobacco smoke off the ceilings.

oh how lovely derek...great to know that this pub is still up and running thanks for the photo

lyn

 

[Richard Dye]

Richard, I'm pleased to say that Pardoe's beer is still home brewed in the brewery at the rear of the pub. They are traditional 'real ales'. My ex-student and I drank 'original' which is a weak bitter, there's a mild (which remains popular in the Black Country though an old man's drink - I include myself here! It's called 'Dark Swan.'

There's an 'Entire', 'Bumble Hole', the strongest beer - named after what is now a local nature reserve. There's an IPA type made in house (NPA naturally), and for lager drinkers the British made Carling and Stella Artois and Guinness. Tim the landlord does a fine job.

Derek

Sounds a very good place to spend a few hours! Do they serve pretty good food to complement?

 

[Stokkie]

Sounds a very good place to spend a few hours! Do they serve pretty good food to complement?

I ate faggots, mash and mushy peas. My ex-student is a local in his 20s and ate curry. He's never eaten any offal let alone faggots. So ways change even in the Black Country. I'd say it was ok, typical pub food with the faggots coming from a commercial supplier, Brains? If you know where to go you can still get them wrapped in caul. But hot and tasty to soak up the beer!

 

[Morturn]

I ate faggots, mash and mushy peas. My ex-student is a local in his 20s and ate curry. He's never eaten any offal let alone faggots. So ways change even in the Black Country. I'd say it was ok, typical pub food with the faggots coming from a commercial supplier, Brains? If you know where to go you can still get them wrapped in caul. But hot and tasty to soak up the beer!

There are a few butchers who make faggots wrapped in caul. They do vary in taste and quality. Beamans in Bridgenorth do them and I think Becketts Farm do them too.

 

[Johnfromstaffs]

Sorry for the delay, but early 70s I worked in Dudley and consumed a drop or two of Pardoe’s best. There was another, more modern Pardoe’s pub, the White Swan, is that still open? We also used a pub in Sedgley which boasted a huge collection of Scotch brands, the pub was known to us as Ben Russell’s. His business cards were something to behold, offering services like “Virgins converted” and “Nails - by the ton”. Sorry to have strayed across the border!

 

[Johnfromstaffs]

I’ve just googled “Ben Russell’s pub Sedgley”. It was really called The Junction.

 

[Stokkie]

Sorry for the delay, but early 70s I worked in Dudley and consumed a drop or two of Pardoe’s best. There was another, more modern Pardoe’s pub, the White Swan, is that still open? We also used a pub in Sedgley which boasted a huge collection of Scotch brands, the pub was known to us as Ben Russell’s. His business cards were something to behold, offering services like “Virgins converted” and “Nails - by the ton”. Sorry to have strayed across the border!

Hi John,

I never went to the White Swan, but you are right it was once a Pardoes pub. It was sold to Greenall's.

http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=Doris_Pardoe,_Old_Swan_Brewery.

As you know lots of pubs struggled in lockdown and The Old Swan was saved by CAMRA for the second time in 2022.

Derek

 

[Johnfromstaffs]

Thanks for that, Derek. It’s nice to know that, even after 50 years, the old brain is still retaining some decent stuff! I spent the last 20 odd years of my working life in Shropshire, bit different from Dudley, but some interesting watering holes around Telford in the places that remain untouched.

 

[Lemonella]

Great idea for Smethwick to have its own section. It never was part of Birmingham or the Black Country. Trouble is, it was so unique, they didn't know where to slot it in! It must be in the running for the most-moved-about-town record.

Although I lived over the border in Edgbaston (Poplar Avenue), I felt sorry for Smethwick when it was absorbed into the amorphous mass of a made-up authority because some local politician thought it was a good idea.

My real introduction to Smethwick proper came through family history research started some years ago, looking at the Middletons. They married into the Camm, Harley, Parkes and Weaver families (from the last of which I am descended).

I was married at Waterloo Road Methodist church as was my mother, her two siblings and their parents. It became a Sikh temple I believe but at least it's still being used, which is more than can be said for the Camm Studio in High Street, Smethwick. It was compulsorily purchased for a road widening scheme which never came off, and was finally destroyed to make way for featureless modern housing and shops. It was a landmark and would have made great flats or offices.

Smerrick was given a Brum postcode and do you mean the Poplar Avenue that went from Smerrick to Bearwood?

 

[Lemonella]

Does anyone remember Bakers garage on Waterloo Road? I used to be friends with their daughter and apart from the garage side they used to breed pedigree cats.

 

[Stokkie]

Does anyone remember Bakers garage on Waterloo Road? I used to be friends with their daughter and apart from the garage side they used to breed pedigree cats.

Vaguely, we didn't have a car so would pass the garage by bus from Bearwood. Mom used to clean for Dorothy De'boo the ladies hairdresser on Waterloo Road and if I wasn't at school, I'd go to work with her. I remember pouring caustic soda crystals down the drains to get rid of the hair. Bet kids of 10 don't get to do this now. Dorothy used to do the Soroptimists (a posh women's social networking club) hairs. Mom had her own hair done there as a model and a couple of the hairdressers became her friends. Astonishingly Bakers Garage still seems to be a repair shop.

 

[mikejee]

Vaguely, we didn't have a car so would pass the garage by bus from Bearwood. Mom used to clean for Dorothy De'boo the ladies hairdresser on Waterloo Road and if I wasn't at school, I'd go to work with her. I remember pouring caustic soda crystals down the drains to get rid of the hair. Bet kids of 10 don't get to do this now. Dorothy used to do the Soroptimists (a posh women's social networking club) hairs. Mom had her own hair done there as a model and a couple of the hairdressers became her friends. Astonishingly Bakers Garage still seems to be a repair shop.

No, they pay through the nose for a plastic bottle of caustic solution, which probably does not do the job half as well

 

[Viv Woodward]

My nanny was Annie Lowe. She owned a hardware shop a few buildings below Matty's chip shop on West Smethwick High Street. I am now 69 and live in Norfolk. Does anyone remember her\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/