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The Old Crown Inn Deritend

I was wondering if there is any record of a Robbins (surname) being the landlord or licensee of the Old Crown in Digbeth. Probably late 19th or early 20th Century. There is a legend within the family that whilst licensee, he was also a fence, as he was a jeweller by trade. It is also legend that he was tipped off that he was being investigated by the police and high-tailed it out of there and travelled to New York on the next ship.

As an aside, I was watching the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. There is a scene where Audrey Hepburn is walking along 5th Avenue going past Tiffany's. One of the jewellers had a sign over the door saying Robbins - Master Jewellers. I've always wondered if there was a connection.

Can anyone help or advise where to look?
 
GeoffRobbins said:
I was wondering if there is any record of a Robbins (surname) being the landlord or licensee of the Old Crown in Digbeth. Probably late 19th or early 20th Century. There is a legend within the family that whilst licensee, he was also a fence, as he was a jeweller by trade. It is also legend that he was tipped off that he was being investigated by the police and high-tailed it out of there and travelled to New York on the next ship.

As an aside, I was watching the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. There is a scene where Audrey Hepburn is walking along 5th Avenue going past Tiffany's. One of the jewellers had a sign over the door saying Robbins - Master Jewellers. I've always wondered if there was a connection.

Can anyone help or advise where to look?
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Geoff, welcome to the Forum, enjoy!
 
mikejee said:
It looks like your Robbins may have been the landlord of another Old Crown, in Great Charles St.


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What an interesting article. Sounds like you were right. It's unlikely that there would be two Robbins in two Crowns. The question is how many old crowns are being left around in Birmingham? I'll bet it is the right Robbins. We are Baggies supporters going back at least three generations.
 
Phil said:
This is a very early photo of the Crown if the date is to be believed 1857 and I believe that is about as early as commercial photos get. It shows the crown as a series of shops and I don't think one of them is a pub.

Phil
Replacement photo which I am pretty sure is same as original
DeritendCrown1857.jpg

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How long was that bloke leaning against that post? Back at that time the exposure was in minutes, depending upon the light.
 
GeoffRobbins said:
How long was that bloke leaning against that post? Back at that time the exposure was in minutes, depending upon the light.
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The photo is a well known one. It is/was in the John Whybrow collection. The date is sometime between 1853 and 1858. We know this because that is the period Thomas Dayson was the licensee and his name is over the entrance to the pub which is on the right edge of the photo. A clearer version of the photo can be found in John Whybrow's book (1)

At this time the collodian process was used by photographers. Apparently In good light this required the sitter to hold their position for just a few seconds (2).

I have seen three other photographs of Birmingham taken around the same time. They are:
a). The then Hyam & Co. store in New Street that was reportedly demolished in August 1857 (3).
b). The visit of Queen Victoria to Birmingham 15 June 1858. See Joseph McKenna's books (4)
c). Holder's Music Hall. Dated as 'pre-1857' in both Joseph McKenna's (4) and Keith Turner's book (5).

(Information from:
(1) John Whybrow's 'How does your Birmingham grow?', 1972;
(2) The Khan Academy website
(3) Jen Dixon's 'Birmingham in the Long Eighteenth Century' website, published 2012.
(4) Joseph McKenna's 'Birmingham as it was: The city 1857-1914', published 1979
(5) Keith Turner's 'Birmingham Pubs' 2008.)
 
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Nice to see such an early photo of the Old Crown. My ancestors Nicholas PITCH & Sarah JONES were living at Heath Mill Lane, Deritend, when they married in 1833. Nicholas PITCH was a gun barrel borer. As the gun industry shifted to the "Gun Quarter" so did he, and in 1841 was at Bagot Street. He died of TB the following year, at the "Back of" 77 Bagot Street.
 
hi pitch read i think there maybe a couple of photos of bagot street on the forum

lyn
 
DandelionMagic said:
Hi, I can't unfortunately view this image, but I think that might be Thomas Fletcher. I have history in my family that a Thomas Fletcher owned the pub at some point.
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Hi there. It has been a long while since I have been on this site. However, my husband also has a connection to Thomas Fletcher (Publican). His wife Emma Jane was the sister of my mother in law's father. However, we can find no information on him or Emma Jane. I have looked for her on Ancestry but can only find her marriage etc to Thomas Frederick Fletcher. It was Thomas who registered my mother in laws father's death. His name was William Henry Hopkins (Emma Jane's brother). Any help you can give would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
 
Astoness said:
could you give us a year as some members may be able to look it up for you

lyn
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Thomas Frederick Fletcher was the licensee of the Old Crown on 188 & 189 Deritend High Street around 1930.
Here are the licensee's I have from available Kelly's Directories:

1927: Digby Trust;
1930: Thomas Frederick Fletcher;
1932: Thomas Frederick Fletcher;
1933: Thomas Frederick Fletcher;
1934: William Rickards
 
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I loved the Old Crown, "visited" the establishment many times, especially when there was a boxing match on the box. Great landlords, so friendly, rumour has it there were just a few lock ins over it's time. ;-)
 
I have a commemorative limited issue numbered token celebrating the refurbishment of the pub
Regards
Simon
 

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below is a thread for a meet up we had in 2009...sorry all the photos on it were lost when the forum was hacked but there is a lot written about pat brennan who played a big part in restoring this pub

The old crown meet up

hi all....here are the details of our next little meet up....:) VENUE...THE OLD CROWN...DIGBETH... DATE...SATURDAY THE 25TH OF APRIL.. TIME...12.30 i think i can safely say the following members will be there.. maggie and tom.. david fowler... frothy... myself and him indoors...(then off...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
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