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Acorn Inn and Brewery - Winson Green

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Acorn Inn and Brewery - Winson Green [pic attached]



Located on Winson Green Road, this pub played a key part in Birmingham's brewing heritage. This was once the brewery tap of Joseph Forrest & Co., a brewery that has long since passed into history. Beers were produced in a large building erected at the rear of the pub until the company was acquired by Holt's Holt's just before World War One. By the time of this photograph [taken around 1935] the pub was operated by Ansell's. The pub is a stone's throw from Winson Green Prison. The land around Winson Green was unsuitable for agricultural use and was deemed a favourable location for the public institutions that a developing town required. In the early 19th century Birmingham was having to send its prisoners to the County Gaol at Warwick. In 1844 the council resolved to build a gaol within the borough. Mayor Thomas Philips laid a foundation stone at Winson Green on October 29th 1845 but the prison took four years to complete. Built on the Pentonville model, Winson Green Prison cost some £60,000. The first inmate was interned on October 17th 1849. By 1845 there were several beer retailers in Winson Green Road - William Hiram Cox, George Green Preston and Aaron Smith. Joseph Forrest was the licensee by 1867. He was an astute businessman and successfully developed The Acorn. By 1884 he had accrued the capital to finance the construction of a brewery. Managed by his son, the brewery was registered in 1906. The company was acquired by the Holt Brewery in 1912. Brewing behind the Acorn ceased during the following year.

Cheers
Kieron www.midlandspubs.co.uk
 

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Thanks Kieron, what wonderful character all these old pubs have or have had and what tales the brickwork could tell :)
 
As William Hiram Cox is mentioned on the Acorn Inn post.

Here is a photo of the Cox Brewery family grave at Key Hill Cemetery.
 
hi kieron
many thanks for your information on the acorn ,i have drank in there for years
with my cronies ,in time gone bye somebody said that the brick works
could give some tales of carrying on , well i could tell you a story or two
beleive me and I myself or should i say me and the cronnies have had
afew wars in there and really i mean riots
even today it does really well for boozers mind you i would not go in
there today beleive me
i know i should not mention this but i do know one of our dedicated forum
member whom used to used the place when i did because we share
the same friends ,would not go him self now
my friend if he reads this i am sure he wil also put an in put on this
thread and agree
once again kieron thanks for the back ground of the acorn
best wishes astonian ;;;

battles in there
 
Thanks for your post Astonian. The last time I went into the Acorn it was during the lunchtime session. It would be hard to imagine an air of malevolence in the middle of the day. Mind you, I did once get into a situation in a pub in Walsall. I had arranged to take some photographs of the interior with the landlord but one table was occupied by a crowd of workshy layabouts intent on causing trouble. In the middle of the day I ask you? It is generally quite funny when I take interior photographs of pubs - there's generally a rush for the toilets as people who shouldn't be there don't like being photographed. Or are afraid of my little black notebook - they imagine I am from the police, or worse - from the social security.

Cheers
Kieron
 
Thanks Wendy for posting the Cox photographs. You are clearly as barmy as me walking around cemeteries with a camera!

Cheers
Kieron
 
hi kieron
yes i knew quite afew pubs like that , geting on to the acorn
the lunch time clientel was different to the evening and week end crowd
and it was frequented quite often by the C division police , [ CID officiers ]
And i have also have seen and witnessed the police in action in there
fighting for there life ,but they always came out on tops
it was always the first place they would go to if looking for info;
or some-body .out of all the pubs in the area ,as i remember the bowling
green pub in holloway head it was the same there if anybody was not
walking in wearing a suit the whole room would go quite and the old joe
would stop playing for a moment or two until some-body got reconised
then they would start again .it was the same clientel
the bell at northfield became a meat market for the shop lifters
the tables would be filled with stolen meat for al to see and buy,
in theend after a coupleof years the police decided enough was enough
and removed there licence then they moved down to the travellers rest
along the rd and there it became a wide range of goodies
the chap whom was one of the last people was is second pub he ran
his previous pub was the kings head in vardon way it was an estate pub
but this poor chap had never ran a pub before the kings head and
like most estate pubs it becomes a hardcore of rebellers.
then the pub becomes what we call in the trade a chequered history pub
but this pub the kings head, he only ran it for six months hetook the juke
box out and upset his customers which was a mixture of people
then he had problems bearing in mind its is first ever pub
because he was a lorry driver previuosly so in order for the brewery
to get rid of him they sent him to the travellers rest and that finished him
off the police observed and eventual closed it down just like the bell of
northfield ,have you done any research on the bristol pear pub
by the selly oak station yet i know thats had some name changes over
the years i think there was another pub years ago in fact
there was two pubs just up from thee years ago
i think one was called the dog and somthink its slipped my memory for a
moment but it closed down because it was a storage for the old
gangsters and they found a wealth of armory in there ofal discriptions
thanks again kieron best wishes astonian ;;
 
Re Acorn Inn Winson Green
I read yor web site about the pubs in Winson Green but noted you didnt have anything on the Park Tavern on Dudley Rd or the Smiths Arms on Winson Green Rd, my Dad kept both of these pubs for a short time in the 1950s, and I would be extremely interested in any information you may have about them.
 
HI EARLGARY
i have just read your thread on the names of a couple of pubs
around the green,and yes i have also noticed over the period pf time
there as never been a mention of the pubs
well i knew the pubs and the gathers ,
the smiths out of the two pubs was the best pub
good for darts team and the domino,s but most of all
the dance hall upstairs with the stage ,every weekend there was
dancing . sat- sun. and in my memory there as never been any
trouble . earl what was your fathers first name . ?
the reason i asked i knew nearly all the gathers past and present
and i knew ralph the head barmam whom as worked there for donkeys
years for past and present managements
ralph was the lock keeper dpwn on the cannal and he lived
in the lock keepers house down on the cannal along the winson green
cannal its what they call the feeder part of the cannal
the last gather i recall was ken he moved out
and took over a knew pub they built in king edwards rd just up from
spring hill it was called the twin towers a very posh place
when it was first built i cannot say that now ,thou,
since the 70.s its had many gathers, i beleive it is run by indians now
my wifes uncle as also ran the smiths he used to run a club down
hunters rd hockley he was irish .
regarding the the park it was a notorius pub if you went in you was
putting your own life in danger walk past you would hear the
dominoes been slamming down on the tables by west indians
whom was always playing 24 ,seven it was also was a full
house 7 days a week 24 seven and the windows was always boarded
up every monday morning i promise
have a nice day earl look foreward to hearing from you
best wishes astonian ;;;;;;
 
Hi Astonian

Thanks for your reply, Did you know every pub in Birmingham?You asked my Dads name he was Jack Sykes. The Park Tavern was the first pub he managed would be around 1952 to 1954, no West Indians playing domino's and the windows were never boarded up in his time there. He moved to the Smiths Arms after the Park Tavern he was there for about 2 years before moving to the Brewers Arms in Sparkbrook after that we moved away from Birmingham.:)
 
hi earlgary
many thanks for letting me know your dads name .i certainly
did know your father at all the three pubs
firstly on the subject of the taven yes it was run good by your father
during his stint at the taven there was no problems of what i had
said regards the west indian dommies andbroken windows every week
it was long after your father had gone from there
this was more or less in the late fiftys to early sixties that this was rife
he was very popular in the trade and done a supurb job of the smithy
and kept a thriving house of the smiths arms down the green
the new man ken whom took over from your dad carried on with
the running of the pub and kept your fathers standards with good ale
and had the pr for the customers
also he was brilliant at the brewers which i know personaly myself
as i was involved with the trade for the brewery and know most pubs
and it managers and i still am involved with brewers
even thou i have moved to worcestershire
yes your father was a true proffessional publican
earl have a nice best wishes astonian ;;;;;;;
 
Thanks for the kind words Astonian, nice to hear from someone that knew my dad, after he moved from the Brewers Arms he still kept a pub but not in Birmingham,:)
 
Astonian you are a total legend. I have dates and facts but you seem to know all the people. I doff my cap to thee.

Succeeding John Durrant, Jack Sykes held the licence of the Smiths' Arms between September 1956 and March 1958.

He took over at the Brewer's Arms from Ernest Daniels and stayed for two years until Sept 1960.

Would be interested to know the pub he kept out of Brum.

Cheers
Kieron
 
Hi Keiron, After the Brewers Arms my Dad moved to the Pheasant in Nuneaton then on to the Golden Eagle now the Blue Ball in Risley Derby, finishing at the Belgrade in Leicester. As you can see he never stayed too long in any place always wanted new fields to conquer.:)
 
HI EARLGARY
many thanks for letting us know where jack moved to after the tavern
down in nuneaton [ the pheaston] well i have to say i do admire him and as you said
he did not stay long and i hope you don,t mis inturpe what i am saying , but i do
know from inside information about the pub you are on about
and i can conclude my reasons as to why he did want to move on again from there
it was a very hard pub to handle with in the estate pub. it was a miners villages
of very hardend clientel whom was rough and the reason i can say that its
because my brothers inlaw are from the village whom that pub in around the time
are ex miners from the local pit they still live in the orinional miners houses
they are tiny dolls houses its a place called burmuda village and they are protected
listed village so no alterations or new build can ever be made there
and also i can tell you that way back in the 70,s and the eightys it was closed down and it was bought by a guy whom owns or still does does the westly arms hotel
in westltly rd acocks green i do not know whether this guy still owns the westly
or died or moved on he had a couple of pubs he bought he had one at the botton
of long acre nechells it was down the hill ftom the nechells tavern my friend ran that for him and he asked me to go and look at the pheastant over in nuneaton
my brother in-law whom are founder members in the village for generations and is father are the family of lloyds a big family and are well known in nuneaton
and i tols him that i was coming over to check it out and he took me around the pub
and gave me all the info; on it and he started naming the characters and what he and the lads got up to and said he would not recomend it then i went back and dicused it with the man and turned it down i go over to burmuda village every other week to see the famiy and te wifes cousins and the younger generation whom drankin there and even today its boarded up again like most of them inaround the country in fact i would say there more closed up pubs in nuneaton than brum
it a very hard place to live in ,i said after jack left the tavern it becamea rough house but the pheasant was harder with chequerd history but saying that earl nearly al the pubs in brum are being chequered i know that the licenceing officiers in brum personally city centere and harborne and i know there views and i can share them completely with them knowingmost of the licencees in and around brum ,
don,t think for one moment i was knocking your father as have previously said
i knew jack and the pub [ the tavern ]before leaving brum he could ack it and he was firm and strong incharacter but i said to some-one on the thread the other day
we pub managers and licence,es are like foot ball managers we do move on
for varios reasons you build them up and then you move on
like the old saying a new manager a new club and thatsthe mind of al old hats in the game
earl thanks again for letting us know of the pheasant where jack your father moved too it would have been an expereince man tohandle it and i don,t doubt for
one moment thats why he was chosen for the job
you get interviewed by area managers for these pubsandthey know if you would be able to clean up these pubs other wise they do not offer it to any one of the other managers unles you are strong for it there is some guys in the businesswhom should not be running pubs because of lack of expereince and ls lacking in strengh and character if you are a weak minded person you aint gonna make the grade
well earl iwill sign off here for now ,have a nice day best wishes astonian ;;;;;
 
Hi Astonian, Thanks for your thoughts on the Pheasant. It was situated on Camp Hill estate Nuneaton and as you say there were miners houses and council houses all around but I cannot agree with you when you say it was always bad, it was a comparatively new pub when my dad took it on and as all pubs it had its moments!! My dad stayed there for about 5 years which was the longest he stayed anywhere you must remember we are talking about the 1960;s when we still had some law and order. I know it went downhill in the 1970's as we visited some friends and called in to have a drink we didn't know the place , it was full of underage drinkers playing on arcade machines. Now the whole estate is being regenerated as it got so bad, a lot of the houses have been pulled down and the Pheasant has gone with them. Like a lot of estates around the country the are left to fall into decay and there is only one thing that can be done, pull them down and start again. We made a lot of good friends while in Nuneaton,sadly the years have taken their toll, but I am still in touch with one friend who has lived on the estate for a long time and never felt the urge to move away.:)
 
hi earl
i am very glad you came back to us. you may have just misled
what i said regarding the pub and its period
when your father took it on it was fine ,but it was the latter period as you
quitely said about the seventy when it took it dive with the rott
of the youths on the camp which i myself also know personaly today
as my nephew marrid a girl named kathy about 18 momths ago
whom was married to a guy off the camp and kath grew up there on the
camp estate whom she grew up with .he was a bad man she divorced him
her kids are all grown up now and they all ive on the estate today
my nephew and kath have two young children between them and they
still live on the estate at kathy,s house which is an old miners house
as you say they are doing a clearance of the area now and have built some
moderen houses and i knew the pub had gone along time ago
my brother in law albert and his brothers are the longest serving miners
left over there now that worked down the mine
is son runs a big well established under takers ovrt there now
and his other son is the leading fire officer in the fire brigade
your dad got respect from the miners and they drank like fish
he was well liked as you said by the time the rott set in he had gone
i was offered it in the seventys it was in appalling estate
the guy from the westley arms hotel and pub bought it
he was a friend of mine who worked is other pub in nechells
and he asked e tp manage it for him after inspecting it i declined the
offer and the brewery asked me to take one on over there
but i changed brewers and went with banks and done a pub down
in cheltam ,but getting back to camp hill it is changing
but they will never touch ot alter bermuda village they have been listed
building the village is about 80 houses i go down there to camp ,
and the bermuda village every second friday albert lloyed and his family
are very well known over there hes been steward for most of the working
mens, miners club around the area ,
well earl its nice been talking again take care best wishes astonian ;;
 
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