"Better 'ole" Pub ???

[Dinger]

Long shot - maybe someone can help. I have a distinct memory from my young childhood back in the 1960s of standing at a bus stop with my father next to a pub which had the typical style pub sign hanging outside with Bruce Bairnsfather's famous WW1 cartoon "The Better 'ole" on it. I remember it distinctly because my Dad had to explain the meaning to me. In my mind, I associate it with being taken to the cinema, which would usually have been the Oak Cinema at Selly Oak, where the big supermarket now is. I've looked up the usual websites for "lost pubs" but can't find any "The Better 'ole" pubs listed for Birmingham. I suppose the pub could have had a different name and just had the sign to indicate it was just that - A better 'ole. - Anyone out there remember any pubs in Birmingham with such a sign outside? Did any Brewery or pub chain use the cartoon in its advertising in the 1960s ?

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[Janet Hunt]

Long shot - maybe someone can help. I have a distinct memory from my young childhood back in the 1960s of standing at a bus stop with my father next to a pub which had the typical style pub sign hanging outside with Bruce Bairnsfather's famous WW1 cartoon "The Better 'ole" on it. I remember it distinctly because my Dad had to explain the meaning to me. In my mind, I associate it with being taken to the cinema, which would usually have been the Oak Cinema at Selly Oak, where the big supermarket now is. I've looked up the usual websites for "lost pubs" but can't find any "The Better 'ole" pubs listed for Birmingham. I suppose the pub could have had a different name and just had the sign to indicate it was just that - A better 'ole. - Anyone out there remember any pubs in Birmingham with such a sign outside? Did any Brewery or pub chain use the cartoon in its advertising in the 1960s ?

Thanks in anticipation.

It may have been the Plough & Harrow which stood on the corner of Chapel lane and Bristol Road, sure my Uncle used to go here and call it the "better ole", but I think that referred to the room he drank in. Vague memories...sorry!

 

[Dinger]

It may have been the Plough & Harrow which stood on the corner of Chapel lane and Bristol Road, sure my Uncle used to go here and call it the "better ole", but I think that referred to the room he drank in. Vague memories...sorry!

It would certainly be in exactly the right place, right next to the Oak Cinema and with bus stops close by. It seems too much of a coincidence that your uncle called it the "better ole". There are a few old photos of it on the internet now that I have a name - and it certainly looks like the pub I remember, albeit none of the photos actually show a "better 'ole" sign. The pub looks to have had multiple entrances - one off the Bristol Road and another off Chapel Lane - So maybe it was just the name of one of the bars. So I think you have found it! - Thanks!

 

[Janet Hunt]

It would certainly be in exactly the right place, right next to the Oak Cinema and with bus stops close by. It seems too much of a coincidence that your uncle called it the "better ole". There are a few old photos of it on the internet now that I have a name - and it certainly looks like the pub I remember, albeit none of the photos actually show a "better 'ole" sign. The pub looks to have had multiple entrances - one off the Bristol Road and another off Chapel Lane - So maybe it was just the name of one of the bars. So I think you have found it! - Thanks!

You are very welcome