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Golden Lion Cannon Hill

Astonian said:
Come on Lyn
Are you really expecting the council to stump a lot of cash to reinstate the Stanards of the lion when we are facing economics
Crisis within our city along with the library and a high rate of personal council workers being dismissed
It very highly unlikely to spend on the lion that's the old saying, you cannot have your cake and eat it
Best wishes Alan,,Astonian,''
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no alan i most certainly DO NOT expect the council to save this building(i would be shocked if they did) but the thing is alan as someone who cares very deeply about our heritage buildings i would be letting myself down if i do not at least make my feelings known then if and when it is demolished at least i can sit back and say that at least i tried..i have never been the sort to sit back and take things lying down if i think its wrong..
all the best alan

lyn
 
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personally, I cannot see how you can preserve any pub unless it can be run as a going concern which does not seem that easy nowadays what with competing against low cost supermarket prices and drinking clubs. It's a great shame but that's life today. When I was young in Aston there appeared to be a pub on every corner ! I think them days are long since gone and will never return. Eric
 
I agree with Lyn on this one! I think The Golden Lion is a special case with it's history. It would be lovely if it could be saved or even moved. Many people shout on the internet but not many take action. Lyn always fights her corner on these issues and I respect her for that. Its not all about the council, funding can be found in other places, lobbying does help sometimes. Lets all keep positive and support Lyn's actions!!
 
There are a few questions that I would like to see answered concerning the Golden Lion starting with why nothing was done back in 2009 when the building was declared unsafe and scaffold erected was the Council in economic trouble back then.

They say one of the problems why they cannot survey the building is because it is too unsafe to enter, why then did spend money having scaffold erected that would only prevent an outward collapse? Why did the not have scaffold erected to stop the building collapsing at all, Perhaps they were hoping for an inward collapse and only wanted to stop it falling on passing members of the public,

Whilst on the subject of scaffolding, Is the Council paying rental on the scaffold and do we have another Harborne Clock scandal on our hands where the bill for scaffold will work out more than the building costs to renovate?
 
Wendy said:
I agree with Lyn on this one! I think The Golden Lion is a special case with it's history. It would be lovely if it could be saved or even moved. Many people shout on the internet but not many take action. Lyn always fights her corner on these issues and I respect her for that. Its not all about the council, funding can be found in other places, lobbying does help sometimes. Lets all keep positive and support Lyn's actions!!
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thanks for your support wend...in truth after seeing what has gone before i know im beating my head against a brick wall but there is no harm in trying...

phil when i have received a reply from phil davis i shall copy and paste your questions back to him...

lyn
 
Probably be more cost effective to take it down brick by brick, piece by piece, labelled then store it until it becomes cost effective to re-erect it sometime in the future. We all know how times change etc. Don't ask me where you'd store such a thing (in a great big container?) but let's face it, it would be better than just demolishing it. Viv
 
Vivienne14 said:
Probably be more cost effective to take it down brick by brick, piece by piece, labelled then store it until it becomes cost effective to re-erect it sometime in the future. We all know how times change etc. Don't ask me where you'd store such a thing (in a great big container?) but let's face it, it would be better than just demolishing it. Viv
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yes viv a great idea...just like the black country did with their buildings...what vision they had all those years ago to retain their history and they are still adding to it today..i take my hat off to them
 
Please do not get me wrong, I am all for preserving our heritage in the shape of historic buildings, we have lost so many over the years, and not just pubs. The problem is Birmingham is 'skint' and in debt partly due to the equal pay scandal costing the ratepayers over £1 billion I would think preserving buildings is the bottom of their priorities, we could do with a few private benefactors stepping forward like we had in the past like Nuffield and Cadbury. Lyn certainly has my full support and admiration for her efforts. Eric
 
have to agree with you eric...the fairly recent equal pay scandal which was not of our making has not helped the citys purse but lets not forget also that we have not always been broke and that we have been losing our fine buildings for over 60 years now so i would say preserving our buildings has always been at the bottom of the pile
and still bcc are ploughing money into new building projects...just does not make good housekeeping sense to me when we clearly cant afford it and the debt the city is in is now spiralling out of control...as you say private benefactors would be most welcome wish i had the money to save just one building....newmans coffin fitting works was i believe heritage lottery funded and c brandaurs pen factory njsw saved by a private enterprise (really chuffed about those ) which reminds me when the weather is better i must get down there and see how work is progressing..also need to pay newmans a visit now that it has re opened..

lyn
 
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cookie273uk said:
The problem is Birmingham is 'skint'
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Eric,

I can only repeat that Birmingham wasn't skint in 2009 when the building was supposedly declared unfit for purpose. Possibly back then the price of the proposed survey now would have been enough to rectify the faults.
 
My husband was watching a "Fred Dibnah" program this morning, he was explaining how these timbered houses were constructed. It's tragic that this piece of history has been allowed to decay.
rosie.
 
Phil said:
There are a few questions that I would like to see answered concerning the Golden Lion starting with why nothing was done back in 2009 when the building was declared unsafe and scaffold erected was the Council in economic trouble back then.



Whilst on the subject of scaffolding, Is the Council paying rental on the scaffold and do we have another Harborne Clock scandal on our hands where the bill for scaffold will work out more than the building costs to renovate?
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I was thinking the same thing. Most scaffold companys charge a hire fee for scaffolding unless some sort of agreement has been made, and I should hope there as been, otherwise questions would have to be asked. Over the last 15 or so years of my working life it was part of my job to deal with scaffolding companies. We always said to them "if you want our business, then no hire charges" We never did pay hire charges, it was always an agreed price, usually by the square metre. We always worked to a schedule of rates. We was never short of scaffolders.
 
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Phil,
I Do not believe it for one moment Birmingham city is Scintt The Central Gov, As injected thousands
Down. To Birmingham over the last period of time they have spent it else where on where they see fit
Just like down here in word we are receiving thousands of pounds yet we cannot get things done
They are cutting up word left right and centre and yet or service are going fast and fast
But yes I am sorry to say regarding the golden lion remodernise it would be abit of a waste of public money
Is there no way of some society. We could apply to lottery funding society, after all they have wasted a lot on projects
That nobody ever visits,its habit like Droitwich town centre or Ever sham town centre
They got 35 ,000. To try and rebuild the town centre to bring tourist back there ain't no think there
The brine baths have gone, they call it Droitwich Spa, but it ain't got the Spa No more so really you cannot call
It Droitwich Spa, I have Brought this to there Attention being the town council
There responds is we are discussing it regards touristim in these town ,they are finished ie,.it was the older generation
That you to come to these place for holidays and as you know its a sad Dying generation of our community's
Best wishes Alan,Astonian......
 
Thanks Alan.I take your point. But I think we have to keep trying otherwise more and more of our heritage will end up as piles of rubble. If you think back to Newman Bros/Coffin Works. Who'd have believed it would be the success it's become? It's winning award after award, simply because of committed people, good, creative ideas and determination. Viv.
 
I get the impression Birmingham has a council who appear to have no idea of running the city on a sound financial footing, and with this billion pound equality back pay to find I cannot for see any change in the near future. Personally I think running a large city requires a professional body of people who know what they are doing and spending rate payers money wisely. I had an uncle on the council many years ago and he was not paid, no perks or in a pension scheme, just expenses, he was a councillor because he loved his city and not for what he could get out of it. Eric
 
Unfortunately eric, nowadays most councillors are either out for what they can get or wish to push the program of whatever group of self-interested people they belong to
 
As far as I can see nothing has been done since 2012 when £5000 was raised toward a structural survey so that at least tenders could have been put out to prospective parties who would be interested in renting the building for a fixed term for a peppercorn rent on the condition that they repaired the building.

Unfortunately the building was declared unsafe to enter so the survey could not be carried out. So the £5000 was added to the fund for renovating the nearby bandstand which it seems that they had no trouble renovating or raising the funds to do so. I have to ask who it is that decides that a hundred year old hardly used bandstand will claim priority over a five hundred year old historic building.

It is now coming up to the 20 year anniversary of the scaffolding being erected around the Golden Lion and reportedly that itself is in need of renovation as there is some question if the scaffolding is holding the building up or the building is holding the scaffold up. So it looks like another chunk of any money that has been collected will soon be going in some scaffolding companies pocket instead of toward renovation.
 
cookie273uk said:
I get the impression Birmingham has a council who appear to have no idea of running the city on a sound financial footing, and with this billion pound equality back pay to find I cannot for see any change in the near future. Personally I think running a large city requires a professional body of people who know what they are doing and spending rate payers money wisely. I had an uncle on the council many years ago and he was not paid, no perks or in a pension scheme, just expenses, he was a councillor because he loved his city and not for what he could get out of it. Eric
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Eric

I have to say I think that most Councillors are elected under the same principal of they get paid expenses only and that it is only the executive and committee members that receive a salary as do the non elected executive Council staff. Whilst the expenses for all Councillors can be pretty tasty some of the paid staff can get up to a 140k per annum plus expenses.
 
Sorry Phil, my mistake. thought they were all salaried. I have observed whilst they are drastically reducing staff they never seem to reduce councillors !! Eric
 
Vivienne14 said:
Anyone have any updates on this? Viv.
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sorry viv to date i have not received the promised update from mr davis..this after i sent numerous emails to him...when i have a min i shall try one more time to get a response from him always assuming that he is still in office

lyn
 
Hi Eric
I know that in the early years of the 70.s all councillors whom attended late evening at the council house
For discuss of certain topics obvisiuosly to do with council planning or any think that was concerning the city
And I believe there was different subjects to be sorted out for every time they went to sit in on a meeting
One two or three they was played 25 pounds so I presume then that would be expended for travelling there
Not bad when you only live a stone throw from the council house best wishes Astonian....Alan....
 
Hi All,

In my humble opinion the Golden Lion is now nothing but an eyesore in Birminghams premier park. It suffered because it was moved from its original location and rebuilt in the park. It was then neglected and I feel that it is now too fargone to be restored. I say demolish it and move all traces of it out of the park.

Old Boy
 
Old Boy

With the greatest respect I have to disagree with you, if The Golden Lion had not been moved to Cannon Hill Park in 1910 we would not have had the benefit of it for all these years as it would have been demolished then under the road widening. It did not suffer because of moving it, in fact it gained extra life.

I have to agree that that lack of maintenance over the last 40 years or so has hastened it's decline and the that it's treatment over the last 20 years has finished it off. Most of the work needed to reinstate it now will cost thousands of pounds, but had they been attended to when first noted they would probably cost a few hundred pounds certainly no more than a celebration function that I have no doubt that our Council officials attend many times a year (paid for out of our rates)

Yes certainly until the mid to end of the 60's the Golden Lion was still in fine fettle, but it looks as if the Council are waiting for it's usual get out for listed buildings that they no longer want they just wait for it to start falling down and declare it a danger to the public so it has to be demolished.
 

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I went past the Golden Lion Inn again, and took some new photos. Has a green metal fence around it now. The pub sign is disintegrating away.







 
No problem. Is it the same old scaffolding? There are concrete blocks at the bottom of the scaffolding.
 
Expect the concrete blocks are keeping the scaffolding in place which in turn is holding up the walls. Does not look good. Viv.
 
ellbrown said:
No problem. Is it the same old scaffolding? There are concrete blocks at the bottom of the scaffolding.
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yes ell it looks pretty much the same as when i was there 2 years ago taking pics..the concrete blocks were there then...as i said a very sad sight and one i cant see changing any time soon...

thanks again

lyn
 
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