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Hostaria Wine Bar

  • Thread starter Thread starter New Romantic Gal
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The Hosteria was one of the bars we used to go to before heading off to The Rum Runner on Broad Street or the Holy City Zoo in Water Street back in the earlier 80's... The Australian Bar was a few doors down and Kahn & Bell was a few doors up... Perfect!!
Anyone remember John the doorman at the Hosteria?... He was a really nice bloke, nothing like the doormen of today.
 
i frequented Hosterias bar on 1 occasion back in 81 had my first jug of sangria in there and then to hawkins and had my first tall pims, and ended up in sam wellers good time had by all
 
ha ha I remember some girls asking for a jug of Shangri la one night! I used to work behind the bar at Elbow Room during those days, and we all used to hang out in all of the above mentioned. Hosteria had good food (well it seemed good in those days), in fact all the wine bars were pretty decent and it seemed a bottle of wine would last all night, what ever happened to that ?
 
If I remember correctly (who knows!!) Hosteria was the first wine bar in Birmingham and the owner was Malcolm Hearn.
 
And yes the wine bar on Corporation Street was Hawkins. It was hugely trendy with a dance floor and all sorts. Now it is a chicken restaurant... Be nice if it went back to being a trendy wine bar IMHO
 
carolina said:
If I remember correctly (who knows!!) Hosteria was the first wine bar in Birmingham and the owner was Malcolm Hearn.
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Hi I’ve just joined this forum as it was my Dad Mario Reddi that owned Hosteria Wine Bar with his brother. I have been looking for old photos that anyone would have of it. I was only about 10 when the wine bar was opened but I do have memories of it. And yes it was the first wine bar in Birmingham to open. They also owned the Italian restaurant La Capanna just up the road
 
Welcome Sonya. You will probably be interested in these few snippets about Hostaria’s. Source: British Newspaper Archives. The woman in the sunglasses would definitely not have needed those glasses - it was very dark inside Hostaria's ! It had a great atmosphere. Spent many happy Friday nights in there, supping wine and the food was delicious. Viv.

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Vivienne14 said:
Welcome Sonya. You will probably be interested in these few snippets about Hostaria’s. Source: British Newspaper Archives. The woman in the sunglasses would definitely not have needed those glasses - it was very dark inside Hostaria’s ! It had a great atmosphere. Spent many happy Friday nights in there, supping wine and the food was delicious. Viv.

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That’s brilliant Viv thanks so much for sharing this. I have so many memories of those days but too young to appreciate it for the vibe it offered. If there are any more photos please share xx
 
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Astonian said:
hi dek;
no it was not a yates wine bar they was in the same place as they have been for donkeys years
at this precise time i cannot recall the name but i know it was not yates and it was a very posh place in the early years i think personaly it went down in the later years you are speaking about ; still i will try and remember it unless some one comes up with som think before i kick my brain into gear
i can vizulize it now on the corner it was not a bad looking place and it was busy day and night they had a resturant up stairs as well;
best wishes astonian
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Did it have a long window that curved around the corner? if so I remember this wine bar, my sister had her 21st birthday party there. We all had to dress up in fancy dress. My sisters boyfriend (now Husband) dressed up a gorilla suit and stood out side the wine bar scaring us all..... fantastic memories.
 
Sonyacowen said:
Hi I’ve just joined this forum as it was my Dad Mario Reddi that owned Hosteria Wine Bar with his brother. I have been looking for old photos that anyone would have of it. I was only about 10 when the wine bar was opened but I do have memories of it. And yes it was the first wine bar in Birmingham to open. They also owned the Italian restaurant La Capanna just up the road
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Vivienne14 said:
Was it Hawkins? Had a massive dark oak bar. A trendy place in the 80s took up the whole corner at the end of Corporation St and was on the other side of Corpn St to the Scout/Girl Guides shop. Viv.
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As I mentioned somewhere else on this pin, my sister had her 21st birthday party there, it was a fancy dress affair, sisters boyfriend now husband dressed in a gorilla suit and scared us witless by peering in the window. We all thought we were super trendsetters living the high life..... brilliant memories.
 
Sonyacowen said:
That’s brilliant Viv thanks so much for sharing this. I have so many memories of those days but too young to appreciate it for the vibe it offered. If there are any more photos please share xx
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It's wonderful to see a picture, grainy as it may be, of Hosteria One which I went to a number of times after it first opened as my then girlfriend who'd heard about among friends in the sixth form.

Hostaria was such an amazing place and thinking about being in there brings back happy memories of care-free days. What made it so special was it was really relaxed and often frequented by those who were prepared to be flamboyant. Khan and Bell, whose shop was a couple of doors up the street, probably contributed to this. Talking of which, though I didn't see them at Hostaria, I believe Duran Duran, who were kitted out by Khan and Bell, played there early in their career.

It's amazing to think of how exciting Hurst Street was back in the late 70s early 80s. Oh to be able to go back in time.
 
StevenMc said:
It's wonderful to see a picture, grainy as it may be, of Hosteria One which I went to a number of times after it first opened as my then girlfriend who'd heard about among friends in the sixth form.

Hostaria was such an amazing place and thinking about being in there brings back happy memories of care-free days. What made it so special was it was really relaxed and often frequented by those who were prepared to be flamboyant. Khan and Bell, whose shop was a couple of doors up the street, probably contributed to this. Talking of which, though I didn't see them at Hostaria, I believe Duran Duran, who were kitted out by Khan and Bell, played there early in their career.

It's amazing to think of how exciting Hurst Street was back in the late 70s early 80s. Oh to be able to go back in time.
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Duran Duran did play there. I’m so happy that you all have wonderful memories of Hosteria it means so much to me and I know it would have meant a lot to my dad too. Xx
 
We wouldn't really refer to them as ‘wine bars’ today, just bars I suppose. But I think, at the time, the term wine bar was to differentiate it from a pub ie licensed to sell alcohol with proper food (and dripping candles !). I suppose it was based on the continental model of eating and drinking out.

In the early days of Hostaria’s, anyone who wanted a change from a pint in the pub with a bag of crisps welcomed these bars. But at the same time they sat easily alongside pubs, because of the cosy atmosphere and more adventurous food. I think they made an important contribution in this country to our eating and drinking habits.

Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Here’s the wine bar in later years (by then the Queensway Win Bar) - image borrowed from post #630 SteveBhx Old Birmingham photos thread https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...birmingham-photos-from-stevebhx.52814/page-32

Viv.

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Can I clarify please Viv? The original Hostaria Wine Bar opened in the 1970s was on Hurst Street. Is the one shown in the photo above a successor which moved from Hurst Street when that site was developed to make way for the Arcadian Centre?
 
Noelani68 said:
As I mentioned somewhere else on this pin, my sister had her 21st birthday party there, it was a fancy dress affair, sisters boyfriend now husband dressed in a gorilla suit and scared us witless by peering in the window. We all thought we were super trendsetters living the high life..... brilliant memories.
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Hawkins used to have a pretty impressive laser light show later on Friday evenings.
 
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