Old Farm Inn Bournville

[Vivienne14]

Can we try and locate exactly whereabouts in Bournville this pub was? Given that pubs weren't allowed on Cadbury land, I'm surprised to find a pub located in Bournville. But these postcard images clearly state a Bournville address.

The name suggests it was a former farm. A very enterprising farmer if he saw a niche in the Bournville market ! Viv.

 

[Radiorails]

Currently it is listed as an hotel, so maybe it was always a lodging place but dry. However it may well date before Cadbury was involved in developing Bournville and therefore had ancestral rights - or something along those lines.
https://www.oldfarmhotel.co.uk/

 

[mikejee]

Not sure as to the reasons why an Inn was allowed, but it was originally Called Bournbrook Farm or /Froggart's Farm , as Mrs Sarah Froggart & her stepson William were tenants in the late 1800s. Mrs Froggart was apparently a herbalist, and it is said that in the very early days of the factory, she was consulted when workers injured themselves at work. Apparently, after Sarah died in 1899, the farm was "remodelled" by W. Alexander Harvey, the Cadbury's architect., and then became Ye Olde Farm Inn. Between the wars, local social groups used the outbuildings. Extensions were built to the farm after WW2, and it was used as a conference centre by Cadbury's for a number of years. My induction to the firm was carried out there, and i attended a number of other courses there also. The building ceased to be a Cadbury run operation I think around 1980 or just after, but am not sure. The building is now run privately, being leased from the Bournville Village Trust.
Pictures of the farm kitchen. early 1900s and of outbuildings in 1950s below
Other than personal memories, information from "Bournville Then & Now" by Margaret A Broomfield

 

[Vivienne14]

Very interesting Mike. Thanks. Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

It takes a bit of imagination to see that 'Ye Olde Farm' is now Old Farm Hotel - according to Streetview.Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

Bringing to the top for Stitcher. Viv.

 

[Pedrocut]

Another picture from around 1906...