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Pubs Of The Past

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stitcher
  • Start date Start date
Hi Astonian

Yes, that new road, which is a direct road to the Queen Elizabeth, is not only badly marked (it's easy to miss the fact that the new road has right of way), it comes up out of the blue - I think warning signs should be there. My daughter lives in Selly Oak near the Bristol Pear, so I use the Bristol Road quite often. It does make life easier getting to the hospital which is what it is for, and it has considerably reduced the traffic up to Sainsbury's which has got to be a good thing (although rush hour does not seem much different). Next time you will be prepared for it!
 
There is an early pic of the Scott Arms in the thread - 3rd pic in post #275, but here is an early 1950's pic of the pub.

scottarms1950s.jpg
 
It certainly looks better in the 1950's pic than than today's rebuilt Scott Arms, but I suppose it could not have been left in place for traffic reasons.
 
That brings back memories. I used to quite like the old Scott Arms, nice place for a quick pint while I waited for the bus to West Brom to see my girl-friend. I was under-age, but there you go. When was it demolished? In the 1970's, at a guess?

Big Gee
 
Here are two more pictures of The Scott's.Second one dated 1910.moss
 

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A view of the Scott Arms pub can be seen in a post in another thread with a click on this pic
A church in the distance behind the house has a faintly striped roof and is the only building in the pic which still exists today and can be seen in 'Google Streetview'.
 
The Old Crown.jpg
I know there have been a number of images of The Old Crown posted on other threads but this is one is from an unusual angle.
 
Not a pub I have any memory of, or can even clain to know it's whereabouts even today, if it still exists. The Coach and Horses Castle Bromwich.
 

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Yes, it's still there Phil. On the Green Castle Bromwich. Have'nt been there for some years though I used to be a regular there. A good pub in it's day, I don't know what it's like now though. I have attached a picture off Google.
 

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mempic76.jpg
Also known locally as 'The Cuckoo'.
I lived just a hundred yards from this pub in the early sixties.
 
Hello Big Gee, if you were to go along Freeth Street from Icknield Port Road, you would eventually come to a short road on your left, Icknield Sqare. that road is still there and Freeth Street carries on and meets Icknield square again at the end of the road. The Freeth Arms stood on the corner of Icknield Sqare and Freeth Street.
If, as you went along Freeth you turned left at the pub, the road is only a few yards long and you would have to turn right, Bellis & Morcom works woul be on your left and as you went alond Icknield Street you would come to the end of the road again. Left would take you into B.& Morcom, and left would take you past the end of Freeth Street.
I hope you can understand all that Big Gee.
 
Image11_The_Vesper_Bell_Blythe_St___Ledsam_St.jpg
The Vesper Bell on the corner of Blythe Street and Ledsom Street Ladywood, rumour has it that it was so named because one could hear the Oratry Bell from inside the bar. It 's doors shut for the last time in 1958.
 
Hiya What a sunny day !!
can anyone date this picture of THE BEAR, SMETHWICk ?
I know its not actually Brum but thought I'd ask anyway.
The licencee on the door says Coop - was wondering what year they ran it ?The Bear Hotel 002.jpg
 
Thanks for the info, Stitcher. I think I know where you mean, and it makes sense because I had a friend who lived on City Road and I'm sure that the Freeth Arms is the pub we used to walk down to. This would be 45+ years ago. The other nearby pub we used was The Bellfield, which I believe no longer exists.

G
 
Amanda
This is a bit of a mystery. If you enlarge the photo it seems like the landlord is william Henry Cooke , not Coop. Hitchmough's Black Country Pubs states that he (or rather William Henry Cook, without the E) was there 1892-1899. So that seems OK. However the pictures that Hitchmough gives (below) for 1906 and 1910 do not look like that pub, nor indeed
The_Bear_Inn2C_smethwick_c_1906.jpg
the same street. I would be surprised if there was that much change in 10 years or so, but maybe there was. There is no other Bear listed in Smethwick anyway.



The_Bear2C_Smethwick_c_1910.jpg
 
But apparently it did change that much. The pub was demolished 1906 & rebuilt 1906-7. The brewery also paid for the widening of the road to make it safer, as the laying of tramlines had made the corner unsafe. During the rebuilding the foundations were put back about 7 feet to allow the road widening
 
So do you think it is the same pub then ?
Ive tracked my ancestors as running it from 1840~1875 thats Richard Sankey 1794-1875.
I wasnt sure myself when someone gave me that photo so wanted tio check it out date wise.
Did Holts Brewery cover Smethwick ? I thought Holts was an aston brewery.
x
 
Yes amanda, i think it must be the same site, though, as i said the pub was completely rebuilt, and the area considerably developed between the two photos. Holts did cover a fairly wide area . At soem time they also owned the Kings Head, the Pheasant & the Vine in Smethwick
 
Amanda
I should watch out for the pigs flying over Bearwood, and try then !
You will have this probably but Hitchmough lists Richard Sankey as being there 1834-73 (but this is only when he could verify this), and William Sankey 1878-1884 (again this was just when he could confirm him living there. A Charles Wilkes left in 1892, but no start date is given.). He also states that at some date (not known) the pub was owned (as opposed to the licensee) by Mary Jane Sankey of Willow avenue, Edgebaston. Richard Sankey is also listed as a horse dealer in 1878, 1879 & 1883, and lists the censuses for 1851, 1871 and 1881, which you will have. It quotes the Smethwick Telephone (17.5.1884) as saying that Ricjhard kept the Bear for 40 years. Also on 14.3 1885 the Telephone tells of the Bear “ Mr Thomas Howell is instructed by the executrix of the late Mr William Hankey to sell by auction the whole of the valuable live and dead (??) farming stock and implements of husbandry”
 
A Joseph & John Sankey were also involved in the Cock & Magpie in smethwick. Don’t know if they were related to your Sankey
 
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