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The Backyard Bar

J

JohnO

master brummie
Does anyone remember The Backyard Bar, it was beyond Colmore Row, just up from the Art Gallery, if my memory serves? It was just a small place, but quite (as I then thought ) 'sophisticated' ...it had Chesterfield sofas and club-chairs and discreet, 'cool' music. Come to think of it, it reads like a 'Gay Bar'...not that I would have twigged, was a complete innocent me...

I used to go there around 1969-72-ish.....anyone know anything about the place?
 
Cor, I almost forgot - it also had an imposing, Victorian scroll-end sofa behind which was a large, art-nouveau mirror; all very 'shabby-genteel'!
 
hi jonno
Naah sounds a bit limp to me, the best place on a saturday night was the "Standard of England" in Nottingham near the river bridge, the black marias started parking up at around 8 o clock for the 11 o clock kick off great place and a guarentee pull too,
regards
paul
 
paul stacey said:
hi jonno
Naah sounds a bit limp to me, the best place on a saturday night was the "Standard of England" in Nottingham near the river bridge, the black marias started parking up at around 8 o clock for the 11 o clock kick off great place and a guarentee pull too,
regards
paul
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er, ta, I'll be sure to look that place up, next time I'm wearing a bullet-proof vest, in Nottingham....(Nottingham???) besides, I'd heard that Nottingham lasses, although reputedly attractive, nonetheless had 'thick ankles' due to all that walking up and down hills? Perhaps that's why they ''kicked off'' so readily???
 
The Backyard Bar was part of the Grand Hotel, as a young Fruit Machine engineer i often went there to repair the one armed bandit. I was only about 16 years old, and had the first scotch egg i'd ever had. I worked for Warren Ward Enterprises, based in the Jewelery quarter. One of the partners was Hedley Ward, the band leader.
 
I've just read an old posting that suggests that it may have been called the 'Backdoor Bar' - any confirmation either way???
 
Hi JohnO, I always knew it as "The Backyard Bar"as it was the rear entrance to the "Grand Hotel". I remember the sign above the door, this would be in 1969, the name "Back door Bar" may have been what locals refered to, as the "Tavern in the Town" having had many name changes will always be known as the "Tavern" Also "The Carpenters Arms" in Digbeth known as the "Bag o Nails" Tom
 
tom ward said:
Hi JohnO, I always knew it as "The Backyard Bar"as it was the rear entrance to the "Grand Hotel". I remember the sign above the door, this would be in 1969, the name "Back door Bar" may have been what locals refered to, as the "Tavern in the Town" having had many name changes will always be known as the "Tavern" Also "The Carpenters Arms" in Digbeth known as the "Bag o Nails" Tom
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Cheers again Tom; yes, I thought I'd got it right with 'Backyard Bar' - but I'm rather surprised that no one else seems to recall the place as it was so very different, in that era, from the 'norm', as it were.
 
JohnO said:
Does anyone remember The Backyard Bar, it was beyond Colmore Row, just up from the Art Gallery, if my memory serves? It was just a small place, but quite (as I then thought ) 'sophisticated' ...it had Chesterfield sofas and club-chairs and discreet, 'cool' music. Come to think of it, it reads like a 'Gay Bar'...not that I would have twigged, was a complete innocent me...

I used to go there around 1969-72-ish.....anyone know anything about the place?
Click to expand...

Hello JohnO. I used to go to the Backyard Bar behind the Midland Hotel in the late 70's. They used to sell a drink there called a Stingo. It came in a glass bottle and tasted of Barley Wine. It was a great bar and had driftwood partitions when I went there.

Happy days
 
Atkinson's Bar was at the back of The Midland Hotel (in Stephenson Street). It was the only place in Birmingham that sold real ale at the time. It was furnished in the style of a London gentlemans club / library. They sold Ruddles and some excellent game pies. Nearby was a strange little bar called The Iron Horse, if my memory serves me correctly and over the road was The Gilded Cage.
The Backyard Bar (behind The Grand Hotel) was nowhere near as nice. It's entrance was opposite the old Eye Hospital (now Hotel du Vin)
 
I can remember the bar at the back of the Midland Hotel - probably shouldn't say this but it was a handy place to go if you needed to go to the loo. If you were discreet no one noticed you hadn't bought a drink!
 
Barr_Beacon said:
Atkinson's Bar was at the back of The Midland Hotel (in Stephenson Street). It was the only place in Birmingham that sold real ale at the time. It was furnished in the style of a London gentlemans club / library. They sold Ruddles and some excellent game pies. Nearby was a strange little bar called The Iron Horse, if my memory serves me correctly and over the road was The Gilded Cage.
The Backyard Bar (behind The Grand Hotel) was nowhere near as nice. It's entrance was opposite the old Eye Hospital (now Hotel du Vin)
Click to expand...

You are quite right Barr_Beacon (it was a long time ago) but I was in fact referring to the Backyard Bar behind the Grand Hotel in Colmore Row. I thought it was a great place at the time but it was not luxurious.
I stand corrected.
 
When I worked in the menswear department at Rackhams in 1967/8 I used go to the the Backyard Bar for a crafty pint at lunchtime.
One day, I remember it was the day the sales started, so several of us decended there, as we had worked extra hard.
It was of course frowned upon for staff to drink alcohol at lunchtime. While sitting there with our pints we noticed our department head and buyer, Mr. Whittingham, there with his wife, oops!
We expected a telling off when he saw us, but no, he bought us all another pint, because we had worked so hard. Top bloke!
 
Can anybody help me please with a question about the Atkinson's Bar in what was the Midland Hotel.
I am trying to find out what happened to it. In this year's edition of the Good Beer Guide, there is an entry
for Birmingham City Centre called Bacchus and the description suggests separate bars with historic themes.
Do these venues incorporate the old Atkinson's Bar. Thank you.
 
Alan Welsh said:
Can anybody help me please with a question about the Atkinson's Bar in what was the Midland Hotel.
I am trying to find out what happened to it. In this year's edition of the Good Beer Guide, there is an entry
for Birmingham City Centre called Bacchus and the description suggests separate bars with historic themes.
Do these venues incorporate the old Atkinson's Bar. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Theres an existing thread on the Bacchus Bar (see below) which suggests its where the Midlands Hotel Bars once were. Its been restored recently. - Some very impressive "Trompe-l'œil " paintwork. The thread at the link below also has information about the Midland hotel and the bars within it - No mention of an "Atkinsons Bar" though.
Astoness

Post in thread 'Does anyone remember the Bacchus Bar?'

Vivienne14 said:
Looks like 'Bacchus Crypt' on the glass. What an incredible place. Amazed this was underneath the Midland/Burlington. Maybe it was once a wine cellar ?
Click to expand...
could have been viv...baccus i think is the god of wine

lyn
 
Last edited:
Alan Welsh said:
Can anybody help me please with a question about the Atkinson's Bar in what was the Midland Hotel.
I am trying to find out what happened to it. In this year's edition of the Good Beer Guide, there is an entry
for Birmingham City Centre called Bacchus and the description suggests separate bars with historic themes.
Do these venues incorporate the old Atkinson's Bar. Thank you.
Click to expand...
One of the comments on this website (You have to scroll down quite a bit to find it) - says that The Bacchus bar replaced Atkinsons Bar in 1992-93. It has recently had a revamp. Depending on your taste you'll either love or hate it - Its as if the props and scenery from a myriad stagings of "Les Miserables" and "Phantom of the Opera" had been collected together. Last time I was there it had a counter serving real ale and craft beers. Can be quiet at lunchtime during the week. Ideal for a quiet pint, snack or meal. No idea what its like in the evenings or weekends.

boakandbailey.com

Whatever happened to the theme pub?

One thing all the beer and pub writers from the nineteen-sixties and seventies agree on is this: the theme pub is an abomination and a terrible threat to the ‘proper’ pub. Derek Cooper’s The Beverage Report (1970) has a whole chapter on them. You only have to turn your back on a pub for a […]
boakandbailey.com boakandbailey.com
 
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