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The Crown Inn, Broad Street

Thanks for the photo Frothblower (great name by the way!)

Yes I know the Crown very well, used to be my regular (at least when it was Edward's Number 8). We have a drawing of it dated 1888 with John Owen's (my stepfather's 3x GGrandfather) name above the door as licensed Victualler. Of course, it looked very different then :-)

Lee
 
I don't think this picture of the crown has been on th eforum before. it is labelled 1897, and was apparently taken shortly after the extension of the pub. It shows the brewery quite well
Mike

the_crown_broad_st_and_brewery_1897_after_extension.jpg
 
Mike,

This is fantastic! Where did you get this from? Do you have an original? I'm desperately trying to read the signs on the building...
 
That bit I know (lots) about. That sign actually says Wm Butler Crown Brewery. He built that after re-leasing the business from my step-father's 3x GGrandfather (George Owen) At one opint, the business was Owen & Butler's, until George died. William Butler took over his partner's lease and was 100% owner. He made the Crown his base and built his brewery there (as seen in the photo). He expanded his empire and later merged with Henry Mitchell to form Mitchell's & Butler's.
 
Sorry Lee. it was a scan of a not very good copy of the picture. I played with it to get the best resolution before scanning, and you can't see any more.
mike
 
Hi Lee

Another early photo of The Crown, a little later than Mike's contribution and they have added the clock tower by this time.

Phil

CityButlersCrownBreweryBroadSt.jpg
Lost photo replaced
City Butlers Crown Brewery Broad St.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes it is. William Butler was originally a hairdresser, apprenticed to his uncle. They did not get on very well, so young William 'ran away' to Birmingham and got a job in Broad Street, with a hairdresser (without looking at my notes I cannot give you any names). He worked at The Crown part time, and then fell in love with the sister in law of the owner, and got married. To cut a long story short, the owner lent him money. He bought the London Tavern, opposite London Works (where the Crystal Palace framework was made) in Cranford Stret, Smethwick. He then started brewing, and presumably part of the brewery was still at the back of The Crown. I may have this slightly muddled in part, because I am doing this from memory, which is a tad rusty, but basically, William Butler traded in a comb and sicssors for a pint pot and made his fortune. I am just too idle to get out my paperwork - had a hard day!
 
Shortie,

I'd love you te get some rest and then dig out your notes! Your story rings true, especially the part about working at the Crown. He was a barman there for a short time. This was the time that George Owen was licensed Victualler. Didn't know that George lent him the money though! Would love to see a photo of the pub with the Owen & Butler's sign on it! Anyone? :-)
 
Hi Lee,
From the London Gazette 1880.............Ah what might have been.

NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership beret >-
fore subsisting between the undersigned, George Owen
and William Butler, in the business of Licensed Victuallers,
as carried on by them at the Crown Inn, situate in Broadstreet
and King Edward'a-place, Birmingham, under the
firm of George Owen and William Butler, was dissolved, by
mutual consent, on and from the 23rd day of March, 1880.
All debts due and owing to and by the said late partnership
will be received and paid by the said William Butler, who
will continue to carry on the business of a Licensed Victualler,
at the Grown Inn aforesaid, on his own separate
account.—Dated tbe 12th day of April, 188ft,
George Owen.
Wm.Butler.

Goodnight Clarkie
 
Lee, what I have is a copy of 'Birmingham Faces and Places'. I have no idea when it was penned. It was George Owen and his brother John who lent him the money. If I can find out how to put it on here (four pieces of paper) I will do so. Shortie
 
LeeSteventon said:
Shortie,

Can you tell me the author of that article / book and the date it was written?
Click to expand...

Hi Lee,
Birmingham Faces and Places was a monthly magazine that was produced for four years betwen May 1888 and April 1892. The magazines were bound up to produce annual volumes for each of the four years. As Mike has already mentioned it can be accessed through the MHD site of BMSGH.

Strange that the article makes no mention of the fact that George Owen's father John Owen was Publican at the Crown, certainly from 1841 and probably before, the article implies that George was the first member of the Owen family at the Inn, although it does mention later when George left, that his family had been there for 50 years?

Clarkie
 
Hi Clarkie,

Thanks for the info on the magazine, I'll check that out.

I too was curious as to why the article did not mention John Owen. I know for a fact that he was the Publican or Licensed Victualler even at one point. The attached is a drawing of the pub, drawn I think in 1888. It shows John Owen's name above the door with the text "Licensed to brew beer, wine and spirits" underneath.



View attachment 46492
clarkie said:
Hi Lee,
Birmingham Faces and Places was a monthly magazine that was produced for four years betwen May 1888 and April 1892. The magazines were bound up to produce annual volumes for each of the four years. As Mike has already mentioned it can be accessed through the MHD site of BMSGH.

Strange that the article makes no mention of the fact that George Owen's father John Owen was Publican at the Crown, certainly from 1841 and probably before, the article implies that George was the first member of the Owen family at the Inn, although it does mention later when George left, that his family had been there for 50 years?

Clarkie
Click to expand...
 
I was not curious to know why John Owen was not mentioned, simply because the article was about William Butler, and no one else.
 
Completely understandable, it's just strange that the article missed him out in the line of sccession of the Crown...
 
Hi folks,
The Owen - Butler saga gained another twist today. Whilst waiting for BHF to come back on line I stumbled across these oddments.

Butler, Sir William Waters, first baronet (1866–1939), brewer. Eldest son of William Butler.
The death on April 5, 1939 of Sir William Waters Butler, Bart., deprived Birmingham, its neighbourhood and its University, of one of their most generous philanthropists. Educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, Sir William entered his father's business, which later became Mitchells and Butlers, Ltd., brewers. Further studies in the sciences were pursued at the evening classes held at the Midland Institute, and he became a fellow of the Chemical Society.

The Butler Baronetcy, of Edgbaston in the County of Warwick, was created in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 29 January 1926 for the brewer William Butler. His only son William Owen Butler (1898-1935) predeceased him, without male issue. Consequently, the baronetcy became extinct on Butler's death in 1939.

Clarkie
 
Hello
I am William butler's great great grandson! As far as I know he bought the lease as you say, and agreed a rental of £800+ a year which suggests the pub was doing pretty well! I'm going to be in Birmingham at the end of April and welcome any info. Please see my message re Butlers.........
Best wishes

Mark Young
 
Hi - with regard to the Crown Inn, on Broad St Worcester. I've been doing a lot of research into Black History, and apparently there was a Black housekeeper at the Crown in & around 1840. Apparently the butcher across the road was 'rather friendly' with her.
Can you elaborate at all on this? Have you any further detail you can add to my own sketchy notes?
Cheers
 
BWB the pub in question The Crown is on Broad St Birmingham

Mau-reece
 
Is it this The Crown that is near the ICC now?

The shot below was in the 2010 calendar called Old Birmingham Inns and Pubs (was the cover)


The Crown, Broad Street (now The 80s Bar) by ell brown, on Flickr

These days it is called The 80s Bar / Reflex.


The 80s Bar / Reflex - Formerly The Crown Public House, Broad Street, Birmingham by ell brown, on Flickr


The 80s Bar / Reflex - Formerly The Crown Public House, Broad Street, Birmingham by ell brown, on Flickr


The 80s Bar / Reflex - Formerly The Crown Public House, Broad Street, Birmingham - pub sign of Reflex - The 80s Bar by ell brown, on Flickr


The 80s Bar / Reflex - Formerly The Crown Public House, Broad Street, Birmingham by ell brown, on Flickr


The 80s Bar / Reflex - Formerly The Crown Public House, Broad Street, Birmingham by ell brown, on Flickr


The 80s Bar / Reflex - Formerly The Crown Public House, Broad Street, Birmingham - crown sculpture by ell brown, on Flickr


The 80s Bar / Reflex - Formerly The Crown Public House, Broad Street, Birmingham - The 80s Bar - sign by ell brown, on Flickr


The 80s Bar / Reflex - Formerly The Crown Public House, Broad Street, Birmingham - Reflex sign by ell brown, on Flickr
 
 
From Heritage Gateway The Crown Public House, Broad Street

Late C18 but much altered in the early C20. Three storeys; 6 bays with quoins
left and right and at the corner where, set diagonally, there is on the skyline
a clock tower surmounted by a crown. Stucco. Ground floor with modern tripartite
windows and entrances, one between Tuscan columns and another at the corner.
Entablature. First floor with an arched window and 5 sash windows. Second
floor with a blank window and 5 almost square sash windows. All windows
with key blocks and engraved lintels. Bracketted eaves cornice and later
parapet with intermittent balustrading. Three fine rainwater heads.
Click to expand...

From Pevsner Architectural Guides: Birmingham by Andy Foster.

To the east of the canal, the former Crown Inn, was William Butler's brewery tap (His 19th century brewery survived at the rear until 1987). Small irregularly spaced sashes on the first and second floors survive from the building of 1781. Reconstructed in 1883 by William Jenkins, and again in 1930 by E F Reynolds, who did the ground floor with its rusticated piers, the Brasshouse-style parapet and the domed clock tower. Cheap classical west facade by Alan Goodwin & Associates, 1991.
Click to expand...
 
I've been trying to trace my Great Grandfather Henry George Standley born 1852 in Roudham, near Wymondham, Norfolk. He deserted my Great Grandmother Ann who then spent 20 years in Louth Workhouse. He kept returning to father more children to Ann and on their birth certificates it says Henry was a barman. The only one I can find is the 1881 Census with him working at the Crown on Broad Street. If anyone has any info about him I would be extremely grateful.
 
Re: the crown..broad st

This is the Crown in Broad street now Reflex
 

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Hello All (especially Len :) ),

Still carrying on with the ancestry search and came across a 1st cousin 3x removed called Henry Gomm, b1871, who, with his wife Clara, managed the Crown on Broad Street in 1911. If anyone keeping historic records on the Crown would like a copy of the 1911 Census then please drop me a line.

Cheers

Steve
 
Hi everybody,

I'm interested in the landlady who ran this public house back in 1860. According to Nick Billingham's book 'More Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Birmingham', her name was Mrs. Pratt and for a time she was assisted by her daughter Sarah Pratt, who was murdered by Francis Price in April of that same year. I've checked the available historical directories online, but can find none relating to that particular year. What I'd really like to know is her first name and confirm that she did actually run or own the Crown in 1860, and any details as to where she came from or went to after her daughter's tragic death.

If anyone on this remarkable forum can help me with any information regarding either Mrs. Pratt or her family, I'd very much like to hear from you!

My sincere thanks and best to you all,

Paul
 
Welcome to the forum Paul :adoration: I hope someone on the forum can help you as it sounds a very interesting story. I would think a murder in 1860 would have been in the newspaper - have you looked at old newspapers? Are you related to Mrs Pratt?
Polly
 
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