christopher short
Birmingham Post
Was that name of the cider house at the top of the Ringway ? up a hill I think was called Lea Bank. I was always told to stay away as it was a real "roughie"
-
Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.
We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
The Greyhound Holloway Head
- Thread starter christopher short
- Start date
Mike Fisher
Billesley Boy
Yes and the cider had a green tinge to it, I think but I don't remember much about it.
yes mike it was power full stuff raw ; and mean and it cut your throat like glass whenswolowing down
it was the little entry with a stable door with a hatch many a man as pulled up in his fancy car and staggered back out after one pint of this
potent stuff at a penny a glass of the rough and 2 pennies for the slightly sweet stuff that was the grey hound pub and it was oppersite the gangesters pub called the bowling green and it ws at the top end of the hill long beforeany moderenis ation of building was made in brum
i have used it many times in my younger days most nights of the week my frienfs of mine and my self used to go there before we started our pub craw up the spring hill and to the boundry of west brom star and garter and back to spring hil it was of course lee bank and the junction of holloway head and then in the late seventys they rebuilt a cider pub further down
but the orinal grey hound was eventual taken over by students in the early sixties and as you went up the entry to the hatch it was in a little back yard which consisted of a bench and two small table so you had to come out with your pint of scrumpy and stand on thest with it
the bowling green pub was directly oppersite used by 6he crims and the piano never stopped playing until some one whom walked in wearing a suit and then the old joe anna would stop and they all looked tpowards the bar door if you was not as wel they presumed it was the old bill from digbeth or steel house lane cops detectives that was the good oldd grey hound pub you are on about
Astonian
it was the little entry with a stable door with a hatch many a man as pulled up in his fancy car and staggered back out after one pint of this
potent stuff at a penny a glass of the rough and 2 pennies for the slightly sweet stuff that was the grey hound pub and it was oppersite the gangesters pub called the bowling green and it ws at the top end of the hill long beforeany moderenis ation of building was made in brum
i have used it many times in my younger days most nights of the week my frienfs of mine and my self used to go there before we started our pub craw up the spring hill and to the boundry of west brom star and garter and back to spring hil it was of course lee bank and the junction of holloway head and then in the late seventys they rebuilt a cider pub further down
but the orinal grey hound was eventual taken over by students in the early sixties and as you went up the entry to the hatch it was in a little back yard which consisted of a bench and two small table so you had to come out with your pint of scrumpy and stand on thest with it
the bowling green pub was directly oppersite used by 6he crims and the piano never stopped playing until some one whom walked in wearing a suit and then the old joe anna would stop and they all looked tpowards the bar door if you was not as wel they presumed it was the old bill from digbeth or steel house lane cops detectives that was the good oldd grey hound pub you are on about
Astonian
Mike Fisher
Billesley Boy
I was one of the 60's lot and it was about 1s a pint then, we then staggered back Billesley on the south side of Brum in the early hours of the morning
John Young
master brummie
Oh yes, remember it well, and the cider did have a greenish tinge to it plus a lot of mary,s floating,
used to have a couple in there before hitting the Cabin or Yates Wine Lodge,
The old Greyhound was one of those pubs you wiped your feet,,,on the way out,,,
cheers (hic) JohnY
used to have a couple in there before hitting the Cabin or Yates Wine Lodge,
The old Greyhound was one of those pubs you wiped your feet,,,on the way out,,,
cheers (hic) JohnY
S
Seabird
Guest
Me too!
Quite a lot of the same crowd went to the Woodman on Easy Row, the Stage Door coffee bar in New Meeting Street and various jazz and folk clubs including the Salutation. Oh happy days!
Back in the jazz days (Salutation, Birmingham Arms, etc) we used the Greyhound prior to the regular parties at a certain long-gone house on Bristol Road, not far from where McDonald's is now. I couldn't take the cider, but my mates used to pour it down like it was going out of fashion. They claimed they were preserving themselves for eternity. The Greyhound was a rough pub all right, and it was no uncommon thing to spot bodies lying prone in the nearby gutters.
The cider at The Jug Of Punch when it was at Digbeth Civic Hall was much more civilised - at least it had no lumps in it.
Big Gee
The cider at The Jug Of Punch when it was at Digbeth Civic Hall was much more civilised - at least it had no lumps in it.
Big Gee
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
I also remember the Greyhound from the early 60's it used be be a Beards brewery tap house at one time. I remember paying 10p (old money) for a pint of rough I think a pint of smooth was a shilling. It took some getting used to and yes you would find quite a few chunks of apple (or whatever) floating around in your pint.
The girls (and some of the men) would have a tot of blackcurrant in their drink to sweeten it up a bit, it looked a vile concoction I never tried it.
I always found the clientèle a mixed bunch and you could rub shoulders with tramps, students, businessmen and even a celebrity or two, but one thing for sure it was always crowded.
Phil
The girls (and some of the men) would have a tot of blackcurrant in their drink to sweeten it up a bit, it looked a vile concoction I never tried it.
I always found the clientèle a mixed bunch and you could rub shoulders with tramps, students, businessmen and even a celebrity or two, but one thing for sure it was always crowded.
Phil
db84124
Brummophile
The order used to be " a pint and three halves of blood, please, mate."
"' evenin' all. Anybody seen Dave Fowler; has he been in this evening?"
Charlie
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
I also used The Greyhound before going off to the Jazz Club. Didn't risk the cider after having to escort my boyfriend (now husband) home to Tyseley, getting on and off the bus so that he could expel some of the cider on to the pavement (being sick, I hasten to add)! Then had to make my own way home to Handsworth.
I remember going to those parties on the Bristol Road as well, Big Gee. Usually, word was passed around the Midland Jazz Club and everyone piled into available cars to get there. Sometimes ten in a car.... arms and legs everywhere.....dangerous driving? Nah!
I remember going to those parties on the Bristol Road as well, Big Gee. Usually, word was passed around the Midland Jazz Club and everyone piled into available cars to get there. Sometimes ten in a car.... arms and legs everywhere.....dangerous driving? Nah!
Charlie, if my memory is correct it was number 27. A big old Victorian house knocked into flats and bed-sits. Some of those parties used to last for days. I bet you and I would probably recognise each other, even after 45-odd years....
Do you remember a particular nut-case known as The Peddling Phantom at No 27 parties? He used to wear genuine Edwardian clothes including a topper and monocle sometimes, and rode a vintage bike complete with carbide lamp. I never knew his real name, he was always PP to us. There was a legend that he'd been pinched doing about 50 m.p.h. down Bristol Road, but as they couldn't do a push-bike for speeding they did him for "Furious Riding" and he was fined five bob! I'd love to think that that tale is true. Great days, eh?
Big Gee
W
Wendy
Guest
Well I am shocked I had no idea.......wish I had been there though......lol xx
Michael_Ingram
gone but not forgotten
The Greyhound was a lively and friendly place. A bit of scoring going on. Talking of The Stagedoor Club, etc., I have just got back from a Dave Swarbrick gig near Hay on Wye. Great stuff
davidfowler
Exiled Brummie
Same here. And to put the record straight db 84124, it was "Evenin' all. Anybody seen Dave BENBOW, has he been in this evening?"
W
Wendy
Guest
Wow thats a blast from the past I remeber Dave Swarbrick....wonderful!
Michael_Ingram
gone but not forgotten
Seems to have lost his Brummie
accent, like me. Still has a Brummie sense of humour though. He is seventy this year but very little grey hair.
accent, like me. Still has a Brummie sense of humour though. He is seventy this year but very little grey hair.
Charlie
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Blimey Big Gee...I remember that guy with the monocle and top hat. I was told he worked at the markets, but was too shy (scared) to ever speak to him, so I don't know. Used to get a lot of manic students at those parties, I always thought he was one of those (student I mean). They WERE mad days though. Coming out of the Greyhound and twelve of us once piled into a Morris Minor. The driver was pretty much out of it anyway, on the rough stuff, but we didn't have far too go to the Bristol Road fortunately. One of my friends was only 5ft, so sat on the driver's lap and steered. Shame she never learned to drive, but we got there OK. Can't remember how we got back though, strangely enough.
YOU weren't the driver, were you? Hahahah
YOU weren't the driver, were you? Hahahah
hi ya charlie...is there any chance you could start writting a book on these escapades of yours....brillient stuff..
lyn
Charlie, I don't think I ever knew what the Phantom did for a living, but he wasn't a student. He was well-known around the jazz pubs in those days, and would suddenly appear at the Brown Lion on occasion, striking fear and amazement into the hearts of the old 'uns having a quiet pint in the lounge.
There were some real characters (and a few out-and-out loonies) around Brum back in the 50's and 60's.
I did have a Morris Minor, as it happens, but so far as I can recall I never drove it to the Greyhound. There was a bloke we called Harry Tater who sold spuds for his living, and he'd ferry people from pub to pub in his van - which was great so long as you didn't mind getting covered in mud.
Big Gee
There were some real characters (and a few out-and-out loonies) around Brum back in the 50's and 60's.
I did have a Morris Minor, as it happens, but so far as I can recall I never drove it to the Greyhound. There was a bloke we called Harry Tater who sold spuds for his living, and he'd ferry people from pub to pub in his van - which was great so long as you didn't mind getting covered in mud.
Big Gee
He was still in Fairport Convention the last time we saw him, and I believe he was also very ill for a long time. Great musician. A friend of ours was married to him for a short time.
Big Gee
christopher short
Birmingham Post
They say that rough cider's quality test was to throw a couple of dead rats into the vat and when they had completly dissolved the stuff was ready to drink.
Was there also a coffe bar nearby called The El Sombrero ?
Was there also a coffe bar nearby called The El Sombrero ?
Michael_Ingram
gone but not forgotten
Dave Swarbrick suffers from emphysema. He was born in Greater London but spent his early life in Birmingham. Apart from playing with Fairport Convention, and many other stars of the folk world, he is famous for having his obituary published by the Daily Telegraph during his lifetime when he went into hospital1999. He was often around the Stage Door club and played with the Ian Cambell Folk group. Ian's sister, Lorna used to work behind the bar downstairs sometimes.
Last edited:
Michael_Ingram
gone but not forgotten
Yes it was the Sombrero - see here:
https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12454&highlight=sombrero
https://forum.birminghamhistory.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12454&highlight=sombrero
Charlie
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Escapades Lyn....escapades? I'll have you know I led a very sheltered life. Bus shelters, cab shelters...............
I COULD write a book but expect I would be surrounded by superinjunctions, so no point really.
And I'm still not convinced it wasn't Big Gee driving that Morris Minor!
I COULD write a book but expect I would be surrounded by superinjunctions, so no point really.
And I'm still not convinced it wasn't Big Gee driving that Morris Minor!
ray whitehouse
Brummie babby
i remember the greyhound. i worked at davenports brewery. when we used to walk down the hill there was always a guy stood outside.
he had what we called cider eyes
davenports built a pub on the site. it is now a lap dancing club
he had what we called cider eyes
davenports built a pub on the site. it is now a lap dancing club
My Dad, John Hope ran the Greyhound for 12 years until 1977 ish Beards brewery were the original owners and it was bought by Bulmers in about 1966.
They turned it into a cider house where no beer was sold at all.
The cider was delivered in proper wooden barrels and 36 gallon too. I remember my dad trying to explain to me how to 'tap a barrel' (something now a bit wasted unless you serve real ale)
in the late 60's early 70's Bulmers bought the building next door and extended the pub onto the corner of Marshall street, just down from the Gough pub.
The entrance on Holloway Head served the 2 lounges which I think were called the purple room and the orchard room.
The entrance in Marshall Street served the bar area.
The cellar was then moved from under the toilets (which were more or less outside before renovation) to inside the lounge and bar areas.
Many an hilarious tale could be told about some of the clientele, many new to cider drinking, and thinking it was pee water, only to fall down the steps into holloway head and having to visit the accident hospital just up the road..That after just 2 pints !!
if you want i can ask dad, if you have any more questions, i'm surehe can tell you more than i can..
btw. My grandad ran the Red Lion in longmore street too.. which i think was knocked down to build a school.
They turned it into a cider house where no beer was sold at all.
The cider was delivered in proper wooden barrels and 36 gallon too. I remember my dad trying to explain to me how to 'tap a barrel' (something now a bit wasted unless you serve real ale)
in the late 60's early 70's Bulmers bought the building next door and extended the pub onto the corner of Marshall street, just down from the Gough pub.
The entrance on Holloway Head served the 2 lounges which I think were called the purple room and the orchard room.
The entrance in Marshall Street served the bar area.
The cellar was then moved from under the toilets (which were more or less outside before renovation) to inside the lounge and bar areas.
Many an hilarious tale could be told about some of the clientele, many new to cider drinking, and thinking it was pee water, only to fall down the steps into holloway head and having to visit the accident hospital just up the road..That after just 2 pints !!
if you want i can ask dad, if you have any more questions, i'm surehe can tell you more than i can..
btw. My grandad ran the Red Lion in longmore street too.. which i think was knocked down to build a school.
davidfowler
Exiled Brummie
Hi Jph15178, it would be great if your Dad had any photos, particularly of the inside. Oh happy days!
paul stacey
master brummie
Well, well, well, the "old Greyhound" I had forgotten about it though you are all right the "Scrumpie" was green and nearly took your head off, went a few times, could be a bit rough though.
paul
paul