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The Windsor Pub Cannon St.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nipper
  • Start date Start date
I'v posted this photograph of The Winsor in Cannon St from 1976 previously, sadly it only shows only the pub sign (which was the M & B plastic 'box' common at the time. Hopefully I'll find a photograph that shows the actual pub itself.The Windsor, Cannon St, 1976 (2).jpg
 
Nipper said:
Did anyone ever drink in The Windsor in Cannon Street. Like many teenagers in the 60's I felt the Aston pubs were for the old men and the young set drank in town. I never went downstairs at the Windsor cos it was a bit too close to the back door of Yate's Wine Lodge and you used to get all sorts in there. Upstairs though, you could 'skin up' if you were moderately discreet. The landlord didn't seem to mind as long as you kept buying drinks and didn't fall over.

Funny thing is, I went back there a couple of years ago. It's very different now of course, but I ran into a guy I used to drink with in there. Hadn't seen him for best part of 30 years. He too was revisiting a few old haunts after many years of absence from dear old Brum. We thought it funny that one of us could have been lying and in fact had been a regular there since the 60's!

Town pubs for me though were mainly about gigs and Captain Cannibal's Asthmatic Mixture. Good gig pubs were the Eagle behind the central post office, the Crown (blues) behind the station and the good ole Whisky a go go on the corner of Hill Street. I think it later became the Twilight Rooms or something.

Happy days....what I remember of them.....
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I used The Windsor in the 60's, Ted the Maltese barman and May the very mature Barmaid . All went well till about 10.45 when the cops used to come in to help us on our way and of course make sure there was nothing untoward . I can still hear Bob Dylan " Lay Lady Lay , and The Stones Honky Tonk Women singing in the background from those good old days
 
Astoness said:
did the windsor have a frontage in cannon st and needless alley as i am a tad confused..i have a photo here taken in 1958 caption say needless alley

lyn

View attachment 111670
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Lyn from memory it was just a doorway and a window in needless alley, go in the door that led you upstairs , I think if you went to the left of the stairs you could access the downstairs bar . I used the door umpteen times you got to the beer quicker than going round to Cannon St
 
Williamstreeter said:
I used The Windsor in the 60's, Ted the Maltese barman and May the very mature Barmaid . All went well till about 10.45 when the cops used to come in to help us on our way and of course make sure there was nothing untoward . I can still hear Bob Dylan " Lay Lady Lay , and The Stones Honky Tonk Women singing in the background from those good old days
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just 2 never to be forgotten songs from the good old days:)
 
I only remember the Needless Alley entrance. Used go upstairs from there. Was like stepping into a very dodgy, underworld ! Remember the jukebox in there too, by the door as you went into the bar. Think they used barrels for tables, although might have got this mixed up with another pub. Used to go in to so many in those days. I remember it was a pretty unhygienic place - sticky, old carpets etc. This would have been early 1970s. Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
I only remember the Needless Alley entrance. Used go upstairs from there. Was like stepping into a very dodgy, underworld ! Remember the jukebox in there too, by the door as you went into the bar. Think they used barrels for tables, although might have got this mixed up with another pub. Used to go in to so many in those days. I remember it was a pretty unhygienic place - sticky, old carpets etc. This would have been early 1970s. Viv.
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Viv I can't remember the barrels , my residence at the Windsor stopped 69/70 . What I will say the barrels weren't there then
 
Probably was another pub then. Despite the place being a bit of a dive when I went there, we still went in there quite regularly. Been along Needless Alley on Streetview, it seems to have changed so much I can’t even place where the entrance once was on that side. Viv.
 
Yes I remember you could walk right through, spent a few evenings there in later years after it had been done out/rebuilt and there was a glass lift in there up to a 1st floor
 
Vivienne14 said:
I don't remember there being a downstairs part to the Windsor. We always went upstairs to it, the staris led up off Cannon Street. There may well have been a downstairs but I don't ever recall going in there. Directly opposite the stairs was a jukebox which constantly pumped out music. A bit of a rough looking place in the 1970s. I think its full name was was called the Windsor Castle, but nobody ever called it by its full name, just 'The Windsor'. Viv.
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No Viv, it was never called the Windsor Castle. Also downstairs there was a bar and a small "snug" at the Cannon St. entrance with a lounge at the back leading onto Needless Alley.
 
Last edited:
There is a replacement photo in post 5 and two of Ell Browns photos in post 25.
The hanging sign board shows a picture of Windsor Castle, so maybe that is where 'the castle' reference arises.
 
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