Dear Sheddists,
I've just enjoyed an absolutely fascinating history trail (for which read,
'pub-crawl') round four of the city's most interesting drinking emporiums, all courtesy of
Birmingham's Hidden Spaces
So here's the story, or at least as much of it as I can recall in the wake of repeated infusions of Sadler's
'Peaky Blinder', a tasty stout that according to its maker is, '
dark and delicious, yet refreshing and hoppy'. It's a description with which I have little cause to quibble.
Our Journey begins
We meet just after noon at Millennium Point, the latest in a distinguished line of impressive civic white-elephants that dot the outskirts of Birmingham's bijou city-centre.
Our guides for the tour are Andy and Julian, two highly knowledgeable and most friendly individuals who over the next two hours will bring history to life before our very eyes. Pausing only for brief introductions, the obligatory Health & Safety lecture and the distribution of several laminated sheets of photocopied pictures we set off in search of our first destination.
The Eagle & Ball
Situate on the corner of Penn Street and Gospal Street, the Eagle & Ball is surrounded on all sides by building works, its freshly scrubbed Victorian brick frontage standing bravely to attention in defiance of the ever-encroaching Birmingham City University.
The Eagle & Ball dates back to the 1840s but in more recent times it falls under the ownership of Ansells, a brewery with deep and long ties to the Midlands. Come the 1960s a decision is made to change its name to
'Moby Dicks', the reasons for which are now completely unfathomable.
Fortunately the old name is restored when the University acquires the now empty building and makes it part of the Students Union. A legacy to the pub's flirtation with the works of the late Herman Melville can, however, be found still to this day in the back-yard of the pub. If you click on the link at the end of this section you should be able to spot it.
All of which brings us neatly to the
'Three Ts' of great watering holes - namely taste, trappings and toilets. I'll be using these to provide an unashamedly subjective ranking for the pubs we'll be visiting during the next few hours.
On the first count, the Eagle & Ball scores well with a reasonable selection of ales, the best of which being the aforementioned
"Peaky Blinder'. It fares much worse on the trappings front. The decor is relentlessly tasteful in the very worst Sunday-paper colour supplement style. Yes, the old tiled fire, the original wooden floor and stained glass have all been preserved but does gentrified duck-shell blue paintwork and a carefully arranged display of gleaming white coffee cups really have a place in a pub at the very heart of what used to be a sweating, blackened industrial maze?
This carries over to my assessment of the final category, the toilets. The gentrified Victorian pub edifice gives way at the back to a swanky modern Students Union. It's bolted onto the rear like a carefully manicured hand thrust insensitively up the backside of a grimacing duck-shell blue Punch and Judy puppet. I'm sure the students appreciate the gleaming new sanitary ware on display in the toilets, but this frankly is not pub as I know it.
Taste - 7
Trappings - 3
Toilets - 4
Click here to see the photographs
The White Tower AKA Moriarty's
A short walk and safe passage across the busy Lawley Middleway sees us ensconced in the White Tower, also known as Moriarty's after its current landlords, the delightful Tom and Mary Moriarty.
What a contrast! There's not a hint of duck-shell blue to be found anywhere, indeed one or two parts of the pub struggle to retain much meaningful relationship with paint of any description. But here lies beauty in the sheer wanton madness of its design.
Andy, who's quickly proving to be a fountain of all knowledge pub-related, tells us it's the last known Art Deco building of its kind left in Birmingham. Frankly this comes as little surprise - it's hard to imagine anyone else drawing up plans for a building quite like this.
The exterior windows are cut-up arrows set in sharp slits, the iron-worked door cappings a riot of triangles that find echoes in the patterned wood veneer above the bar. Even the shape of the main room is bizarre, ending at the back in a weird half-strangulated triangular form etched out in beautifully simple floor tiles.
Tom and Mary have clearly entered into the spirit of things. Race-horse prints are scattered seemingly at random around the walls while a glittering disco mirror-ball perches incongruously above the green baize of the pool table below. In short, it's great!!
The range of beer on offer is more limited than at the Eagle & Ball, the ubiquitous Carling Lager and Worthington's Cream dominating proceedings. That said, the cheeky half of Worthington's I consume during the short talk by Andy proves extremely refreshing. You can't beat a well-kept beer and Tom, the pub's landlord of some twenty eight years standing, clearly knows his stuff.
And so to the toilets. They lack gentrification, they lack natural light, conceivably they may lack toilet paper - though I fail to venture that far to check. They are just what a proper pub toilet should be like, basic and functional.
Taste - 7
Trappings - 10
Toilets - 7
Click here to see the photographs
The Eagle & Tun
Another Eagle next, but unlike the one we visit at the start of the tour this pub flirts perilously with extinction - it's perched right next to the proposed site for a new gateway station should the HS2 rail-line be given the green light.
The pub is built in the lovely red terracotta brick that marks out the very best of Birmingham's architecture and from the outside it looks an absolute stunner. If you're a music fan you may even have seen its interior already. The pub was frequented by band members of UB40 in their earlier years and features on the front cover of their two
'Best of' compilations.
Another ex Ansells' pub, the Eagle & Tun is now in the ownership of Mr Singh, a man clearly determined to restore it to its former glory. The original tiling and bar fittings are still there as is the rickety walk upstairs to the sparse and functional toilets.
Just off the main landing there's a large uncarpeted room furnished with a selection of chairs and a huge TV screen, presumably brought in to screen yet another English footballing debacle at the Euro Finals. The windows are fantastic, the glass etched beautifully with rich pattern work.
Back downstairs I investigate a small room to the rear which houses a new pool table. Rather confusingly there's a welcome mat by the entrance which reads,
'The Cauliflower Ear', yet another mis-placed renaming by Ansells in a failed attempt to promote a new and vibrant brand image. Tellingly, the mat is rather worn.
It's on into the main bar area once more for another welcome half of
'Peaky Blinder'. The decorations on the wall unsurprisingly celebrate the pub's links with the early story of UB40 - there's a large poster on prominent display and underneath a smaller print from a much earlier era signed by the original band members.
Taste: 7
Trappings: 7
Toilets: 7
Click here to see the photographs
The Woodman
And so on to the culmination of our journey round the watering-holes of Birmingham, another beautiful terracotta-clad building just opposite the old Curzon Station.
The Woodman is a Grade 2 listed building with a chequered past. Vacant for four years much of its interior was gutted by squatters. However, since being acquired by Birmingham Inns and Linford Developing Heritage the pub has been restored sensitively and intelligently. It's neither a museum piece nor a fashionable yuppy retro-bistro. Instead it offers a superb range of beers and cider accompanied by reassuringly basic pub-grub.
If you have time take a few minutes to study the book by the right-hand side of the bar which tells the history of the restoration. It's been a job well done and a truly great way to finish our tour!
Taste: 8
Trappings: 8
Toilets: 7
Click here to see the photographs
And so the results are in...
I did warn you my marking system was unashamedly subjective. As they say, one man's meat is another man's poison.
The Eagle & Ball has been meticulously restored and provides a welcome haven in the heart of the University campus. But somehow it's just too gentrified for me.
The Eagle & Tun has much more of a true pub feel to it and its owner, Mr Singh is clearly a character. It is, however, a work in progress.
The Woodman represents exactly what a good pub development should look like, the original character has been kept but not at the expense of twee gentrification. It scores highly on all counts.
But it's just beaten into second place by The White Tower. This is a truly amazing pub brim-full of both character and characters. Yes, it may be showing its age in a number of places, but that's just part of its charm. A deserved gold accolade then for the White Tower!
