Three glossy pubs safely ticked in central Brum. It was time for Perry Barr.
I decided to walk.
Now some folk have got scared walking north of glossy Brum to cosmopolitan Aston and Lozells, but I have zero self-awareness, as Mrs RM will tell you ad nauseum. I was quite safe walking round that city in Panama; the lad on the bike had a gun.
I mean, there’s worse underpasses in Newport, yeah ?
The street art is simple, but effective.
If anyone says this is Jason Lee they can get off my blog.
You can guess what happened after about 20 minutes.
Yes, I was desparate. Where’s untended scrubland when you need it.
All was schools, Caribbean takeaways, highrise and art.
Oh look, here’s a pub. Just in time.
Wouldn’t you know it, it’s the Barton Arms, heritage pub extraordinaire.
I remember standing at the bar clutching about £2 in coins.
I remember staring at the pumps and thinking
“What would Citra do ?”
And then I remember dashing for the ornate Gents,
What an extraordinary pub.
I must go back and have a drink. But not when Villa are playing,
retiredmartin 
Trivia question: who once referred to this as their favorite pub? Five points.
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Donald Trump ?
Boak and Bailey
Karl Marx ?
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BRAPA!!! Cull through the archives.
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Oh. I thought it was the station bar at Newark.
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Benny out of Crossroads
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Correct. His hat is actually on the guest beer pump.
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Yes, but can anyone remember the name of the actor who played the hapless Benny, because I certainly don’t! 😁
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Simon Everitt.
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Paul Henry.
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A lovely looking pub with a proper Christmas beer to boot.
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Paul Henry who used to run a boozer called Billy’s Bar in digbeth!
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He missed a trick there.
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Should have kept it going….
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“Some folk have got scared walking north of glossy Brum to cosmopolitan Aston and Lozells” unsure whether signs to “The Gun Quarter” are about where they were manufactured or are routinely carried.
“The ornate Gents” are nothing compared to the cellar, the largest and loftiest I’ve ever known.
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A fantastic pub. Love the fact it’s in Newtown and pub bores (not you) get quite scared after dark!
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Scared? But it’s a lovely urban walk, dotted with interest. What’s to be scared of (writes the man who once stumbled into Mugabe’s presidential palace by mistake).
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And a Yorkshireman might have exclaimed “E ba gum Mugabe” which is a good a palindrome as I can think of at this time of day.
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He’d have been shot if he had. 🙄
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Couldn’t agree more as some real urban beauty on that walk from Lancaster Circus. I need to hear this Mugabe story!!
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That looks nothing like my son Jason. 😊
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