August 2025. Birmingham.
Take a look at the OS map of Brum, to the right of New Street Station.
Two big white holes, the upper one the HS2 works, the lower a huge empty car park that ChatGPT tells me will soon be a 687 home development called Pressworks,
That bit of brownfield marks the starting point of our Sunday lunchtime exploration of Digbeth, from the modernity of the Chinese Quarter,
into what used to be a land of Irish pubs and clubs.
Now, who knows ?
The street art is good,
and the heritage pubs are, at least intact, if unused.
There’s a good write-up of the Market Tavern on the late Peter Allen’s blog;
Closed for 14 years, which is a heck of a time for a building half a mile from the centre of our second city (after Manchester) to be derelict, you might think. It could almost be a Sam Smiths.
Now, this sort of urban exploration is My Sort of Thing,
but could Digbeth sustain Mrs RM’s interest for an hour ?
Luckily, she had a trail to follow. You can fool anyone into walking through derelict industrial streets with a trail.
I thought a pub might help;
but the famous White Swan, immortalised by Peter in his inimitable style,
was, inexplicably but also predictably, closed.
Still, it’s Digbeth, there’ll be JFK.
That’ll appeal to your American readership.
retiredmartin 
Hey, congratulations on at least making it to the last ever GBBF in Brum.
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That’s me, always there for the history.
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Hopefully you can also have the last ever pint of Donington. Brewed 17 years before you have it.
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CAMRA need to make huge savings. One suggestion– drop the glossy paper in branch magazines.
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Filling in the blanks is what we tickers spend years of our lives doing. Great pics- hopefully there will be somewhere different on the 26 Guide. Pubmeister
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It’s always fun to try and guess what the new GBG entries in a city like Brum might be.
Typically it’ll be a suburban Black Country Ales or brewery tap, though it’s not obvious what central Birmingham might have. Perhaps the New Street Spoons.
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I’d have thought the re-opened Lord Clifden would make it, it went all trendy (dropped the lord) but has now returned to former glories, but would it count as new?
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That’s in the Jewellery Quarter, isn’t it, Neil. Fairly sure I walked past it recently.
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Yes, on Great Hampton Street, which is the main road back towards the City.
There is another good pub a few doors down , The Church.
Carry on a bit further and you get to the Hen and Chickens.
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I think the Mercat is still standing? What a pub this was!
Life After Football
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