Read this blog: The one where we devise BOBs Pub Crawl
Wednesday 27th November 2024
The Mystery Guides’ Birmingham City Centre adventure, The Mystery of the Fake Cheque Fiasco took us to several places that Robert (erstwhile Brummie that he is) had never been [see previous post] and we passed several banking halls which had been renovated and re-imagined as public houses with grand interiors.
The conclusion of The Mystery of the Fake Cheque Fiasco is happily located inside The Old Joint Stock, one of our favourite Birmingham hostelries. Presentation of the booklet for the adventure at the bar secures a 10% discount on your first order [see Selfie of the Day].
Quietly sat sipping our drinks we brainstormed the concept of a pub crawl taking in the old banks of Birmingham which have been converted into pubs and coined the phrase [Birmingham’s Old Banks] BOBs Pub Crawl, starting where we sat in The Old Joint Stock [see Selfie of the day].
Erected in 1862 the building was originally the library for St Philip’s church opposite but was swiftly acquired by the Birmingham Joint Stock Bank. In 1889 Queen Victoria granted Birmingham ‘city status’ and in the same year the Birmingham Joint Stock Bank merged with Lloyds Bank. Shortly afterwards in 1905 on the formation of a new diocese St Philip’s Church became a cathedral.
The one-time library building and banking hall was converted into a pub in 1997.
The interior of the pub rises two storeys to a decorative ceiling with a central glass domed roof and retains many of the original fixtures and fittings. As well as its own 80 seat theatre The Old Joint Stock claims to sell the most Fullers London Pride of any outlet in the UK.
As we left The Old Joint Stock, the sun was slowly sinking in the sky behind the Cathedral.
Matilda decreed that we should go inside to admire the beautiful Byrne Jones pre-Raphaelite stained glass while the sun was in this favourable position.
From here we walked back to The Old Joint Stock. and turned right on Temple Row then right again down Waterloo Street past the old Legal and General Assurance Society Ltd building which is now Sabai Sabai, a Thai restaurant. As a restaurant rather than a pub, we did not include it on our itinerary. On the four corners of the junction of Waterloo Street and Bennetts Hill stand imposing buildings which were once home to thriving financial institutions.
Built in 1830, the Cosy Club building was originally the headquarters for the Birmingham Banking Company [BBC]. By the mid 1830s it was one of Birmingham’s strongest banks. However during the financial crisis of 1866 it suffered severe liquidity problems and it failed in July of that year. It was the largest bank to collapse during the crisis but was restructured and reopened in August 1866.
Following various acquisitions and mergers, from 1892 it traded as the Metropolitan, Birmingham and South Wales Bank and in 1893 on the acquisition of the National Bank of Wales it changed its name again to the Metropolitan Bank (of England and Wales). This in turn was acquired by the Midland Bank in 1914.
The building eventually closed as a bank in 2002.
The interior of the Cosy Club far exceeds its homely name. Behind the bar, imposing columns rise to gilded Corinthian capitals and an intricate plasterwork ceiling in front of a mezzanine floor.
From here it is just a short walk across Bennetts Hill to the Lost and Found. This was designed and built between 1869 and 1870 as the National Provincial Bank of England. National Provincial merged with the Westminster Bank to form NatWest in 1968 and this building became a NatWest branch.
A curved wooden entranceway [below left] protrudes into the old banking hall and the interior has almost an Egyptian feel with fluted columns and foliage motifs. A small room off the main hall has its own bar and offers a more intimate space which can be booked for small gatherings.
We crossed the road again to look inside the Dirty Martini but Robert drew the line at including a cocktail bar on a pub crawl. Others who choose to follow this route might be more flexible in their choice of liquid refreshment.
The fourth and final corner at this crossroads hosts Philpotts, a sandwich outlet which looked closed when we walked past up Bennetts Hill towards Colmore Row and The Colmore, one of our favourite Brummie hostelries situated in an old Lloyds Bank building.
The route took us past The Briar Rose which was originally the home of Commercial Union Assurance but is now a Wetherspoons Pub. The name is a tribute to the fact that Sir Edward’s Byrne-Jones was born in a house opposite, on the site of what is now 11 Bennetts Hill. As this was not previously a bank, we did not venture inside.
The Colmore is a joint venture between Thornbridge Brewery and the Pivovar Group consequently the Czech Mate lager is the closest thing you will get to Budvar brewed in this country.
The Colmore opened as a bar in 2019. According to the website, the actual bar is 30 feet long. Customers can enjoy a relaxing drink among marbled tables, spectacular chandeliers and cosy corners. It was dark by the time we left.
By this stage we have walked less than a third of a mile and visited five establishments, enjoying a drink in four of them. Robert, in particular, felt this was a very favourable drink to steps ratio.
There are other financial institutions and insurance company buildings which have now become watering holes or food outlets. These include but are not limited to the Big Bite in an old branch of Barclays; The Lobster Bar Nosh and Quaff in an Alliance Assurance building; Pret in a building previously home to HSBC; Bodega in premises formerly occupied by Scottish Widows and Henman and Cooper [pictured below] named after the architects of the striking building which, with its granite facade and bay windows, was originally built for the Scottish Union and National Insurance Company.
On our route back to the hotel we passed the Dirty Martini again and took a photo of the exterior but Robert still declined to patronise the establishment.
If you know of any other of Birmingham’s Old Banks [banks and not insurance companies] which are now pubs which you feel should be added to this route, please do let us know, or add a comment below.
Selfie of the day:
