Lucky Find in Acocks Green

We ventured out into torrential rains to the little used furniture place at the south end of Digbeth looking for a sideboard. We found a piece that would work albeit not quite the right style (close, but the legs are metal and the pulls just not quite right) and another that was lovely but a foot too long and £250 overbudget.

Close, but no G-Plan

Our feet were already soaked so we went from there for some thrifting and a beverage in Acocks Green whereupon the rain intensified and the winds strengthened…quite a change from the day before when I snapped the lead photo of some bridge cladding obscuring a Cut Mark I was hunting.

Top: Legless and too short (a common complaint). Bottom: pretty with good legs and mechanically perfect but too long (get your mind out of the gutter).

As it turns out, AG is rife with benchmarks and brackets. I spotted a Cut on the realtor’s shop we were sheltering next to whilst finding the quickest route to the rail station. Turns out, we had passed within a street crossing of at least 3 others and would, on the slog to the station, encounter some others.

Our train was due in 15 minutes when we got to the platform just as it was cancelled. Of course. Again, we passed several more on the way back to Warwick Road to catch a bus and I knew there was a Flush Bracket on the side of the school next to the bus stop and a Cut Mark on the wall just beyond it. I also reckoned there were things to do with the church across the road (in fact, another each FB & CM) but we saw the bus turning the corner through the mist and had to dash (I noted the school Flush Bracket in my peripheral vision for future reference).

The Rainbow, Digbeth

Pub #2612:

My life is filled with disappointments of my own making. I just missed the Rainbow before it closed for refurbishment and then with COVID lockdowns it was just this gorgeous house of stained glass I was never going to see. It reopened quite sometime back and we finally made it over for a post-furniture-shop / pre-bookshop beverage.

And, inside the old pub everything IS gorgeous (save for the customers who needed more clothing or, if there was adequate coverage, a glance in a mirror before they leave home). But, like most things in Digbeth the gaff is designed with the hipster man-child in mind. I’m sure you can borrow a Nerf or ping pong ball rifle from the staff back in this dreadful garden bar.

And, the music piped in is HORRENDOUS. It fits the clientele, I mean.

We’re guessing from the doorway topper that this used to be called The Ram. Ram it, I think.

Day out in Digbeth

Jackie spotted a small poster for a vintage furniture place (the Moseley Vintage Hub) near Bordesley Station and, since we need a piece to put our turntable on and store CDs within, we headed down on a Saturday, mid-July. We actually had success and it was delivered a week later, but we’ll definitely be back.

We killed a few minutes going through the vinyl there while a rain outbreak passed, then made our way to the Rainbow for a beverage. We passed an enormous wedding party at a big venue on the way then, as we prepared to turn to the pub I stopped for a Cut Mark I knew was close (another one, on the pub, turned out to no longer exist).

Refreshed, we headed back out and looped by the central bus garage, a magnificent and massive building.

Jackie was really taken with the heraldry above the bus door, pointing out art and industry having a lean against the shield of, perhaps, the monarch or maybe the City or the County. The arm and hammer out of the parapet remains a mystery but I’ll update this if we figure it all out. FORWARD!

Voce Books was our other target, a small independent shop hidden by the arches just down from the cop shop on Alison Street. We could have bought the entire inventory, but settled on a couple of tomes we both wanted to read.

Big Bull’s Head, Digbeth, Birmingham

Pub #2362:

Teenagers crawled the streets Tuesday and kept getting in my way after picking up my bulk groceries at the Clean Kilo (I had run up after work along the canals then avoided foot traffic this far by skirting the Smallbrook/Digbeth outskirts).  I decided to let this rush of morons dissipate a while and ducked into the Big Bull’s Head for a Guinness.

The bar was surrounded with folks watching a quiz show and there was another room packed with diners.  Overall spectacular, to be frank.

I think this is my favourite Digbeth bar so far (see other good ones at The Anchor and The Bull Ring Tavern).

The Old Crown, Digbeth, Birmingham

Pub #2343:

The Old Crown has been around since 1368.  Not spotted on this visit is their Blue Plaque proclaiming “Overpriced and Disappointing for Nearly 7 Centuries.”

August 2019 Run Updates and Excess Photo Dump

A busy running month coupled with much to do at work left few interesting bonus photos for the end-of-month round-up.  And, so it goes.

Miles: 155
Runs: 23 total, 6.7 miles average
Long: 11.5 miles
Pubs: 13 on runs, 16 overall

Out for a longer run than normal (lately) one Saturday this month, I planned to double-dip the fine pubs at the northwest edge of Halesowen before heading home.  After the Waggon & Horses I found the George shuttered (Rest In Peace) but still managed to take in the Queen’s Head without too much of a change in direction:

Thankfully, some civic-minded soul replaced the “M” (however tentatively) on this street sign.  Or, leading as it does into the Gay Village, perhaps the “M” stands for “Misleading.”

The Collossus of Digbeth appeared before us on our Bank Holiday weekend ramblings and, for some reason — perhaps drugs were involved — I had “Get Down Tonight” by KC and the Sunshine Band stuck in my head for the next two days:

The days continue to diminish as we head into September.  By the next update, night will dominate; until then….

 

JFK Mosaic, Digbeth

One of the oddest items you might hope to find in Brum is the JFK Memorial in Digbeth.  The original was put up by the Irish community in 1968 outside St Chad’s about a mile north of here but was demolished for a new road in 2007.  The son of the original artist recovered what he could of it and re-did the one you see above.

Originally, the inscription was

THERE ARE NO WHITE OR COLOURED SIGNS ON THE GRAVEYARDS OF BATTLE

which was a blatant dig at the racial strife in the States at the time…thank God THAT’s all sorted itself out.  The new inscription is a little less passive aggressive and bears an error of fact (should read “1961-3“).

A really nice thread running from 2009 until just after the reinstallation in 2013 exists over on the Birmingham History Forum.  The detail photos, alone are worth the visit.

The Fountain Inn, Digbeth, Birmingham

Pub #2289:

The exterior of the Fountain is a little worse for wear and I so suspected it was no longer open for business that I didn’t even try the door.  As I was leaving to jog on to find another venue, a taxi pulled up and the young woman passenger strode right in.  The open door showed a bustling midday crowd.  I followed.

A sport channel awaited the day’s cricket and everyone smiled at — then ignored — this stranger covered in sweat and obviously not from the neighbourhood.  The barman was an especially friendly young man and striking in his resemblance to  Phil Lynott (if he were about a foot taller with a broad, Brummie accent).  After pouring my Carlsberg (£2.50), he returned his attentions to the line of regulars weighing down the bar and I examined the walls.

Most of the framed items were old booze adverts and talk of Irish-related events (the first St Pat’s Day Parade in Brum, for instance).  One copy of the local paper was also framed relating the time that police raided wrong Fountain for drugs and porn.  The only link I could find was in the Pink Press, but it is essentially the same, very funny story about the coppers making the day for this otherwise sedate and normal, FAMILY local.

I’m sure on my second beverage, I’d be family here, too.  Absolutely smashing house and as local as I think you could hope to get  … do try to find your way out there sometime.