SHA Small Heath Alliance

I've never said X place should be busy. Just a shame that Pint Shop, Bundobust and North Bar rarely if ever were and the Pov last couple of years followed that pattern but it is also circumstances and I'm not even suggesting these constraints are unique to Brum but they seem to be happening earlier and faster in Brum as compared with other urban areas of a certain size - your Sheffield's, Glasgow's and Leeds's let alone the next level up Manchester's and London's

Sheriff

They survive on being what they are to the people who want it.

Which imho is where Brum isn't helping itself one bit. Just self defeating to be left with either that or one of Tim Martins gaffs. Christ there are still pubs like that on every sink estate

mad

I've never said X place should be busy. Just a shame that Pint Shop, Bundobust and North Bar rarely if ever were and the Pov last couple of years followed that pattern but it is also circumstances and I'm not even suggesting these constraints are unique to Brum but they seem to be happening earlier and faster in Brum as compared with other urban areas of a certain size - your Sheffield's, Glasgow's and Leeds's let alone the next level up Manchester's and London's

Pint shop is the most ridiculous building to operate a pub in and I told them that when they asked me to consult on them moving to the city.

They're a great example of how little you know. They had a cool concept in Cambridge and Oxford, wanted to expand and identified Birmingham as a city on the up because of the zeitgeist of the time. It seemed an ideal fit but they ballsed it up by not listening to operators who wouldn't touch that site with a barge pole. Asking beer drinkers to go 3 floors up for a beer was insane and never going to work.

They had a good concept, didn't listen initially and then were also awfully ran centrally. That's why they failed.


Bundobust failed because they chose the wrong site too. And also they were going up against an actual independent Birmingham offering 10 doors down in the Indian Streatery who I don't hear you praising?

I knew all of that to be fair. Not sure anything I've spouted on here proves anything about how much or little I know not that it matters what I opine is what matters on here just like what anyone else may opine.

North was in another kinda odd building up against a soulless bit of town be interesting to see what that food court does with the expanded version of that place

I'm not a huge fan of Pint Shop's place on the King Street run either but they tap that big student captive market there plus the daytrippers up from the smoke and it being an expanding south east city of well heeled folks generally

Sheriff

mad

Always the way with town. The suits come out after work. Never been in Theatrix and never seen more than about half a dozen in Purity bar.

Hope town doesn't revert to being an after work suited and booted place tbh

Then who are you expecting to go in you mad fucker?

Ha

Legal_Bluenose

The city centre is a shit hole. There's too many party groups bouncing between bottomless brunches and shit cocktail bars. It's no wonder Brummies don't want go to town for a night out.

Sounds great to me. Coming home.

mad

I'd take what you're saying a bit more seriously if one of your pearls of wisdom wasn't "keep an eye out for yet another crappy Irish pub on Broad Street"

It really seems like you want pubs that you like to be open but there is issue is that not many other people like the pubs you like. Talking down about something that is popular is kind of shit for your argument when the pubs you like are not popular.

I think Wetherspoons is shot by I know there is a market and I know a lot of uni ages people are still going in their droves as well as its more long term clientele. Maybe they should go and drink some warm flat beer they don't like for money instead, though so your pubs can stay open. Although you would probably moan about all the kids being there 'who don't even understand the beer' if they did.

I'm not arguing anything I'm just voicing my own opinion which is that for a city the size of Birmingham to lose so many decent options in it's central core for a good beer when it didn't have all that many options to start with as compared to Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Norwich, Nottingham, Bristol and even Derby FFS is very disappointing and it is an opinion shared by many. To lose those and be left with the mostly dross fayre you can find in any one horse flea bitten crap town in England and which defined Broad Street for the past thirty years is galling but time goes on. I feel the same way about T20. Ive never rated it. It is inferior cricket. And now it's past its best also just over 9,000 in Edgbaston last night for the Bears Pears derby so what's next FFS even shitter T10?

I take the wider point that if all these folks posting on The Royal Mail's FB page the last 24 hrs had actually visited the place more than approximately once or twice a lifetime it would still be open. And the only time I've drank warm brown beer was in central London which outside of the Fuller's and Young's establishments had a similarly depressing beer scene to what Birmingham had in the mid 1990's. Crap fizzy beer is crap fizzy beer. And I like a decent lager had some cracking craft Mexican style lagers in San Diego last year - cheap imported Mexican lager being America's version of Carling but the crafted stuff i found was nice. Let's see how long that Albert Schloss survives it seems all the rage at present but a town centre filled with bland corporate chainy places like that doesn't appeal to me though I get how Brum needs these lowest common denominator Friday night/Saturday party type crowd pullers

Let's see how long that Albert Schloss survives

It’s been a licence to print money for years now, even on a Sunday night it’s heaving.

It’s full of absolute fannys but it’s the only place you can get a Pilsner Urquell from a tank shipped over direct from the brewery so I put up with with the Deanos so I can get an excellent beer.

They do a lot of offers/deals with some of the big companies in town, so it'll always be busy with city workers in the week.

The Urquell in Albert Schloss can be a superb beer when it's fresh. Some of the German beers are also excellent. Foods good aswell. I've not been in for a while. From what I've been told they have a poor reputation for the treatment of staff in there.

Largely speaking this is a case of people who never (or incredibly rarely) use an establishment, getting mildly upset because not enough other people have been using the establishment that they themselves don't use.

So, yes, it is a shame - especially for the owners.

But that's the world we live in - places come and go.

mad

I'm not arguing anything I'm just voicing my own opinion which is that for a city the size of Birmingham to lose so many decent options in it's central core for a good beer when it didn't have all that many options to start with as compared to Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Norwich, Nottingham, Bristol and even Derby FFS is very disappointing and it is an opinion shared by many. To lose those and be left with the mostly dross fayre you can find in any one horse flea bitten crap town in England and which defined Broad Street for the past thirty years is galling but time goes on. I feel the same way about T20. Ive never rated it. It is inferior cricket. And now it's past its best also just over 9,000 in Edgbaston last night for the Bears Pears derby so what's next FFS even shitter T10?

I take the wider point that if all these folks posting on The Royal Mail's FB page the last 24 hrs had actually visited the place more than approximately once or twice a lifetime it would still be open. And the only time I've drank warm brown beer was in central London which outside of the Fuller's and Young's establishments had a similarly depressing beer scene to what Birmingham had in the mid 1990's. Crap fizzy beer is crap fizzy beer. And I like a decent lager had some cracking craft Mexican style lagers in San Diego last year - cheap imported Mexican lager being America's version of Carling but the crafted stuff i found was nice. Let's see how long that Albert Schloss survives it seems all the rage at present but a town centre filled with bland corporate chainy places like that doesn't appeal to me though I get how Brum needs these lowest common denominator Friday night/Saturday party type crowd pullers

You literally could not have picked a worse venue to try and make a point. Real Ale is a dying market so the pubs focused on it are also dying.

Things are not all doom and gloom we have these new Valencia/Mackie Mayor style mercados opening up later this year where North Bar used to be (Society) and the more independents driven one in one of those large units close to Indian Brewery

Real ale has been dying for 70 years almost forcibly by the big pub and brewing companies. It has had a renaissance since the pressure group Camra got active and long may it continue. Just better beer for our climate (notwithstanding the current heatwave) than anything imported from Yankee land or Europe

Real ale has been dying for 70 years almost forcibly by the big pub and brewing companies.

Of course it’s nothing to do with it being because nobody but stubborn old blokes wants to drink it.