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Report - - The Red Lion, Handsworth Birmingham 2014 | Leisure Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - The Red Lion, Handsworth Birmingham 2014

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dweeb

28DL Regular User
Regular User
CLOSED FOR SOME TIME. Built in 1901, it retains a spectacular interior including floor–to-ceiling tiles in passages, ornate bar fittings, four tiled paintings, and panelled ‘coffee room’. There was a pub on this site in 1829. It was bought up by Holt's Brewery in 1893 and rebuilt eight years later to the designs of James & Lister Lea. This magnificent pub was threatened with demolition in the 1980s to make way for road improvements, but fortunately survived and is still with us. The extravagant exterior is in two shades of terracotta. The interior consists of a superb tiled hall and staircase on the right; a fabulous public bar stretches across the full width of the frontage; a tiled passage on the left leading to the Smoke Room; and a little used Coffee Room.

The narrow public bar retains its original bar counter and a magnificent bar back of mahogany and gilded, painted and etched mirrors featuring Holt Brewery lettering and squirrel motifs, which was incorporated into Ansells symbol when they took over Holt Brewery in 1934. The original bench seating along the window side remains and above timbered dados are superb cream, green, blue and gold wall tiles by Minton. On the left side of the pub the passage to the smoke room is particularly fine and has a colourful quarry tiled floor with a disused off sales hatch to the bar.

The door to the Smoke Room has a good panel of etched and gilded glass and inside are large framed lithographs - 3 on the left hand side wall, one either side of the fire and another near the hatch to back of the servery. This little used room retains its original fixed bench seating (in need of repair), with service bells, stained and leaded windows and old gas lamp fitting but it has lost its fireplace. On the right is a superb staircase hall, beautifully tiled throughout mainly in cream and turquoise and is lit by stained glass windows. Upstairs function room with etched windows?

On the rear right hand side the Coffee Room (again little used) has dark wood panelling all around the walls and framed engravings of paintings 'The Village Wedding', 'Shamrock' (dogs), 'Rannoch Moor', 'Thistle' (more dogs), 'The Mountain Pool' (Bison) - 9 in total, and service bells. There is a tiled and wood surround fireplace with bevelled mirror in the wood surround, original fixed bench seating, 'Coffee Room' in frosted and etched window in the door and a hatch to back of the servery.

Despite being Grade II-star listed, the pub has suffered from a lack of maintenance and care for many years; it closed in 2008 and is considered 'at risk'. Latest information is that it is likely to reopen as a restaurant, not a pub.


One of the great James Lister-Lea "tiled palaces" of Birmingham.

This took some social engineering... so not strictly an explore but not a permission visit either. The pub has been closed for a number of years and fears were growing that the pubs incredible interior may have been lost. I was reasonably surprised to find that the bar and coffee room were in fact largely intact. I'll let Michael Slaughter of CAMRA do the description but let me say the interior is out of this world.

If this pub was in London, Town or the Jewellery Quarter it would be a treasure and a viable business, in the wilds of the Soho Road who can say what will become of it...

Just crappy compact pics I'm afraid...
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professor frink

Reppin Bumbaclaat
28DL Full Member
When I saw the title Red Lion I thought it would be a crappy piked up old derpy pub.

But saw it was by the Dweebster and thought it must be worth a look, the place sure is pretty :thumb
 

The Kwan

28DL Regular User
Regular User
I love this, so much to see here, hopefully the restaurant is sympathetic when renovating it. cheers for sharing it!
 

Speed

Got Epic Slow?
Regular User
Aye you can never say pub explores are shit. There must be more. (other then the Waterloo!)
 

dweeb

28DL Regular User
Regular User
I don't know of any more in Brum that we haven't been in either to explore or to drink in, other than the Britannia in Aston, but I'm pretty sure that will be full of some kind of plant ;)
 
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