I found this place on my way to a much more badass adventure. It's another abandoned pub, albeit in a much more dilapidated state than the last pub I blogged about. The truth is, derelict pubs are sprinkled across the UK, and one doesn't get about as much as I do without occasionally stumbling across them. Most closed pubs across Britain are simply leftovers from a dying culture, one which owes the nails in its coffin to various factors like cheap supermarket alcohol, drink/driving laws and most notoriously, the smoking ban.
This one had a somewhat more unique tale to its demise, but it took me a while to even find out the name of it.
The Brewer & Baker was built in 1830, on a terraced road, meaning it was connected to other buildings on either side, right up the street. You wouldn't know it to look at it though. It now stands alone, gradually falling to pieces. The buildings around it are long gone, but I was able to come across an older image, which showed it as it was, back when it was part of an actual street.
(Photo not mine, obviously)
Differences between the earlier photo and what now stands (barely) today are most notably the windows, but apparently this is due to a massive renovation that took place in the 1980s.
So let's slip inside and see whats left.
There's actually not a lot left at all. While unmistakably a pub on the outside, one can only imagine where the seating areas and the bar might once have been on the interior. These features are long gone, leaving only a shell.
I learned from my research that in the day, the pub did fantastically. It had a great lunch trade, and when there was a game on, it was said to be popular with "Blue Noses," a term I was unfamiliar with. I'm not local to this area, nor am I a football fan. But it turns out "Blue Nose" is a slang term for a fan of Birmingham City Football Club, as was explained by two comical, same-but-different definitions on the internet, one of which says "Unemployable, foul mouthed and with a deep resentment to Aston Villa" while the other says "Birmingham City Fan, of superior intelligence to a Villa fan."
Apparently there's a fierce rivalry between the two football clubs, dating back to 1879.
But football is really of no interest to me. I personally find it boring. And I don't say that to degrade any football fans. If you enjoy football, then thats cool. I don't watch make-up tutorials on Youtube either, but that doesn't make them bad. Different things for different people. Live and let live, I say.
The story of the pubs closure is a sad one. At the end of the street, there was a second road heading left. When a roundabout was constructed, this second road was subsequently altered so that it cut into the middle of the pubs road, on the other side of the pub itself, effectively cutting it off from the street that it was on, marooning it on a little island next to a busy roundabout.
Quite simply it became a pain in the arse to get to. Pedestrians had to cross a busy roundabout, and motorists struggled to get from said roundabout to the carpark.
During the final nights of 1990, the pub was pretty unlively, with barely anyone in it. It closed its doors for good shortly after.
And then, as often sadly happens, in 2016 it was gutted by a fire.
Now this is interesting. It would seem that this is someones unofficial home. This realisation is of little surprise given that we're in a city, but I have to be honest, the question of what I would do if I actually met squatters has always been on my mind. I'm as respectful as possible when I visit derelict places, only seeking to document whatevers left. I guess if I disturbed a squatter then I would have to respectfully leave. However, such an ethical pickle only really applies when respecting their personal space. It should go without saying that I'd never explore a house that someone was legally living in, but unlike a residential premises, the squatters technically aren't supposed to be here, so when they aren't here, a derelict building is fair game.
I was actually going to call this blog post "The Squatters Pub" but I found that a bit misleading, and maybe even a little clickbaity. The internets great, but clickbait titles really tend to irritate me. I think, as an internet content creator, if one needs to lie about their content to get people to look at it, then their content is probably shit.
There's some amusing graffiti here. In particular, someone has written "Who the fuck are Man United?" But they have written the word "fuck" with various punctuation and typography in similarity with the sort of censorship one sees in comics.
Which is amusing purely because it's a derelict building. Why censor anything?
"We believe that it is our loyal fans who have given XLNC the top status it holds. In turn Dave (singer) will give you a blow job, cos he's queer."
Good for you, Dave.
I looked up XLNC after this. It's some Asian band that I've never heard of. It's not my cup of tea, but if given a choice between that and something like, say, One Direction, it wins. But then so does catching syphilis.
There's one last patch of remaining wallpaper here. Somehow it's survived.
Moving on to the best part of any derelict building...
This area was, at some point, the toilets. Over on the wall, onecan still see where the urinals once were, and there's still an advert above one of them.
Those of you who don't pee standing up probably don't know this, but adverts are frequently placed at eye level above urinals, along with stuff like this about DVD piracy. From a marketing standpoint it's pretty genius. Men are going to be stood here, facing the wall, so companies give them something to look at.
I'd personally think they should use those fairground mirrors that distort reflections. That would be wonderful to look at while drunk.
There's one last toilet left, surviving amongst this rubble-strewn wasteland.
It's still in better condition than the toilets in some active pubs and clubs.
There's also this garage area, but it's pretty featureless.
In the bar area is this narrow stairway leading upwards into what was once the residential part of the building.
The upstairs is incredibly fire damaged, and with the roof open it was completely exposed to the elements. It's probably only a matter of time before the upper floor comes crashing down. Hopefully the squatter won't be here when it does!
Because the top floor isn't level, there's a stairway leading down to the rest of it.
Judging by the tiles around the remains of a work surface, this was presumably a kitchen at some point.
A little instruction notice about the boiler is still here, although the top screws have come out, causing the sign to dangle upside-down by the bottom one.
There is, of course, one final stop, and that's the cellar.
Someones living down here too, rather bizarrely. It seems a little less hospitable to the upper floor. But this is by far not the weirdest thing down here...
No, the weirdest thing in this pubs cellar is probably the weirdest thing I've ever found in any cellar. It's a pillory! Given the metal frame, it's clearly not a genuine vintage one, but that makes its presence here even weirder. Why is this under a pub?
For those who don't know, they were used as far back as the 1270s and were basically restraining devices used to publically display and humiliate hoodlums. The two smaller holes were for the captives wrists, and the central one was for the neck. The criminal would be restrained in such a device in the middle of town, and laughed at by the general public. It sounds very medieval, but it was still being used as punishment as late as the 1830s. And personally, I think they should bring it back.
I mean, jail is good and all, but I think that should be reserved for those who are too dangerous to be allowed among society, like rapists and murderers. But petty crime, such as shoplifting or pathetic things like online harassment, could be fixed with a little public humiliation. We used to be able to get entertainment from societies drudgeons through things like the Jeremy Kyle show, and that void can now be filled with some good old fashioned medieval public humiliation. Ultimately it doesn't really hurt anyone, and having a town point and laugh at someone for being an idiot might promote a little self reflection.
But that's probably an unpopular opinion.
As for the future of the pub, I very much doubt it has one. It appeared in a 2018 calendar of the cities perished pubs, so it has some recent claim to fame. Anyone who had the calendar got to look at the Brewer and Baker throughout the entirety of March.
But personally I think the pub is beyond help. It's trashed, it's been set on fire, and even if the funds were there to fix it up, the road system has made it financially unviable. How it is now, sadly, is still better than it will ever be again.
Thats all I got. Share the blog around like herpes. Next time I'm checking out another derelict pub and then I'm heading to a big derelict college. In the meantime, Like my Facebook page, Follow my Instagram and Follow my Twitter, and be good to each other.
Thanks for reading!
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