Lost Pubs from the WME Archives: Part 11

The creaking door to the WME vaults has been prised open again as we blow the dust off some more bygone boozers you may or may not remember...

- The Kings Arms -
We'll begin this eleventh edition with another helping from Harborne. This series has already accounted for the demise of the Scarlet Pimpernel and now we pay homage to the Kings Arms, an Outer Circle landmark that oversaw the bottleneck junction where Harborne High Street meets Harborne Park Road. For a while this place was also known as the Huntsman but it suffered fire damage in 2013 and was subsequently demolished.

- The Lord Raglan -
From the wilds of Wolverhampton (or rather the fringes of the city's Ring Road) I bring you the Lord Raglan, a box boozer that sat on the corner of Raglan Street and Great Brickkiln Street. This establishment used to be well-known on the local music scene but has since been swept away to be replaced by a Sainsbury's supermarket and petrol garage.

- The Cavalcade -
One of two pubs serving the Lodge Farm estate near Willenhall, the Cavalcade could be found at the Sandbeds Road end of Stroud Avenue. If I remember rightly, this picture was taken in the summer of 2007 and the building got flattened sometime in 2010, the site then remaining empty for several years and becoming a target for fly tipping. The other Lodge Farm local - the Homestead - was still going strong pre-lockdown.

- Thomas Telford -
Keeping with the estate examples a while longer, we check in next with the Thomas Telford at Leegomery which was already facing the final curtain at the time of this October 2007 snapshot. A former Greenall's establishment, it was pulled down as part of a project to redevelop the adjacent neighbourhood shopping centre.

- The Royal Exchange -
Last but not least, we journey to Loxdale near Bilston and a basic backstreet number that would have been handy for the nearby tram stop. The Royal Exchange could be found on Chapel Street (just up from the Mission Hall Apostolic Church) and was all set to be a Hub Marketing haunt but for the fact it ceased trading prior to us paying our intended visit. Until next time... cheers!