Lost Pubs from the WME Archives: Part 22

My previous post in the 'Lost Pubs' series concentrated very much on the Black Country for inspiration, so in order to redress the balance this time I'm flinging the net further afield. Let's see what we've hauled in as part of August's archive catch...

- The Royal Exchange -

Okay, I confess! I couldn't resist squeezing in one more from those four local boroughs although it is contentious as to whether Bloxwich truly comes under the Black Country banner. Situated on Stafford Road just north of the Bell traffic lights, the Royal Exchange has been shut for several years and made for a forlorn sight when the Beardsmores and I happened by a couple of months ago. Hopefully the building still has a future even if its pub days are over.

- The Raven -

Still within the West Midlands, we now broaden our horizons towards Birmingham where the Raven used to be a Brewer's Tudor establishment serving the Weoley Castle community. Pub pictures were quite a rarity in the very early WME archives because I mainly concentrated on bus and train photos back then, but I did feel compelled to capture this place using my very first Fujifilm digital camera. The Castlecroft Residential Care Home now stands on the site.

- The Plough -

Edging next into neighbouring counties, our third port of call is the Staffordshire village of Trysull, a place that is no stranger to the WME blog. Nor indeed is the Plough which I must have mentioned quite a few times over the years, including confirming back in February that it had been converted for purely residential use. This photograph depicts the pub during its Marston's days, preparing for Halloween and Bonfire events in the autumn of 2010.

- The Rock Tavern -

Another from my 2010 stockpile is this view showing the Rock Tavern, formerly a free house that overlooked the River Stour in the small Worcestershire hamlet of Caunsall. I nearly didn't get a shot of this one at all because I was more enamoured with the nearby Anchor, a lovely traditional inn famed for its generously-filled cobs. Alas the Rock is no more, unceremoniously gouged out of the landscape, but the Anchor is still on hand to tempt the thirsty; Caunsall is on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal close to Kinver, Cookley and Wolverley. 

- The Mermaid -

We finish with something of a Welshpool wildcard all the way from lovely Powys, where of all the town's watering holes it was the Mermaid which enchanted me into having a pint during my September 2010 Cambrian getaway. The timber-framed frontage impressed me more than the beer to be fair, and the building continues to be a Grade II-listed charmer despite having been repurposed for general residential use. Now that lockdown has lifted and I'm getting into wider exploration circulation again, I anticipate that my Lost Pubs series will become a more occasional blog offering although I do hope to keep raiding my archives from time to time.