It's taken a while for me to get round to it but here comes our first archive dip of 2022. I've plucked out a selection of perished pubs that will take us from Telford to Dudley by way of Tipton and Willenhall - how many of these five do you remember?
- The Bucks Head -
We begin this quintet with a famous old inn that lends its name to the adjacent AFC Telford United football ground but which has latterly suffered the ignominious fate of being converted into a Domino's Pizza outlet. The Bucks Head stands on Watling Street at the crossroads with Haybridge Road and Arleston Lane - look carefully and you'll see a panel suggesting the building dates from 1928. I bet they weren't eating pizzas back then!
- The Rose & Crown -
We're going back to early 2006 for this next picture as Tipton's Rose & Crown gets summoned from the dusty depths of my back catalogue. A fairly nondescript boozer from what I recall of it, the pub was located on Queens Road just along from the local swimming baths; sadly the pool has followed the pub in being consigned to the pages of history. Tipton has lost several watering holes in relatively recent memory but still retains Black Country classics such as the Pie Factory and the Fountain.
- The Cat -
Third up is our Willenhall contribution whereby the Cat has succumbed to the curse of the Chinese takeaway, firstly as Beijing House and more recently something called 'Best Choice'. Being a fair distance from the town centre I'm assuming that this was more of a locals' haunt rather than a place with a huge amount of passing trade, although Bloxwich Road South is on a reasonably frequent bus route. Part of me wonders whether the Cat would have been frequented by lock workers from small factories in the vicinity of Clothier Street.
- The Hill Tavern -
We'll conclude this particular Lost Pubs episode with a double dose of Dudley, or the Kates Hill estate to be exact. The area has been deprived of much of its pub stock in recent years, not least the Hill Tavern which could formerly be found on Watsons Green Road. Even back in 2010 it appeared to be on borrowed time, and the place would later reach a stage of near dereliction prior to being rebuilt as a convenience store.
- The Freebodies -
Keeping with Kates Hill a while longer, we'll venture around the corner from the Hill Tavern and up towards St John's Parish Church. The church itself was shut for several years because of safety concerns while directly opposite was the Freebodies, a plain box boozer on the corner with High View Street. This November 2010 picture shows it in a state of disrepair and it came as no surprise to hear the building was demolished a few years later, although happily the church faces a more optimistic future. Cheers!
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