Lost Pubs from the WME Archives #38

As my series of archive-raiding compilations enters another calendar year, let's see which bygone boozers get a mention in my first Lost Pubs posting of 2025...

- The Armada -

What do I have to offer you indeed? Well we have four items from Birmingham followed by a farther flung specimen from Leicestershire this time around, starting with the Armada which once stood in the shadows of the notorious Spaghetti Junction. Distinctively-shaped, it could be found off Powick Road between Gravelly Hill and Slade Road (in full view of the concrete flyovers snaking towards the A38), and has latterly been replaced by a petrol station.

- The Victoria -

Sometimes when going back through my older collections I come across a pub that had totally fallen off my radar. I therefore had to remind myself that the Victoria here was a Balsall Heath establishment, situated on Runcorn Road near the junction with Alcester Road. Operated by Pubmaster for a while, it has been turned into a private residence. 

- The Malt Shovel -

Our third Brummie contender is the rather handsome Malt Shovel in Small Heath, elegantly occupying the busy corner of Coventry Road and Muntz Street. This is an area which has lost several pubs in recent memory, possibly reflecting demographic changes among the Small Heath population; the building has been retained as a fashion boutique specialising in Asian dresses, keeping some of the fine plasterwork that tells of its previous pub existence. 

- Catherine O'Donovan -

My fourth pick from the Second City takes us to Bissell Street in the sidestreets of Highgate where the Catherine O'Donovan had an Irish pedigree, named in tribute to a former landlady having formerly been called the Pig & Whistle (and the Beehive before that). The unpromising location surrounded by engineering workshops presumably made this one for the purist, and I never quite managed a visit despite a couple of Hub Marketing near misses. I'm not sure when it closed, or even if it has a chance of springing back to life at some point. 

- Railway Inn -

I suspect I've probably bothered Birmingham enough for one post now so let's finish off over in Sileby, a sizeable village in the Soar Valley between Loughborough and Leicester. I pitched up there during Rail Rover Week 2011 when the Railway Inn on King Street already looked like it had been shut for some time. My rovering return ten years later confirmed this demise, with the premises now in use partially as a beauty salon and partly for a lettings agent.