- Pattie drives the X12 -
Trip Log: Friday 20th March 2026 and the day commences with Midland Metro tram action from Bradley Lane. Driver familiarisation training is underway ready for more new stops to open as the network is set to expand in the near future; change is also afoot down by Priory Queensway due to the demolition of The Square shopping precinct, meaning sections of Bull Street and Dale End are cordoned off for safety reasons. It takes us a while to work out where the X12 bus now departs from but once aboard we can settle in for a speedy grunt along the Aston Expressway and through Spaghetti Junction - those interlocking concrete ribbons are quite a sight when seen from the top deck of a National Express bus!
- Bromford Hub Business -
Alighting on Bromford Lane, we get down to the main business of the day. Decorative mural panels at the gateway to the Bromford Bridge estate include a reference to 'The Hub' so the Chairman is deployed to apply his trusty seal of approval. The Heart of Birmingham Vocational College nearby has its own separate hub facility - giving us two spottings in swift succession - plus there is chance to recall the days when Drews Lane played host to the Wolseley Motors factory (latterly LDV before the site was cleared). Sadly our top greasy spoon target of 'Come Dine With Us' on the corner of Fairholme Road is shut, so we need a replacement option...
- Silly Sausage, Stechford -
A nifty bit of Googling therefore has us jumping onto the 11C Outer Circle for the short ride via Ward End to Stechford so that we can seek out Silly Sausage on Flaxley Road. Part of a run of small business units that otherwise includes The Bed Centre and Flaxley Tyres, this takes care of our breakfasting needs through the deliverance of bacon, sausages, eggs and fried bread. Mr D9 stoically munches his meal down despite the considerable risk of gourmet gas, then has to suffer a secretarial silly song in the guise of Ken Dodd's Nikky Nakky Noo (with a chorus of high-pitched diddymen). The 14 route has us on one of Pattie's old patches, passing Lea Hall Garage and covering Kitts Green to deposit us at the Meadway Lidl by Mackadown Lane. There aren't all that many drinking options left in this part of Brum but we have an idea...
- The Banbury Club -
Guided once again by Google, we navigate to Granby Avenue in the industrial portions of Garretts Green. The Club is a sports bar majoring on pool, snooker and darts; membership is required for using the games equipment but we are welcome to climb the stairwell and partake of £4 Carling in the dimly-lit dartboard corner. We've unwittingly set our theme for the day now because we'll subsequently undertake a tour of similarly constituted establishments over the course of the afternoon. A heritage-styled double decker on the 72 survives Tile Cross to link us to Chelmsley Wood where we successfully plot our way through the shopping centre when tracking down the Banbury Club. This building seemingly has no windows but is surprisingly luxurious inside; we savour M&B Mild in the lounge while the function room bingo is packed. The amount of mobility scooters stationed outside is a testament to how popular this place is, and we exit to the strains of Pick of the Hub Pops with guest presenter Pattie counting down the charts from 2025, complete with Cilla Black, Lester the Lobster and missing gnomes.
- Rumours Bar & Grill -
If you'd said beforehand we'd spend the day 'clubbing' in Chelmsley Wood I'd have raised a concerned WME eyebrow but the brief has been set and we're game for the challenge. Next up, we ferret across to Fordbridge by way of Chelmsley Road to see what has become of the former Fordbridge Social. After a bit of sprucing up (externally at least) it is now calling itself Rumours Bar & Grill so a crafty Carling will suit us while a broken-down building supplies lorry causes utter gridlock outside. The Chairman loves his flat-roofers so this is right up his alley, as indeed is the C's Bar over on Bosworth Drive where we pass the security check to gain access (Mr D9 must have been smiling appropriately). The staff are busy preparing for a 40th birthday party but we're fine to stay for a quick drink, the premises seemingly being closely linked to the St Anne's Catholic Church next door. We could get used to this clubbing lark!
- Cast Iron Closet Inspections -
Setting aside any pretensions of covering Coleshill today, we figure that our St Patrick's Day trip should probably dabble a little with Digbeth. The 97 can get us there even if the Bordesley Green traffic tries its best to detain us, then the sight of an intact cast iron urinal on Great Barr Street definitely attracts much D9 excitement (and a certain bald spot for good measure). Over the road is the Son Caney Cuba Bar which some people might recall being the Forge Tavern for many years; we've never done it in either guise so a first ever look is a must. It's quiet but we can admire some of the original bar fittings as well as getting into a Latin American spirit - fun, friendly, and something that little bit different from the norm.
- An Irish Coffee -
Digbeth seems to specialise in the unusual these days so you never really know what might lurk around the next corner. Low Places bills itself as a Dive Bar inspired by US honky tonk haunts so we don't need much persuading to try out the Pabst Blue Ribbon lager amidst a wall of truck registration plates. It's relaxed, it's quirky and it has a comic cover for Thor in the gents toilets. Knowing Digbeth's long links with the Emerald Isle, it makes sense that we round off with a couple of modern takes on Irish hospitality hence Hennessey's and Norton's both get a whirl - the first of those is an impressive bar-cum-function suite with a penchant for Guinness toucans, the second is housed in the vast units of a former hydraulics works and serves up a cracking drop of Church End's Irish Coffee stout. There's just time to sample Subside (a rock and alternative music emporium which stocks real ale) before Scruffy Murphys memorably brings the curtain down with its own rock-leaning tastes. What an exceptional crawl!
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