A Trip Down Memory Lane At Olton Station

Cheer Up Kid!

Once I’d heard this greeting at the bar then I knew I was back on home turf.

Olton really is home territory for me as I caught a bus from the station to school for five years and lived there for around 25 years so any trip back there is memory lane.

Olton has a few boozers such as Martin’s favourite The Olton Tavern whilst I’ve blogged about an estate style classic equidistant between Jubilee Park and the ice rink .

However, the A41 (Warwick Road) hasn’t had any boozers from Olton Hollow (the row of shops between Olton and Acocks Green), since The Golden Arrow shut in the eighties, all the way through to Solihull Town centre.

(A41 former pub free zone – follow the orange)

That’s a long stretch of road and houses not to have any boozers but this has finally been put right with the recent addition of 367 – Platform Three B92 7AR, which is a bona fide station pub.

Yes it’s classed as a ‘wine bar and eatery’ but half of the place is food based whilst the other half is for drinkers.

I can’t believe it’s taken the best part of 50 years to finally get a pub next to Olton Station but the footfall on a Sunday afternoon suggests it is here to stay.

I am guessing the name emanates from the fact there are two platforms at Olton Station and this is undoubtedly the best option of all three.

Of course, being Olton, there were a few dispirited Blues fans like myself after watching us fail to beat Villa for the 14^th consecutive occasion.

Here’s a picture of the crowd before a cretin ran on the pitch and just to prove I did cheer up, here’s a picture of the ground on Wednesday

when I returned for double helpings of doom, as we kick started Millwall’s battle to beat the drop.

I must have looked fairly glum, which is unusual when I walk into a bar I have to say, as a bloke sitting down shouted Cheer Up kid!

He was a fellow Blues fan along with his pal and they were waxing lyrical about the Butty Bach, all things Birmingham City and how good it was to see a pub finally open up in this area.

The dining side was full and there was a discernible difference in the ‘two rooms’ as the Six Nations was on and a bloke sitting in front of us was getting very excited as Ireland scored a try against France and was actually shouting at the TV with excitement.

However, most people were talking about the football or a general bustle of chat and the place was full of life

My new found pub pals were both originally from Olton although one was now in Rowley Regis which, rather handily, has a direct train line to Olton.

Anyway, once tactics had been dissected over a very decent pint of Scrum Down (Greene King), a family of four Blues dads and their kids came in and started removing scarves and looked as though they were also set to drink lots cheer up at Olton’s newest boozer!

There were plenty of people in and with free parking at the station, thousands of chimney pots nearby; there is no reason why this place shouldn’t be a success.

More ‘pubby’ than it looks, anywhere in Olton and heading out towards East Birmingham that sells decent cask ale is worth its weight in gold.