Division Three

I still haven’t been able to retrieve my ‘lost pubs’ disc so the bad news is I’ve not blogged on a whole host of boozers.

However, the plus point is that I’m going to have to visit them all over again!  In the world of pub ticking then veterans such as Martin, Si, Nick, Paul and Duncan all routinely revisit pubs under the guise of a ‘name change,’ sign change or even a carpet change so I’ll be in good company.

A lot has happened in the world of sport since my last post….Birmingham City have managed to retain their title as the only club in the Second City to have won a trophy this century but, have balanced this off, with relegation to Division Three.

Of course, regular readers of this blog will know that it’s been purgatory watching Birmingham since this pubcrawl journey round the Midlands started so, a stint against the likes of Crawley, Stevenage, Exeter and a local derby against Burton Albion might, just might provide some light relief.

However, way back at the start of May I took myself down to the Mecca of football for one final time this season to see a rare home win against Norwich, which confirmed the drop.

Nonetheless, the beauty of 12.30 kick offs on a Saturday are that it allows for extra drinking time post match and a visit to a classic Blues boozer in Digbeth.

Gentrification appears to be on the cards in Digbeth with the BBC due to relocate there from their plush Mailbox venue and Steve Knight also building the Digbeth Loc film and TV studios.

Throw into the mix Late Night Lycett on Channel 4 and the proposed new stadium for Blues in 2030 along with HS2/Curzon Street station and Digbeth could become des res.

But there are still some old skool pubs such as 873 – The Moseley Arms B12 0HB which sells cobs, have a matchday DJ and are wet led classics.

It was heaving post match and I reckon I waited a good 15 minutes before plumping for a bottle of Old Speckled Hen (Morland) and it was the drink of my choice for a couple of my drinking buddies too.

We stood outside and watched the world go by….waited with a couple of Japanese tourists who probably weren’t expecting their ‘Birmingham experience’ to include a hordes of Blues fans whilst waiting for a taxi!

It was also ‘nice’ to see about four or five young ‘locals’ tearing up and down the roads of Digbeth in a variety of vehicles hurling obscenities and offering people out for looking in their general direction!

No one batted an eyelid though as years of watching Blues will teach you to expect the unexpected and it’s easy to shout at someone doing 70 miles per hour in the opposite direction.

Apart from that occasional break in proceedings it was a glorious few hours of conversations around Birmingham City for the past half century. No one was too fussed about the drop down a level

I mean, people were slightly miffed, but, supporting a club like Blues means you’d just like to see them win occasionally and there is a better chance in division three so onwards and upwards.

I did pay a revisit to The White Swan later – which is still a gem – and it won’t be long before the pubs in Digbeth are cranking up for 23 more big pay days amidst all the ongoing gentrification.