Birmingham Pubs

A century ago there were more than 1,500 hotels, inns, taverns and public houses in Birmingham. This book, using more than 200 photographs and other illustrations from the late 1850s to the early 1970s, forms an evocative record of some of them and includes examples that survive – and many more that have gone for ever. City centre watering-holes, backstreet boozers and village inns – all types of public house are recorded here in a portrayal of a vital (but often disparaged) component in almost any British community.

Before the spread of personal motorized transport, the two focal points of every village were the church and the pub – often in close proximity to each other – whilst in the city almost every street corner had its local around which the daily life of the area revolved. This book is a unique record of an important part of Birmingham’s social history.

For many years Keith Turner worked as a Local Studies librarian in Birmingham Central Library, and this splendid collection of images has been selected from the extensive photographic archives held there.

By the same author in The Archive Photographs Series: Central Birmingham 1870-1920, Central Birmingham 1920-1970 and Birmingham Transport. He is also the co-author of Worcestershire’s Historic Pubs.