Report - Four Abandoned Pubs in & around the Midlands (Vol III) – Summer 2021

[MotionlessMike]

Just a collection of pub derps visited while out and about over the summer, none really deserving their own thread, so here they are lumped together.

Travellers Rest, Leek, Staffordshire

‘A 1930's roadside pub in a rural setting, just south of Leek town centre’

A former Marston’s pub which has been closed for around 4 years, it made the local papers last year when ‘8 explorers were caught inside during lockdown.’ There is currently a planning application for demolition and construction of 18 new homes.

Bagot Arms, Erdington, Birmingham

‘A fine public house dating from the 20s/30s and built to serve the large development of the area at the time.’

In March 2019 a cannabis grow was discovered inside by a police raid and in early August of this year the former pub was destroyed by a large fire.

The Ram Jam Inn, Stretton, Rutland

‘Originally opened as a coaching in called the Winchelsea Arms, it was frequented by the notorious highwayman Dick Turpin in the 18th century. By the 19th century the inn was known as the Ram Jam Inn due to supposed antics of Turpin;

[Turpin] showed his landlady, Mrs Spring, how to draw mild and bitter from a single barrel, stating "ram one thumb in here whilst I make a hole ... now jam your other thumb in this hole while I find the forgotten spile pegs." Turpin subsequently disappeared without paying his bill, while Spring was trapped with two thumbs in the barrel.’

The pub has been closed since 2013 and has since been destroyed by imbeciles.

Duke of Bridgewater, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

‘A Grade II listed long-standing public house which was originally the ‘Master Potters’ accommodation for the nearby Bottom Bridge Pottery of Davenports in Longport. After the house became surplus, it was an inn, the name of which comes from the Third Duke of Bridgewater who, in 1759, hired James Brindley to build a ten mile canal to transport coal from the Dukes’ mines from Worsley to Manchester’.

If ever there were a derp pub in Stoke which I always imagined to have been rammed with nice tiles and acid-etched glass it was this place. But no…

If you've made it this far, then cheers for looking!​

 

[HughieD]

Nice ensemble those @MotionlessMike . Pubs can be pretty crap explores on the whole but all four of those have their merits (one being they all are/were reasonably nice buildings).

Of the four, only done the Ram Jam. It really saddened me to see what the idiots have done to it. Remember going here back in its heyday and it was a vibrant place. Hope this historic inn manages to get saved.

 

[MotionlessMike]

Of the four, only done the Ram Jam. It really saddened me to see what the idiots have done to it. Remember going here back in its heyday and it was a vibrant place. Hope this historic inn manages to get saved.

I don't suppose it has any formal listing does it? Bit of a shame considering it has a fairly interesting history.

 

[Bikin Glynn]

That first one is quite nice, Ram Jam needs pulling asap lol

 

[HughieD]

I don't suppose it has any formal listing does it? Bit of a shame considering it has a fairly interesting history.

It doesn't, sadly. Parts of it are really old but it has been much altered and extended over the years so doesn't have a listing. Hence why there is a real risk of it being demo'ed.

 

[Gsxrwayne]

I love a good pub explore. Nice work

 

[Calamity Jane]

Nice mix there. As above, pubs can be pretty meh, but these all have their bars and bits. Nice shots. Like the flag stone build on Ram Jam.

 

[MotionlessMike]

I love a good pub explore. Nice work

Get yersen in the black horse haha

 

[Chris C]

But there's-a nothing so lonesome, morbid or drear
Than to stand in the bar of a pub with no beer

 

[musley]

Nice pics. I always think it's a bit sad to see empty pubs that should be teeming with life. Makes good explores though. Thanks!

 

[SadlerWells]

I so want those tiles from The Bagot Arms!
Came past said mines of Duke of Bridgewater a couple of days ago — Worsley, the beginning point of canal mania. The mine entrance is just beyond the footbridge on the right. Note the colour of the water, due to the proximity of iron deposits (same at Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey).

 

[morturn]

Unfortunately, the Bagot Arms, Erdington was burned down a couple of weeks ago. Good job the site had been recorded.

 

[SadlerWells]

Unfortunately, the Bagot Arms, Erdington was burned down a couple of weeks ago. Good job the site had been recorded.

Wonder what’s happened to those tiles!

 

[MotionlessMike]

I so want those tiles from The Bagot Arms!
Came past said mines of Duke of Bridgewater a couple of days ago — Worsley, the beginning point of canal mania. The mine entrance is just beyond the footbridge on the right. Note the colour of the water, due to the proximity of iron deposits (same at Hardcastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey).

Just been reading up on this, quite interesting really. Crazy how orange the canal gets in some pictures from all the ochre!

 

[SadlerWells]

Just been reading up on this, quite interesting really. Crazy how orange the canal gets in some pictures from all the ochre!

It’s hard to capture in photos, but you suddenly reach a stretch of water where it’s really deep orange. The sediment must be lying on the canal bed I suppose. We crossed the Manchester Ship Canal on Barton Swing Bridge, and the water was quite clear, then it changes colour quite suddenly.