Lost forever from the town centre
DID you ever stop for a pint in the Nelson, the pub that once stood on New Street in the centre of West Bromwich?
Our photograph of the old pub, taken in February 1991, comes from Peter Hill’s collection and was taken around the time that he was putting together his guide book, A Black Country Pub Crawl of West Bromwich, published in 1992.
Then the landlord of the Nelson was John Gilbert and he was serving hand-pulled M&B Mild and Brew XI, along with Tennants Extra and Pilsner, Carling Black Label, Guinness, Beamish and Autumn Gold cider.
The Nelson dated back to Victorian days and the earliest record found by Black Country pub historian Tony Hitchmough is from 1861, when John Fairbrother was the licensee (see www.longpull. co.uk).
Conveyance
Peter Hill’s own research among brewery records uncovered the conveyance papers from when John Berry and Joseph Parker sold the Nelson in 1889, for £1,300, to Henry Mitchell and Company.
Peter was able to draw up a sketch map of the layout of the pub at that time and that soon afterwards, the two dwelling houses either side of the pub, number 32 and 36, became part of the pub too.
Henry Mitchell began brewing at the Crown Brewery in Smethwick in the 1860s, transferring his operations to the Cape Hill Brewery in 1879. In 1898 his company merged with another Smethwick brewery, William Butler, to form the famous Mitchells and Butlers.
It seems that the Nelson may have been part of the financing of the takeover, as Peter’s research has found that the Nelson was mortgaged by M&B to a Sam Stokes in 1899, and it appears that the mortgage was cleared by 1914.
New Street and the surrounding area of West Bromwich town centre has been transformed in recent years, not least by the building of The Public, which first opened in 2008.
That same year the Nelson was demolished, adding its name to the long list of lost public houses in the Black Country. ■ Please share your pictures and memories of lost local pubs – full contact details on page 2.