A walk down Spon Lane ... and A fair few drinks along the way
IN 1694, Spon Lane was recorded as one of West Bromwich’s main industrial areas, and reflected many elements in the industrial development of the Black Country.
Its name probably refers to William atte Sponne, a local landowner in 1344. Starting in Smethwick, it soon crosses both the Old & New lines of the Birmingham Canal (1769/1829) and Spon Lane station on the main Birmingham-wolverhampton Stour Valley railway line (1849).
Nearby were collieries, iron foundries, railway works, hollow-ware factories and Chance’s glassworks (1824). At its northern end, it crosses the former Birminghamwolverhampton Great Western railway line (1854), now the Midland Metro route, to reach West Bromwich town centre.
A reader’s letter in the Black Country Bugle in August 2018 referred to 22 pubs along Spon Lane in the 1940s and ’50s, virtually a pub on every street corner, and even a brewery to slake your thirst.
Grimy
Unfortunately, much of its grimy history has disappeared through road improvements and redevelopment, with little of its former character remaining.
Starting at its southern end, our first port-of-call would be The Spon Croft, dating from 1870, where Alfred Shenton was landlord
from 1910-1931. Originally apprenticed in the jewellery trade, he ran away to join the Staffordshire Regiment and served in Egypt, India, Burma and South Africa.
A popular licensee who suffered from gout, he also converted the pub’s loft into a “shilling” dining room. In 1938, the old pub was demolished and rebuilt on the opposite side of Spon Lane by Mitchells & Butlers as a large roadhouse-style pub, but this was demolished in 1999.
Crossing Spon Lane station and the canal bridge, a group of pubs clustered around the entrance to Chance’s glassworks. The Britannia, Spon Lane Tavern and Royal Oak were all swallowed up in the expansion of the factory in the early 1900s.
Just beyond Spon Lane canal bridge was another group of pubs, including The Cape Hotel (1818), where glassworkers would slake their thirst with a 4d. beer. Some of the early landlords also operated boats on the canal, and next door was a mortuary for people who drowned! The pub was replaced by a much larger building in 1894, used for meetings and other functions, but was closed by 1966.
Champion
On the left-hand side was The North Western (1868), but this was gone by 1895. A few doors away,
William Perry made good profits at The George in the 1850s. He was England’s champion bareknuckle fighter (the Tipton Slasher), and the pub was briefly named the Champion of England, but had closed by 1912.
On the corner of Grice Street, The Stour Valley
(1868) was known locally as “Crees’s” after longserving landlords William & Harry Crees (18761949), but was demolished for road improvements in 1972.
Opposite was The White Swan (1841), known locally as the Manchester House and popu
The Shoulder of Mutton (1845-1954), Highland Laddie (1871-1956) and Waggon & Horses (18681927). lar for its free-and-easy nights before it closed in 1965.
On the corner of Union Street was The Greyhound (1871), acquired by Holder’s Brewery (Birmingham) in 1905, but closed in 1956. By 1901, the Highland
Continuing along Spon Laddie had the reputation Lane, we’d soon come to of being something of a disorderly house, when customers were reported for using obscene language and assaulting the landlord, who was also fined £2 for permitting drunkenness. Nowadays, Kendrick/kelvin Way cross Spon Lane at this point, with a new pub, The Island Inn, on the corner of the roundabout.
Further along Spon Lane is the only original surviving pub, The Flower Pot. Originally a homebrew pub, it was bought by Hanson’s in 1938 and rebuilt in 1948, and today’s pub dates from 1973. In 1852, its first licensee, Edward Woodward would sit on the doorstep waiting for customers to come in for a drink or have a bed at the adjoining men’s lodging house (8d. per night), but his wife, Mary
Disorderly
Ann, thought this was very unprofessional.
On the corner of Sams Lane was Bates’ Sponwell Brewery, established in 1865 by Thomas Henry Bates and ran later by his son, Henry. In 1923, it merged with Dartmouth Park Brewery to become Arnold & Bates and was taken over by Darby’s (West Bromwich) in 1928.
One of its tied houses was on the opposite street corner, The Anchor, dating from 1871, but closed in the mid-1960s.
The Brewer’s Arms (1870), next to the brewery, had closed by 1896.
Just before the bridge over the GWR line were The Old and New Bell. The Old Bell was one of the oldest pubs in West Bromwich, first licensed in 1801 and boasting a bowling green. John Brinton, the first licensee, was also a butcher and homebrewer, and Arnold & Bates Ales were advertised here in 1904.
Younger
The New Bell was only a few years younger, dating from 1818, but was left as a brewhouse in 1850 when Samuel Mason
moved the business a few doors away. Just beyond the railway bridge was The Bridge (1881), home to Dai William Davies,a well-known boxing promoter who managed local boxer Dick Mann, who took part in 55 professional contests between 1932-1937.
Home brew
Opposite The Steam Packet (1871) was The Cottage Spring (1868), originally a home-brew pub, but bought by Mitchells & Butlers in 1930. All these pubs were lost as part of road improvements and redevelopment in the 1960s.
At the top of Spon Lane, Sandwell College now dominates the scene. It’s hard to believe there was once a farmhouse on the corner of Paradise Street, originally named The Boot (after nearby Boot Meadow) and first licensed in the 1750s. It was renamed The Bulls Head in 1802 and rebuilt on the opposite side of the road in 1825.
Known locally as the “Top Wrexham” (after Peter Walker’s Wrexham Brewery), in 1901 it advertised
comfortable public smoke rooms with all the football results, but closed in 1959. The original Bull’s Head was replaced by The Dartmouth Arms in 1834 which, as The Dartmouth Hotel, became the town’s premier commercial hotel and coaching inn and centre for official business and social meetings. Dinners were held here to commemorate Crimean and Waterloo war heroes in 1885, for Chance’s football
team in 1900, and for local cricket, cycling, bowling and athletic clubs.
Between 1906-1920, it was kept by William Isaiah “Billy” Bassett, a famous footballer who played for West Bromwich Albion (1886-1889), gained 16 caps for England and later became chairman of the football club.
The next landlord, Harry Clements (19201939), also played for the
Albion. The pub closed in 1977 and was demolished soon afterwards.
So, of the 22 pubs originally along Spon Lane, just one survives within an area that has been transformed out of all recognition by modern development.
With acknowledgements to Tony Hitchmough, Joseph Mckenna, Terry Price and Lillian Jewkes.