Pre-match drinking - all change next season

[beness]

Used the Social and the Ads and the Tavern regularly in the past. Sad to see everything changing. Hopefully the tavern will get a re-vamp incorporating some of Its past.

 Seem to remember a lot of Victorian style tiling and a bit of land out the back for drinking and  a car park
 There wont be many pubs left on that side of the ground. 

[dave.woodhall]

What the Social should be doing is starting a petition and making representations to be allowed to open a new club in the new development, thereby catering not only for us lot, but for new residents and workers.

I didn't think you could have new houses built there because of pollution from the Expressway.

[myf]

There's merit in the KE. besides if the jobs are created, which is a longshot, why couldn't they become viable businesses with more employees and residents? The council has form with eastside in clearing land for redevelopment when there's no market for it

 Eastside has become a victim of the recession, several planned schemes were abandoned by developers, not sure if any are now back on the cards if the recovery steps up, and if the High Speed Rail link does get built then it will benefit as the Brum terminus will be around Curzon Street.
 The KE is the only one of the three that has any merit to be kept, and then only for the architecture rather than it's viability as a pub. Office workers aren't generally the type to drink enough at lunchtime to keep a pub open, maybe if it became a bit 'foodie' but then you'd all complain that it wasn't the pub you loved to have a few pints in pre-match!
 
 

I'm sure Eastside will come back on track soon but only really because it is proximate to HS2.  The fact is there is tonnes of vacant employment land throughout the West Mids due to a lack of demand.  If BCC/AWM want to spend public funds on bringinjg sites forward ready for the market recovery (if there is one) fair enough but I think its sad that it comes at the expense of these pubs.

The Social and Ads may be nothing to look at but that shouldn't be the sole reason for knocking them down.  They are important community facilities (admittedly not for the locals in this case) but certainly for us fans on match day, and potentially for future offices/industrial employees.

It concerns me that they could be demolished to make way for road improvements and infrastructure just to service parcels of land which won't be developed for employment use for another decade.

[Dr Butler]

as long as they leave Hotel Splendido Marvelouso also known as The Manor Tavern alone..

UTV
The Doc

[Trinitymiddle]

The (original) Holte
The Reservoir
The Church
The Britannia
The Grovesnor
The Tavern

Now The Edward and Social and The Ads.

If the Villa keep doing this shit and attendances keep dropping then the Swan, Aston Hotel, the vine and the Yew Tree will probabaly all go the same way, and usually when they're gone, they're gone.

Sad Times indeed.

[Dave Cooper please]

If those pubs are surviving purely on Villa home games then they haven't exactly got a very viable business model! It is sad to see pubs close, but if they can't attract punters beyond those who will drink anywhere they can get a few pre-match lagers down their necks then their time is numbered anyway.

[Percy McCarthy]

But Dave, they are viable, otherwise they would have shut under other circumstances than a compulsory purchase order.

[Dave Cooper please]

Percy, I was replying to Trinitymiddle who thinks that if our crowds go down then other pubs will also close. And I'm saying that if they are relying so heavily on being full for two hours 20 times a year then they are always going to be on the brink!

[DBTW]

The pub most local to me (I  can't call it my local as i hate the place) has just closed. It based it's whole trade on showing live Wolves games and since they stopped being shown the pub has shut down.

It does prove Daves idea that to base trade all around one basis is asking for trouble.

[pauliewalnuts]

There's merit in the KE. besides if the jobs are created, which is a longshot, why couldn't they become viable businesses with more employees and residents? The council has form with eastside in clearing land for redevelopment when there's no market for it

 Eastside has become a victim of the recession, several planned schemes were abandoned by developers, not sure if any are now back on the cards if the recovery steps up, and if the High Speed Rail link does get built then it will benefit as the Brum terminus will be around Curzon Street.
 The KE is the only one of the three that has any merit to be kept, and then only for the architecture rather than it's viability as a pub. Office workers aren't generally the type to drink enough at lunchtime to keep a pub open, maybe if it became a bit 'foodie' but then you'd all complain that it wasn't the pub you loved to have a few pints in pre-match!
 
 

I'm sure Eastside will come back on track soon but only really because it is proximate to HS2.  The fact is there is tonnes of vacant employment land throughout the West Mids due to a lack of demand.  If BCC/AWM want to spend public funds on bringinjg sites forward ready for the market recovery (if there is one) fair enough but I think its sad that it comes at the expense of these pubs.

The Social and Ads may be nothing to look at but that shouldn't be the sole reason for knocking them down.  They are important community facilities (admittedly not for the locals in this case) but certainly for us fans on match day, and potentially for future offices/industrial employees.

It concerns me that they could be demolished to make way for road improvements and infrastructure just to service parcels of land which won't be developed for employment use for another decade.

Yes, but nobody is saying the fact they're ugly is why they'd be knocked down.

What about the fact that Aston is one of (it not the) the most deprived areas in the city, and bringing businesses into this area would provide jobs for the local economy?

You say yourself that they're important facilities for people other than the local communities - why should the needs of people who roll up 20 odd times a year for a couple of hours even be on the same sheet as those who live there, 365 days a year?

Some things are way more important than having somewhere to drink prior to a match.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

The (original) Holte
The Reservoir
The Church
The Britannia
The Grovesnor
The Tavern

Now The Edward and Social and The Ads.

If the Villa keep doing this shit and attendances keep dropping then the Swan, Aston Hotel, the vine and the Yew Tree will probabaly all go the same way, and usually when they're gone, they're gone.

Sad Times indeed.

I was thinking of a similar list of pubs that have closed down too. You can also add The Harriers.

[PeterWithe]

Some things are way more important than having somewhere to drink prior to a match.

If the breweries wont do it the Samaritans should open a pub near the ground.

[Brend'Watkins]

Some things are way more important than having somewhere to drink prior to a match.

Isn't what you meant to say "somethings are way more important to me than having somewhere to drink prior to a game" even allowing for the fact that by your own admission you no longer go to pubs?

If it wasn't for these pubs I wouldn't know a fraction of the good people who frequent this site and with the season we've had and most of last the pub social experience has been the main enjoyment for most of our matches.

[London Villan]

All the pubs on Summer Lane too... All used to be pre-match haunts, with much lower gates than we are getting now. It's more to do with changing drinking habits.

[Clampy]

Some things are way more important than having somewhere to drink prior to a match.

Isn't what you meant to say "somethings are way more important to me than having somewhere to drink prior to a game" even allowing for the fact that by your own admission you no longer go to pubs?

If it wasn't for these pubs I wouldn't know a fraction of the good people who frequent this site and with the season we've had and most of last the pub social experience has been the main enjoyment for most of our matches.

Jumping out of bed and going straight to the ground would'nt be the same somehow. Besides like Bren'd, a lot of the lads i go home and away with were met whilst chatting over a pre-match beer.