Pre-match drinking - all change next season

[pauliewalnuts]

Back on the subject, we can expect severe depletion of the infrastructure as the cuts begin to bite. I feel your pain, particularly if you have sporty suspension on your vehicle.

Of course.

Holes in the roads and empty shop units. The signs of the recession.

[peter w]

Sounds like a Paul Weller or Billy Bragg lyric. Or that 'Shipbuilding' guy.

[Jimbo]

Absolutely agree. You don't have to believe in God to appreciate the beauty of a church. Likewise, you don't have to be an old soak to understand that there's history, cultural heritage and aesthetic value in most old pubs. But it helps.

.. and on a similar note, you don't have to be a bulldozer worshipping hater of our architectural history to foresee a situation in which there might be a compelling case to demolish a pub.

There also needs to be someone with the belief they can make a profit and the willingness to run a pub, which is why so many of them in Aston are closed down.

Quite true. Usually the case isn't very compelling, often being based primarily on how much money a developer or contractor can make out of it. A prime case being the Woodman on Easy Row, demolished along with the rest of the Georgian street to make way for a slightly wider road, an area which will be developed yet again when the Copthorn et al is torn down. Here's a warning: if you like stunning old pubs, don't google pics of it. It'll screw you up for life.

But the bigger picture could possibly be that as we no longer live in the Georgian period our roads, and general infrastructure, need to reflect the age that we live in.

I suspect a similar argument might have been made when they swept away the old library, Mason College, the old Snow Hill station, the Queen's' Hotel, the Birmingham Exchange, King Edward's school, the Grand Theatre and King's Hall on Old Square, the list goes on and on and on. Looking at what replaced them in most cases, did we really need to lose all of those beautiful and important buildings? And will we ever learn our lesson?

[Pete3206]

Spot on Jimbo.

[dave.woodhall]

And if by some miracle these buildings were restored, you would be complaining that the city centre was choked, overcrowded, public transport was appalling and something should be done about it.

[pauliewalnuts]

Absolutely agree. You don't have to believe in God to appreciate the beauty of a church. Likewise, you don't have to be an old soak to understand that there's history, cultural heritage and aesthetic value in most old pubs. But it helps.

.. and on a similar note, you don't have to be a bulldozer worshipping hater of our architectural history to foresee a situation in which there might be a compelling case to demolish a pub.

There also needs to be someone with the belief they can make a profit and the willingness to run a pub, which is why so many of them in Aston are closed down.

Quite true. Usually the case isn't very compelling, often being based primarily on how much money a developer or contractor can make out of it. A prime case being the Woodman on Easy Row, demolished along with the rest of the Georgian street to make way for a slightly wider road, an area which will be developed yet again when the Copthorn et al is torn down. Here's a warning: if you like stunning old pubs, don't google pics of it. It'll screw you up for life.

But the bigger picture could possibly be that as we no longer live in the Georgian period our roads, and general infrastructure, need to reflect the age that we live in.

I suspect a similar argument might have been made when they swept away the old library, Mason College, the old Snow Hill station, the Queen's' Hotel, the Birmingham Exchange, King Edward's school, the Grand Theatre and King's Hall on Old Square, the list goes on and on and on. Looking at what replaced them in most cases, did we really need to lose all of those beautiful and important buildings? And will we ever learn our lesson?

Those are buildings tragically lost, and as you say, they were beautiful and important.

Is the KE beautiful and important? That's the discussion at hand.

Everyone appreciates the fact we demolished lots of buildings we shouldn't have, but just as the answer to that is not to wantonly demolish everything, neither is to to demolish nothing.

[Brend'Watkins]

And if by some miracle these buildings were restored, you would be complaining that the city centre was choked, overcrowded, public transport was appalling and something should be done about it.

We don't go knocking down cathedrals to accommodate traffic infrastructures so why  treat other less historic buildings any different?  You might say there are a plenty of Victorian and Edwardian buildings out there  but they are becoming less and less which is fine in one respect for us because we are familiar with them.  Will our children and our children's children be so familiar with them?  No they won't because they'll all be removed to make way for the next economic solution to our woes. 

The Edward should stay on the grounds that it is our link with what the past in that area of Aston looked like 100 years ago.  I'm sure our grand children would be grateful that we left such a link even if by then it is no longer used as a pub.

[dave.woodhall]

The Edward is not a link with the past. It's a nondescript building in a rundown area that has plenty of buildings just like it.

[pauliewalnuts]

Surely the best example of a building linking Villa with what the area was like 100 plus years ago is the pub right next to the ground?

[Brend'Watkins]

The Edward is not a link with the past. It's a nondescript building in a rundown area that has plenty of buildings just like it.

It is a link, it looks like no building either side of it 1/2  a mile in either direction of the Lichfield Rd, a building from a different era.  When the glass and metal structures surround it in 5 years it will appear as some sort of oasis amongst the form and function of current industrial units.  If it does go, 50 years from now people will be none the wiser as to it's existence, that's a shame as we didn't need to deny them.

[dave.woodhall]

There's the Swan & Mitre and the old Brit within 200 yards, for a start.

[Brend'Watkins]

There's the Swan & Mitre and the old Brit within 200 yards, for a start.

I drink in the Swan and it's more than 200 yards away, but maybe not half a mile, I'll give you that. 

As you've pointed them out, they both blend in with their industrial surround, why shouldn't the Edward?

[dave.woodhall]

Because if it has to go to help regenerate the area, then so be it. It's a decent building, but there's nothing there which would be an irretrievable loss.
I may be wrong but the owner doesn't seem to be exactly threatening to chain himself to the bulldozers.

[Chris Smith]

Absolutely agree. You don't have to believe in God to appreciate the beauty of a church. Likewise, you don't have to be an old soak to understand that there's history, cultural heritage and aesthetic value in most old pubs. But it helps.

.. and on a similar note, you don't have to be a bulldozer worshipping hater of our architectural history to foresee a situation in which there might be a compelling case to demolish a pub.

There also needs to be someone with the belief they can make a profit and the willingness to run a pub, which is why so many of them in Aston are closed down.

Quite true. Usually the case isn't very compelling, often being based primarily on how much money a developer or contractor can make out of it. A prime case being the Woodman on Easy Row, demolished along with the rest of the Georgian street to make way for a slightly wider road, an area which will be developed yet again when the Copthorn et al is torn down. Here's a warning: if you like stunning old pubs, don't google pics of it. It'll screw you up for life.

But the bigger picture could possibly be that as we no longer live in the Georgian period our roads, and general infrastructure, need to reflect the age that we live in.

I suspect a similar argument might have been made when they swept away the old library, Mason College, the old Snow Hill station, the Queen's' Hotel, the Birmingham Exchange, King Edward's school, the Grand Theatre and King's Hall on Old Square, the list goes on and on and on. Looking at what replaced them in most cases, did we really need to lose all of those beautiful and important buildings? And will we ever learn our lesson?

I used to work in a Victorian Grade 1 listed building and although it looks great it's not suitable for the modern era and costs a fortune to maintain. It's status means that it will not be lost but it has no practical use outside of it's current format.

I'm all for retaining our heritage but there are massive barriers to overcome to keep them viable.

[Jimbo]

And if by some miracle these buildings were restored, you would be complaining that the city centre was choked, overcrowded, public transport was appalling and something should be done about it.

Thanks for telling me what I'd be complaining about in a hypothetical future where all our great old buildings remained. As far as I know, very few of those I mentioned made way for road or public transport improvements (except Easy Row). They were just replaced by ugly new buildings, some of which are now either being demolished or covered up. The monstrosity that replaced the Queen's Hotel is now being partially cladded in reflective metal sheeting so it'll reflect the nice old buildings opposite. If it wasn't so tragic, it'd be funny.