The Crown on Station Street, where Black Sabbath rehearsed, is due to reopen in a few years time!

The Crown on Station Street, the corner of Hill Street, has been closed since 2014 (a Japanese developer bought the pub and car park behind). It has remained unused ever since. But in October 2022, it was announced that Birmingham Open Media will have the pub fully restored. This will take a couple of years. It will be the site of a new live music venue and digital centre. 

The Crown on Station Street - history

The public house at the corner of Station Street and Hill Street was built in 1881 opposite Birmingham New Street Station, to the designs of Thomson Plevins (1825 - 1897). The same architect who designed the Grand Hotel in 1875. He was a Scottish architect who practised in Birmingham.

The likes of Black Sabbath was first hosted at The Crown back in 1968. The pub later hosted the likes of Status Quo, Led Zeppelin, and UB40, until at least the 1980s.

The pub was still open in 2014, but closed in the middle of the 2014 FIFA World Cup (in Brazil),  when it was bought by Japanese development company Toyoko. Unfortunately, in the years since then, nothing has happened to the pub, and it's been left to rot, and get covered in graffiti.

Jez Collins, the creator of the Birmingham Music Archive has been looking to refurbish the pub for a number of years now. He will be working with Birmingham Open Media (BOM). The work could start in 2023, and it is hoped it could be completed by the end of 2024.

More information from Thomas Cramp at Birmingham Live here: Pub venue of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath's first gig to be restored after lying derelict

 

The Crown - gallery of photos

During the early years of the rebuilding of Birmingham New Street Station, I took a series of photos of The Crown from Hill Street and Station Street. At the time it was externally painted in black and white, as can be seen during January 2011.

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Another photo of The Crown during April 2011, when new bollards had been installed in the middle of Hill Street, at the Station Street junction. Behind the pub is the Centre City Tower, and is a short walk down to Smallbrook Queensway and Hurst Street in Southside.

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In September 2015, Birmingham New Street Station, was completely reopened to the public. This half had closed in 2013 at Half Time Switch Over. From the newly opened Southside Steps (our Spanish Steps), you can see The Crown to the left. By this point it had been closed down for more than a year.

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I went into John Lewis Birmingham store for a look around during October 2015. On the upper floors there was views to The Crown, and other buildings on Station Street and Hill Street, but view was slightly obscured by the patterns in the windows. So was a bit hard to see. Sadly during the pandemic in 2020, this John Lewis store closed down, never to reopen. But the store was used for filming of the Tom Cruise movie, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part I (during the summer of 2021). Then known as Mission: Impossible 7. It is due for release in cinemas by June 2023. But it won't feature The Crown in the movie. It was transformed into Abu  Dhabi Airport (including Grand Central).

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In April 2017, I got views of The Crown for the first time from the balconies at the Southside end of Birmingham New Street Station. The lower half of the former pub had been repainted, but was looking graffiti free at this point. The pub was a short distance away from the Electric Cinema and The Old REP Theatre.

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The Cricket World Cup was on in Birmingham during June 2019, as could be seen by these banners located on Station Street outside of The Crown. A no 16 NXWM Platinum bus in orange livery, was about to turn from Hill Street onto Station Street, for the journey towards Handsworth and Hamstead.

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In November 2019, for the festive season, the Southside BID put fairy lights up along the buildings on Station Street, including on The Crown. It looked good after dark, once the clocks had gone back.

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During the pandemic, local graffiti and street artists were pasting their art on the windows and walls of The Crown, as could be seen on Station Street during August 2020. The art here was a dissected cat by Tempo 33.

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Even more graffiti art and vandalism on The Crown during October 2020, as I spotted a Ariel Atom car turning from Hill Street onto Station Street. Traffic gets busy around here at weekends.

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By April 2021, as lockdown restrictions were beginning to ease, you could now hire Voi e-Scooter's and West Midlands Cycle Hire bikes outside the Southside entrance to Birmingham New Street Station. Meanwhile the graffiti was still all over The Crown, and wouldn't be cleaned off until before the Commonwealth Games began a year later.

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The Crown as it is, now in October 2022. The rainbow colours from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games are still up. Signs on the former pub point to Smithfield (where beach volleyball and basketball was played) and to Edgbaston (cricket). Only graffiti now says "Ozzy woz here". These views were taken from the Southside balconies at Birmingham New Street Station. I took these photos after hearing that the pub might reopen in a few years time.

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Photography by Elliott Brown