The British Oak, Birmingham

I was born here the second son of William Brown "Billy" to the customers and he was boss. I can see the place vividly even though it was 1954 when we left to take another Ansells Pub in Park Lane Aston - The Royal Albert - sadly now part of the Aston Expressway. Mom and Dad were hardworking and in those days had to spend a lot of time downstairs in the bar whilst my elder brother Peter and myself (Michael) occupied ourselves without the benefit of TV unlike the kids today. As a young boyI recall there was lots of re-building works going on following the end of the war and I used to que with Mom for ration books sometimes for hours on end. At the "Oak", the navvies were pounding on the pub door at 6.00 gagging for a pint of Dad's best mild or bitter. Those were the only draught beers on sale, no extra cold lager and 1664 rubbish then, just good old fashioned ale from wooden barrels, no kegs in those days. I guess Dad worked an average of between 84 - 90 hours a week and in 1958 when he died, his wage was �8 per week and we had 2 weeks by the sea in caravans etc. Wow, how times have changed, �8 now buys 3 pints if you're lucky. Dad ran a clean pub and often refused service to building site workers who presented themselves at his bar with dirty working wear. In those days you wore a tie and your best suit on Saturday and Sunday if you wanted to drink at the Oak. Sadly, Dad's asthma and chest complaints worsened and he died in a bed at the QE in March 1958, I was 14 then and never really knew him due to his long periods of slaving at the counter pulling pints breathing clouds of smoke as in those days, every one seemed to smoke and if you didn't smoke you coughed because of the smoke. I'm 67 now and could write books on the old pub and the customers but I think I'll stick to my memories of a great old pub "The British Oak".

23 Nov 2010 10:58