pRIDE TRAIL POI'S
d1 - d9
d1: the cider house
The Cider House on Holloway Head was a popular venue for lesbians in the late 1970s. Referred to variously by ‘the Purple Room, the Greyhound, and the Cider House, they were in fact all one and the same venue.
D2: fairy tower i
There is evidence that many gay men have a preference for city centre living in proximity to the gay village that has emerged in the B5 area. Within this area, Cleveland and Clydesdale Towers at Holloway Head are popular and fondly known as Fairy Towers.
d3: fairy tower ii
There is evidence that many gay men have a preference for city centre living in proximity to the gay village that has emerged in the B5 area. Within this area, Cleveland and Clydesdale Towers at Holloway Head are popular and fondly known as Fairy Towers.
d4: nightingale mark iv
The Nightingale decided it wanted to expand, but the Thorp Street site was hemmed in by the Hippodrome Theatre who had plans to expand themselves. The club decided to sell the Thorp Street venue to the theatre and began the hunt for new premises. They looked at various premise including Route 66, The Digbeth Institute and Essex House. They finally settled on Essex House and the club opened in its present location in 1994. The club has undergone several refurbishments and even an expansion into neighbouring premises which operated as a gay bar for a short time, The Woodloft. The club is set over a three storey building, formerly an electrical warehouse, with a large dance floor and bar area downstairs, a quieter lounge in the middle floor and a smaller dance arena on the top floor. When it first opened the entrance was situated on the corner of Lower Essex Street and Kent Street and the dance floor was sunken into what was the loading bay of the warehouse.
d5: the kardomah cafe
The Kardomah Cafe was a popular meeting place in the 1950s and 60s. The building still stands on New Street and is occupied by Muji and Ted Baker.
d6; the lesbian andgay community centre aston
The Lesbian and Gay Community Centre Aston opened in September 1984 at 291 Corporation St , opposite Aston University. The centre was ‘a voluntary, non-profit making organisation run by homosexual women and men, whose aim it is to promote the welfare and benefit of those who are homosexual or bisexual. Unfortunately, due to a lack of funding the centre was forced to close in 1987.
d7: the temple bar
The Temple Bar situated on Lower Temple Street, near to New Street Station was a popular pub with gay men in the 1950s. W. H Auden was known to drink there in the 1940s.
The tiny pool room at the back of “The Old Mo” was very popular with lesbians in the 70s and 80s.
d8: the old moseley arms
d9: angels
Initially opened by Laurie Williams in 1996, as a private members bar called Laurie’s International Club, it was later bought by Gareth Scratchard and reopened as Angels. It was the first gay bar in Birmingham to have plate glass windows open to the street. The bar opened to coincide with the first Birmingham Pride in 1997.
It featured on a TV programme which was one of the first gay “fly on the wall” documentaries.