Landmark pub demolished

Time has been called on a landmark Black Country boozer which has been knocked down to make way for flats.

The demolition of the King Edward VII marks the end of an era as there has been an old "beer house" on the site in West Bromwich for nearly 200 years.

Bulldozers moved on to the site yesterday and the pub was dismantled at around 10am. The once popular watering hole has been demolished to make way for flats – a trend which has seen many pubs all over the West Midlands disappear.

Once an important hostelry, the pub has been vacant for around seven years and this winter squatters took up residence there.

Builders AJ Jennings cleared the site in Old Meeting Street which also includes a former car parts centre.

Old tiles from the roof of the building have already been reclaimed and will be reused on other building projects.

Builder Steve Green said: "The place was in a pretty poor state when we came here.

"There was a squatter in the building and we had to get him out.

"The residents and the police were fed up with the pub as it was attracting all sorts.

"They have told us they are very pleased something is finally happening here."

The current building, according to West Bromwich historian Terry Price, dates back to the King Edward VII era at the beginning of the last century.

It replaced a previous pub on the site called The Lame Dog but it is not clear from records exactly when this was built, he said.

"Some pubs at that time were just beer houses and were not licensed which makes it difficult to trace their history," he said.

"I have looked at records in the 1830s and there was no pub on the site then. But it must have gone up not long later.

"There were around a dozen or so pubs in the area at one time but most of these have gone now.

"One of the few left is the Halfway House up the road from it." Over the years people have broken into the pub but builders said it was impossible to know if anything had been taken due to its poor condition.

The pub's image was tarnished after DJ Michael Lumley was shot there in 1995 and it closed not long later.

Prior to that it had been a popular venue and regularly drew large crowds of young music fans.

A scheme for the three-storey building to be demolished was approved by Sandwell planning committee in March 2006.

The site is now owned by Cherry Blossom Developments of Cannock and the company plans to build flats on the land.

Elsewhere in West Bromwich, the former Hop and Barleycorn pub on Dartmouth Street was demolished after it attracted squatters and drug abusers.

An application was first made for homes to be built on the site in 2005 but the latest application has come from Omar Binshihoun, who will occupy a five-bedroom home among others on the land.

The town's Golden Lion pub has also been demolished to make way for homes.

One year short of its 70th birthday, the pub in Hall Green Lane was pulled down in August last year.