Mystery of Black Country's vanished Robin Hood

The Black Country's own Robin Hood embarked on a journey around 20 years ago and, so far as we can tell, has not been seen since – unless a reader can offer a clue to his current whereabouts or fate.

Standing at just 2ft 6ins (76cms) tall, this diminutive outlaw was a feature of the old Robin Hood pub in Pedmore Road, Brierley Hill, and the folklore hero will have been familiar to generations of pub goers and music fans, as the pub was a well-known venue which was graced by a galaxy of big stars over the years.

Originally the wooden statue was on the pub facade, above the front door, but at some point, perhaps when alterations were made to the front of the pub, Robin gravitated to a position on the roof.

A September 1955 photo shows him in his lofty perch on the roof, and the caption at the time said nobody knew for sure how old he was, but the innkeeper's family went back over 100 years and Robin had been with them all along.

So Robin may well have been a feature since the pub, an old coaching inn, was built.

The pub, which must have stood in a geographical grey area as its location is also sometimes given as Merry Hill or Quarry Bank, closed in 2003.

A clue to what happened to the statue in the immediate aftermath came from Mike Hamblett, who ran the venue between April 1992 and June 2003 when it was the Robin R'n'B club.

In 2011 he launched a quest to track it down in the hope of featuring it in an exhibition of memorabilia.

Speaking at the time, he said: "Shortly after The Robin closed in 2003 I saw a workman remove the statue. Despite extensive research to date, I have not found him. I would like to bring Robin Hood home and make him the centrepiece of the exhibition."

As we seem to have heard no more, presumably the Robin Hood hunt did not bear fruit.

The rear of the pub had a large brick building, no doubt where those famous artistes performed, and sadly this was badly damaged in an arson attack in July 2005. Pictures from the time show that the statue was already missing from the roof then.

The demolition teams must have moved in almost immediately afterwards as by September 7, 2005, the pub had been razed to the ground.

Among the stars who had appeared at the venue over the years had been Steve Harley, Chaka Khan, jazz ace George Melly, and Lenny Henry.

The Ian Parker Band was the final act to take to the Robin's stage, on June 21, 2003, and to mark the end of an era Mike, along with customers, raised a glass in the shadow of Robin's statue to say a final farewell.

*If you know what happened to the Robin Hood statue, do drop us a line to solve the mystery.