City centre pub with heavy metal heritage which helped to launch Black Sabbath's career gets Grade II listing status
A city centre pub with a heavy metal heritage is now Grade II listed.
The Crown in Birmingham city centre has been listed at Grade II by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, on the advice of Historic England.
In its heyday, it hosted local acts that would go on to become household names, including Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and UB40, as well as welcoming big acts such as Status Quo.
The vacant pub is based near to Birmingham New Street Station on Hill Street.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Historic England said: "The Crown Inn, Birmingham, is now Grade II Listed!
"Regarded as the birthplace of heavy metal music, it's been recognised for the role it played in the development of the genre and for launching the career of famous Birmingham based band @BlackSabbath."
Last month it emerged plans to restore the pub had fallen apart.
The Crown was set to be restored as a live music venue, but plans by an arts organisation to buy the building and restore it fell through due to funding issues.
Birmingham Open Media (BOM) had been looking to give a new lease of life to the heritage pub, which was first built in 1881 and which has been closed and remained derelict since 2014 after being bought by a Japanese development company.
