With Birmingham losing hundreds of pubs over the years, it can be problematic to single out individual buildings for which one should cry into a beer over its loss. Although I never drank in The Grapes, it looks like it was a lovely boozer. It was the work of the architects James and Lister Lea but I suspect that this was for improvements rather than a rebuild. With licensee Doris Lewis serving the last pints of beer, The Grapes closed in 1992 - one can only speculate whether the nearby Metro tram route, which opened later in the decade, could have saved the place by forming part of the popular pub trail served by the line. In the old days, the pub actually stood closer to the L&NWR Soho, Handsworth and Perry Barr Line rather the aforementioned Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley Line. Following the pub's closure, the building was cleared for housing, though the pub is commemorated by Vineyard Close. The Grapes Inn fronted Bacchus Road so it would seem there was a relationship between the two names as Bacchus was the Greek God of Wine. Indeed, the pub was originally called the Old Jolly Bacchus. However, the thoroughfare, originally known as Gib Heath Road, was changed to commemorate George Bacchus, a local industrialist who campaigned for and supported the construction of rail links to London and Liverpool. Like much of the property and land in this area, The Grapes was once owned by the Boulton family. The pub was formerly a homebrewed house, the remains of a small brewery can be seen to the left in this photograph. It was Matthew Boulton's grandson Matthew Piers Watts Boulton who sold the building to the Smethwick-based Cheshire's Brewery. The company was acquired Mitchell's and Butler's in 1913 and the Cape Hill brewery's livery can still be seen in this photograph from 1960.
© Copyright. Image supplied by Digital Photographic Images.

“Bacchus hath drowned more men than Neptune.”
Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734)
Pub Quotations

History and Information on the Public Houses of Birmingham with Licensees and Newspaper Articles PLUS Genealogy Connections