Some history of the Adderley Park Inn on Adderley Road at Saltley in Birmingham in the county of Warwickshire

The Adderley Park Inn is located on the corner of Adderley Road and Ash Road. The below view of Ash Road shows two shops that stood opposite the public-house. The road goes uphill in a south-easterly direction from the junction with Adderley Road. Sadly, although the houses that adjoined this short row survived into the 21st century, these properties are long gone.

The photograph dates from around 1910 when the drug stores at No.2 was operated by Robert Bickley and Ash Road Post Office was run by Lucy Dora Kimber. Like Sarah Elizabeth Harris, who managed the post office in 1908, she was also a stationer. Tobacco and cigars were also sold on the premises. The surname of Choley is above the front door - I suspect that this was Harold Choley who also worked for the post office. Lucy Kimber had been working here for a number of years with the Harris family before taking over the position of post-mistress. Her sister Kate assisted in the business. They are probably featured in this image with one of the women posing at the post box with a letter.

Ash Road Post Office made the newspapers in January 1965 when there was an attempted robbery by two men. Mrs. Sybil Lewis, who was in charge of the post-office, told a reporter that "It was all over in ten seconds. The man with a gun said "Come on, let's have it." Then my assistant, Mrs. Doris Homer, put her foot on the alarm bell. The moment it went off, the two men turned tail and fled out of the door." Mrs. Lewis added: "We were both pretty scared when it was all over, but at the time we didn't think about being frightened." The armed robbers escaped in a grey-coloured van.

More information on the Adderley Park Inn on Adderley Road to follow. I probably created the page as I had a link to the Adderley Park Inn from another page. When building the site it is easier to place links as they crop up rather than go back later on. I realise this is frustrating if you were specifically looking for information on the Adderley Park Inn. In the meantime I have included a few photographs of the public-house along with a newspaper article. There is information on Birmingham dotted around the website - click here for a suitable starting place.

Birmingham : Wall Sign of the Adderley Park Inn on Adderley Road at Saltley [1960]

Birmingham : Licensee Plate of the Adderley Park Inn on Adderley Road at Saltley [1960]

Birmingham : Girl at the Adderley Park Inn on Adderley Road at Saltley [1960]

Birmingham : The Adderley Park on Adderley Road at Saltley [2002]

Birmingham : The Adderley Park and view of the Olive Branch on Adderley Road at Saltley [2002]

Licensees of the Adderley Park Inn

1951 - 1952 William Arthur Winyard
1952 - 1954 Charles Powell
1954 - 1955 Frederick John Pooley
1955 - 1957 Albert William Davis
1957 - 1957 William Henry Stafford
1957 - 1958 Joseph Harvey
1958 - 1960 Ronald William Cope
1960 - 1961 Kenneth Chadwick
1961 - 1961 Michael John Kirby
1961 - 1962 Thomas Walter Scriven
1962 - 1966 Frank Allen Critchley
1966 - 1966 Dennis Max Higgins
1966 - 1970 Raymond Hands
1970 - 1977 James Duignan
1977 - 1985 Andrew Vincent Kelly
1985 - 1987 Patrick John McCabe
1987 - 1992 Michael Joseph O'Neill
1992 - 1994 Bernadette Mary Schwarm
1994 - 1995 Katherine Hyde
1995 - 1996 Christine Rose Byrne
1996 - 1996 Leslie Husband
1996 - 1996 Martin Robert Ridley
1996 - 1998 Norma Stirk
1998 - 1999 Thomas Francis Moriarty
Note : this is not a complete list of licensees for this pub. The dates of early licensees are sourced from trade directories, census data, electoral rolls, rate books and newspaper articles. Names taken from trade directories may be slightly inaccurate as there is some slippage from publication dates and the actual movement of people. The listing for 1951 to 1999 is complete and accurate as these names are sourced from licensing records and brewery property books. These records are hand-written and I have done my best to transcribe them accurately, though some scribbles of the clerks can be hard to determine.

Inn Sign

Birmingham : Inn Sign of the Adderley Park on Adderley Road at Saltley [1990]

As this sign states, the Adderley Park Inn is "better known as The Three A's,", most probably a reference to Atkinson's Aston Ales. The Adderley family owned an extensive tract of land around this part of Birmingham. Charles Adderley, who would later become the first Lord Norton, owned much of Duddeston and Vauxhall. It was here that he donated the land for Birmingham's first public park in August 1856 - hence the name of this pub. The ancestral home of the Adderley family was Hams Hall near Coleshill. The first Charles Adderley, an equerry to King Charles I, bought the original hall. Following a major fire in 1890, the hall was demolished and rebuilt in the village of Coates in Gloucestershire at the whim of the shipping magnate, Oswald Harrison. Charles Adderley opened the ten-acre park to thousands of visitors on a warm Saturday in August 1856. Entrance to the park was via a handsome lodge where a library was later added. The opening ceremony included a procession from the Market Hall at Prospect Row, along Ashted Row and through Bloomsbury to the Saltley Road.