The George Inn was located on the eastern side of Ladypool Road, on the north corner of Alfred Street. The pub had closed by 2012 and the building converted to a home furnishing shop trading as Decor. That business lasted until around 2020, the premises changing to a saree shop called Roush.
![Birmingham : Map extract showing the location of the George Inn on Ladypool Lane at Sparkbrook [1888]](https://www.midlandspubs.co.uk/images/birmingham/ladypool-lane-george-map.jpg "Birmingham : Map extract showing the location of the George Inn on Ladypool Lane at Sparkbrook [1888]")
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with kind permission of the National Library of Scotland under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.
I have marked the location of the George Inn on the above map extract. A mini-roundabout now acts as a traffic calming measure on this busy road junction.
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Prior to volunteering in August 1915, V. H. Jones worked at the George Inn, travelling to the public-house from his home at 24 Wrentham Street.¹ In April 1916, serving in the Royal Field Artillery, he was drafted to the Western Front, where he took a prominent part in the Battles of Vermelles, the Somme, Arras, Vimy Ridge, Bullecourt, Messines, Ypres, Passchendaele, Cambrai, St. Quentin and Bapaume and in heavy fighting at Ploegsleert, Lens and Beaumont-Hamel. To have survived through such long list of military actions, he must have been one of the luckiest men in the army, and certainly very brave. Indeed, it was for his bravery in the field that he was awarded the Military Medal. Corporal V. H. Jones survived the war and was demobilised in May 1919.²
![Birmingham : The George Inn on the corner of Ladypool Road and Alfred Street at Sparkbrook [c.1961]](https://www.midlandspubs.co.uk/images/birmingham/ladypool-road-george.jpg "Birmingham : The George Inn on the corner of Ladypool Road and Alfred Street at Sparkbrook [c.1961]")
© Image from author's photographic archive. DO NOT COPY
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Licensees of the George Inn
1861 - Mary Davies
1868 - Susannah Lyons
1878 - William Terry
1883 - Newsome Thwaite
1904 - William Sayers
1913 - Harry Kendrick
1921 - Samuel Dodd
1940 - Howard Butler
1951 - 1954 Charles Samuel Harper
1954 - 1955 John Joseph Milligan
1955 - 1955 Harold John Hatton
1955 - 1959 Thomas Swift
1959 - 1960 Joseph Harris Wiseman
1960 - 1961 Emlyn Harries
1961 - 1961 Horace Ambrose Humphries
1961 - 1962 John Arthur Clarke
1962 - 1963 Kevin Kavanagh
1963 - 1964 Francis Leslie Burden
1964 - 1964 Ronald Walter Breeden
1964 - 1965 Stanley Kenneth Harrison
1965 - 1966 Raymond Robert Taaffe
1966 - 1967 Leslie Robert Ashford
1967 - 1970 William John Lea
1970 - 1973 Paul Howard Machin
1973 - 1974 Peter John Hunt
1974 - 1975 Barry Holland
1975 - 1976 Richard Henfield
1976 - 1978 Paul Howard Machin
1978 - 1983 John Harvey Hill
1983 - 1990 Denis Edward Lucey
1990 - Vara Praniiwan
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 from 1951 to 1990 is complete and accurate as these names are sourced from licensing records. 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.
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© Photo taken by author on April 24th, 2013. DO NOT COPY
"Yesterday, at this Court, before Messrs. Swinburn, Cartland, and Stock, William Terry, landlord of the George Inn,
Ladypool Lane, Sparkbrook, was summoned for keeping his house open on the 19th inst. during prohibited hours. Mr. Bickley appeared for the defence. Police-Constable
Jones stated that on Sunday morning last, at twenty minutes past eleven o'clock, he visited the defendant's house, and saw a man in the act of drinking a
glass of beer, but upon his entering the house the glass was handed to the landlady, He asked the man what his name was, and he replied John Jones, but he had since
ascertained that his correct name was Langford. For the defence several witnesses were called, who denied that any beer was supplied to Langford, and it was stated
that the landlady was enquiring whether the man was a traveller or not, when the constable entered the house and accused her of Sunday trading. The Bench dismissed
the case. Langford was then summoned for giving a false name, and was lined 10s. and the costs."
"Balsall Heath Police Court"
Birmingham Daily Post : October 25th 1879 Page 6
References
1. "Local Heroes" : Birmingham Mail; January 18th, 1918. p.4.
2. "The National Roll of the Great War, 1914-1918" : Section VI; Page 240.
