Tag: Spring Cottage

Setember 24th – My return from Walsall an hour or so later was similarly in a gorgeous, but darker golden hour that made the red bricks of north Walsall glow beautifully. The nights really are drawing in now, and I’ll soon be commuting with lights on. It actually tried to rain on me as I rode  home, but the sun never went in.

I guess that just now, we’re entering the autumn period of great sunsets…

Bring it on.

November 6th – An absolutely lousy commuting day. It was raining for the entirety of journeys both to and from Darlaston, and the traffic – still stuck in autumn muppet mode – didn’t make it easier. There were lights in the darkness, though; at Green Lane, Shelfield, I stopped to take a phone call and felt someone was watching me – so beware eavesdropping moggies when out and about. The canal at Bentley Bridge still looked green, depute the murk. On the way home, the roads glistened and shone in the spray-sweep of passing traffic.

It’s not shaped up to be a great bike commuting week, if I’m honest… at least the forecast for tomorrow is better.

October 8th – I don’t like to see the gradual erosion of our pubs. But since so many are being lost, it’s nice to see when they’re saved – if repurposed. I’m thinking here particularly of The Muckley Corner, which is now dwellings, or The Brown Lion, in Pleck, which is a refuge. Like the Knave of Hearts in Bloxwich, the Spring Cottage in Shelfield has been converted into a bustling Co-op store. Whilst the loss of the pub is sad, at least the building was saved, and not altered too much. If only more closed pubs could be saved like this…

December 13th – Over in Shelfield, the traditional boozer wins. Whilst the Spring Cottage had loads of brewery money spent on renovations and refits over the years, the Four Crosses behind it ploughed on in it’s own traditional way. The larger, more modern pub failed; a succession of poor managers, problems with the clientele and falling returns now see it being converted to a Co-op store. The street corner local behind it, however, has always been peaceful and welcoming. Closed for a few months a couple of years back, it was thought to be lost, but a new owner and good real ale ensured its revival. A pub in the true sense of the word.

November 30th – The Spring Cottage, once a lively, if rather rough pub sat on a major junction in the middle of Shelfield, is undergoing conversion into a Co-op store. Nearly complete now, it looks like only the car park resurfacing needs to be completed. I’m pleased to say that although the building is of no historical merit, efforts have been made to preserve it’s features as a prominent landmark. The wood and plaster cladding has been carefully restored, and the shopfront installed sympathetically to the nature of the building.

It’s nice to see such a prominent, once-derelict landmark get a new lease of life – and the Co-op stores aren’t bad at all. I wish the owners well.

June 24th – The former Spring Cottage pub at Shelfield – an insalubrious, rough pub – closed a year of two back, and has stood empty and forlorn ever since. Never a pleasant house, it’s future lies in a different purpose. Speaking to a surveyor here in the week, I’m told this is being converted into a Co-op store. I like the Co-op, and it seems to be a sensible location.

Work has been ongoing here for some time, and looks set to continue for a good while yet.