Although our pub was built at the end of the Victorian era and first served Brummies during the Edwardian age, there has been an Anchor Inn on the site for over 200 years.

This photograph shows the imposing character of the original Anchor Inn on the corner of Bradford Street and Rea Street. The picture was taken around 1901 just before this building was replaced by a new building commissioned by Ansell's Brewery. The company have adverts for their Aston Ales in the windows of the old inn. The licensee at the time was George Edwin Benwell and he can be seen posing with his wife, Emma, in the doorway. That's one hell of an apron he's wearing.

Like his father, George was a brassfounder [the surrounding streets had many brass factories] and, following his retirement from that trade, took over The Anchor in 1901. As you can see from the pub's livery, it enjoyed inn status which allowed it to remain open as long as a bed was empty for any visitor to the city. You can also see the tram lines passing in front of the pub and there was a stop right outside the building making it ideal for those wanting to enjoy a really good session.

The Anchor stands in a part of the city, which is steeped in history, much of it, violent. The buildings and events around the site have helped to shape Birmingham. The Anchor is close to the site of the Manor House of Birmingham. Moat Lane serves to remind the visitor that a ditch protected this ancient seat. This was fed by some of Digbeth's natural springs and the watercourse flowed into the Rea via the manorial mill from which Mill Lane takes its name. Indeed, this stream flowed within inches of today's pub, its course ran between the present-day Anchor and Digbeth Coach Station. Originally built to grind corn, the mill later produced sword blades for the Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War. However, this led to its destruction by Prince Rupert's forces when they attacked the town in 1643. It was rebuilt and later converted to a slitting mill by Sampson Lloyd II, a descendent of a Quaker family from Leominster whose son would later co-found the famous Lloyds Bank in Birmingham.

The mill played an influential role in the late development of the immediate area around the site of The Anchor. A map surveyed by Thomas Hanson in 1788 highlighted the Warner Fields estate owned by Henry Bradford. It illustrates how the watercourses restricted building between the river and the city centre. A bridge was built in the late 18th century and later repaired with funds raised from the turnpike along Digbeth and Deritend. This, along with the infilling of the streams [mills by this period were operated by steam power] facilitated the development of Bradford Street up to Moat Lane and Smithfield Street. In fact, Rea Street was originally called Bridge Lane, and later Long Bridge Street. It was only named after the town's river around 1800.

By this time Digbeth had a large number of inns and taverns, mainly along the ribbon development of Digbeth and Deritend High Street. However, roads leading off the main thoroughfare started to be developed in the 1790's, including Birchall Street and Rea Street. Indeed, it is in the records for Rea Street that the origins of the Anchor Inn were detected. The earliest document to record a transaction for the land where the Anchor Inn would later be erected is dated January 23rd 1787 and made between Robert Moore and Charles Glover, a builder, painter and decorator based at 51 Snow Hill.

The transaction of the land correlates with the rapid sale and development of the surrounding streets, the majority of which were owned by large private estates. The industrial revolution created much speculative development in and around Digbeth and Deritend, particularly following the arrival of the canals. The land immediately adjoining the Anchor Inn was, and still is, owned by the Gooch family of Suffolk. The site of the pub however formed part of the Granger Estate. William Granger was a noted antiquary of Exeter and his writings were illustrated by Joseph Cole to form the earliest plans of the city. The Granger's home was at Musgrave House - the name of which still exists in Musgrave Row. The family's Birmingham estate included land and property in Bradford Street, Rea Street, Barford Street and Moseley Street, the latter included the Old Plough Inn.

The first licensee of the Anchor Inn was John Bancroft. He appeared in the 1797 Pye's Trade Directory for Birmingham as a victualler in Rea Street, the original listed address of the pub. However, early ratebooks for what was then the Foreign and Edgbaston Districts show that he was one of only six people that first occupied the Birmingham section of Bradford Street. In later trade directories John Bancroft is listed as a builder and victualler [1803] or a carpenter and victualler [1808 Thomson and Wrighton] so he almost certainly had a part in the construction of the building. Indeed, a directory for 1791 lists a Joseph Bancroft as a builder in Bradford Street. This was probably John Bancroft's father. The Bancrofts chose the name of the Anchor for their public house. Surprisingly, although there were others, this is the only surviving pub in the city to display the sign of the Anchor and yet this has been the assay mark for Birmingham since an Act of Parliament of 1773.
 

John Bancroft was the publican of the Anchor Inn until 1807. He remained however the leaseholder of the building, opting to sub-let it to another publican as he also had interests in another public house further along Rea Street. Richard Hadden became the second full licensee of the Anchor Inn though Samuel Oakley stayed for a brief spell. Richard Hadden moved to Navigation Street in 1815 and Samuel Tidmas took over as the publican of the Anchor Inn. He was born in Knowle on November 12th 1756. Following his death, the licence was transferred to his wife Elizabeth and later to son Thomas. Josiah Cox arrived in 1828 and remained until 1835 by which time the pub faced increased competition from the abundance of beer houses springing up throughout Digbeth. By the time Benjamin Hunt took over as licensee Bradford Street had the long-established Adam and Eve, the Boar's Head, the Drover's Arms, the White Lion and the Warwick Arms. The latter was just a few doors away from the Anchor Inn between Rea Street and Mill Street.

Henry Peake took over the licence of what was then known as the Anchor Tavern in 1838. A Birmingham rate book of that year shows that the annual ground rent for the pub was £39.5s.0d. Henry Peake paid his rates of £2.12s.6d in full. In the 1841 census he is documented as a 55 year-old publican. He lived here with his wife Charlotte, also 55 and their children Henry, 25, Charlotte, 25, and Mary, 20. They also employed Barbara Yates, a 25 year-old servant. The inn was occupied on that night by the farrier Thomas Bothby and the equestrians Joseph Paddington and James Tippen.
 

A silver plater by trade, Henry Peake Jnr later kept the Vine Inn at New Town Row with his wife Elizabeth. By 1849 the licence of the Anchor Tavern passed to Benjamin Palmer. The 1851 census recorded him as a 35 year-old licensed victualler. Hailing from Solihull, he lived here with his Baddesley-born wife Mary Ann, 36, and their 2 year-old son Benjamin Richard. The boy helps to track where the Palmer's were previously because the census indicates that he was born in Hampton-in-Arden just before they moved to The Anchor. By the 1861 census, Benjamin Palmer had recruited a barman, his 20 year-old nephew John Tabbener who also originated from Hampton-in-Arden. He also employed Aston-born Ann Weldgoose, 22, as a general servant and a 26 year-old brewer called William Pearson who hailed from Erdington. The Palmer family moved on after a 19-year spell at the tavern, which by 1856 had become known as the Anchor Wine and Spirit Vaults in Birmingham's Trade Directories.
 

The new incumbent in 1867 was Thomas Burton who, in the census four years later, was recorded as a 29 year-old licensed victualler hailing from Radford in Nottinghamshire. He was a man with pubs in his blood as he grew up in his parent's tavern on the Derby Road in Nottingham. He kept the Anchor Vaults with his 29 year-old Birmingham-born wife Mary Ann. They employed three servants, which indicated a busy house. Birmingham-born Sarah Reeves and Mary Thompson were employed as domestic servants whilst Malvern-born William Wilden's duties included porter and barman. As tenant, Thomas Burton paid his annual rent to Edwin Fearn Grimley, an estate agent of Yardley, who acted for the Granger family. In 1871 the rent for the property was £80.0s.0d. To put this into perspective with other pubs in Digbeth, this was some £20 more than the rent of the Spotted Dog in Meriden Street but £28 less than the neighbouring Warwick Arms. Thomas Burton paid the rates of £5.13s.4d for the licensed public house, brewhouse, stable and premises in full.
 

The number of Birmingham's beer houses reached its peak during the tenure of Thomas Burton. By the end of the 1870's the Anchor Inn had much competition in the immediate area. There were now many more public houses in Bradford Street and there were boozers on two of the opposite corners of this crossroads. Mary Ann Burton died in 1875 and Thomas re-married to a King's Heath woman called Maud. The couple named their daughter after her in 1881; two other children were living on the premises - John and Tom. In the early 1880's the Anchor Inn was seemingly weathering the storm of competition as the staff had increased to four: Mary Foster, a servant and barmaid from Shropshire, local lass Jessica Clarrow and Oxford-born Lily Price were the general servants and a barman, Edward Hemming, who hailed from Leamington Spa.

Thomas and Maud Burton moved to the Beehive Hotel on Soho Hill and were succeeded at the Anchor Inn by Thomas Davies who was provided with a loan of £750.0s.0d. from Ansell's which ensured that he was tied to them for the supply of beer, wines and spirits. However, his stay was relatively short before the arrival of Jane Ainge. Hailing from Forton just outside Newport in Shropshire, the 52 year-old widow had previously kept the White Swan on Bell Barn Road with her husband George. The couple had also run a beer houses called the St.Luke's Tavern in St.Luke's Street where they brewed their own ales in the 1860's and 1870's. At the Anchor Inn Jane Ainge was helped by two of her children; Florie was a bar assistant and Herbert a cellarman. Jane Ainge also employed Alfred Williams as a bar assistant along with servants Wilmot Spitsbury and Maria Swaffield. Jane Ainge died in 1895 and the licence of the Anchor Inn was taken over by Edward Spall.
 

Running the pub between 1895-9, he issued his own tokens. With a workshop based at 36 Tenby Street, diesinker Albert Wise manufactured them for Edward Spall [see image of the pub token above]. Benjamin Palmer and Thomas Davies also issued checks at the Anchor Inn and even Ansell's themselves did at a later date. Further up Bradford Street, the Adam and Eve, issued checks to be spent on their skittle alley and quoits ground. The son of a goldsmith and born in Birmingham in 1870 Charles Spall gained his first experience of pubs when his parents, Charles and Mary, took over the Vittoria Inn located in the Jewellery Quarter. The family later moved to the extremely busy Lord Nelson on the High Street. Edward junior married Emily Walker [pictured to the left] in 1893. After running the Anchor Inn the couple moved to Leicester where they opened a fancy goods shop on Gallowtree Gate.

An indenture dated December 29th 1898 records a lease agreement between the Granger family [comprising of spinster Elizabeth Granger and Frederick Granger, both formerly of Musgrave House in Exeter, spinsters Dora and Emily Granger, both of Higher Summerlands, Exeter, and Henry Granger of Wimbledon] and Ansell & Sons Ltd. With a premium of £200.0s.0d. the term of the lease was set at 99 years from December 25th 1893 with a ground rent of £61.11s.0d. to be paid in four equal quarterly payments. More importantly, Ansell's made a covenant that they would expend a sum of £1,200.0s.0d. within 12 months on alterations and additions to the property. This type of agreement was not unusual - the landowners realised that the brewers were falling over themselves for the key locations and forced them to improve the properties on their behalf.
 

Holt's agreed to spend £1,000 rebuilding the nearby Dog and Partridge and in 1899 Ansell's made a similar agreement with Richard William Penn to rebuild the White Swan on the corner of Birchall Street at a cost of £2,000. The sum agreed for the Anchor Inn was some £800.0s.0d. less and was probably viewed as a good deal by the Aston-based company. The original Anchor was almost taller than it was wide but a new type of establishment was required by the end of the 19th century. The reduction of public houses in the city centre was something of a paradox because they still served large demographic areas - Digbeth was packed to bursting point. The magistrates were granting new licences to the pubs built in the burgeoning suburbs but only at the expense of surrendered licences in the inner city. The response of the brewers was to increase the size of their premises. Birmingham magistrates were more than happy with this policy - Victorian values created a motive among the municipal-minded to improve the condition of the city's drinking houses and they saw "bigger but fewer" pubs as a positive step forward. To create a pub with larger floorspace Ansell's signed a lease for the adjoining plot of land that also belonged to the Granger family. When the indenture for this transaction was drawn up Elizabeth Granger, detained at the Holloway Sanatorium Virginia Water in Surrey, was considered a "person of unsound mind" so Frederick acted on her behalf. Interestingly, on the very same day the Granger Estate leased Nos.232-4 Moseley Street [formerly The Old Plough Inn] to Rushton's Brewery Ltd who agreed to pay an annual rent of £38.0s.0d. Based at The Lion Brewery in Aston, Rushton's had a tied estate of around 100 pubs before they were acquired by Ansell's in 1923.
 

In 1901 Ansell's commissioned local architects James and Lister Lea and Sons to design a striking new building to replace the original inn. Based at 19 Cannon Street, this firm also operated an estate agents business and managed the Gooch estate. The census of 1901 indicates that the pub was still trading but was soon closed for business. However, the building plan for the 'new' Anchor were not passed until 1902. The pub is typical of James and Lister Lea and Sons' work during this period. They were also responsible for the nearby White Swan, the Dog and Partridge [Market Tavern], the Eagle and Tun and The Woodman. Criticised by many architects of the period and indeed later, these “pub palaces” do at least have an important place in the fabric of the city. The most obvious difference between The Anchor and other pubs designed and built by James and Lister Lea is that it only has two floors. However, the building plans [see below] include a third floor. This has led to much speculative debate. The main theories are that it was never built OR that it was constructed but, for some reason, was removed by the time of the earliest known surviving photograph shown below[taken around 1936]. It is possible there was a structural fault and that the attics had to be taken down before this photograph? If we return to the other theory - why would Ansell's not build a third floor? It is true that construction date of The Anchor coincides with the bubble bursting in the estate expansion war. Indeed, this had proved to be the downfall of some brewers because their estate accumulation was often unsustainable. It is possible that Ansell's downgraded the building specifications of The Anchor to a more functional role. If this was the case however, another building plan would have been submitted for approval by the city surveyor. There is no record of such a plan.
 

Joseph Finnemore arrived at The Anchor in 1913. His wife Kate took the licence between 1916 and 1919, which suggests that Joseph served in France during the First World War and then returned to the pub. His father James Finnemore kept The Plough and Harrow on the corner of Moseley Street and Rea Street at the end of the 19th century. This building was converted into a café in recent years. Frederick and Gertrude Shaw who managed the pub until the middle of the Second World War succeeded Joseph and Kate Finnemore. It would seem that two families then ran the pub because records indicate that Thomas and Margaret Chell shared the property with John and Gladys Wade.

Following William Lee's arrival in 1954 the pub was run for just a few years by many of the managers ending in the departure of Scotsman William McKenna in 1973. This marked the beginning of the Keane family's long association with The Anchor, beginning with the current licensee's parents, Thomas and Mary Keane. Hailing from Milltown County Galway, Thomas Keane was better known as Gerry to his friends and customers. His first taste of the licensed trade in Birmingham was at The Ship on Camp Hill. The original Ship Inn was used by Prince Rupert for his headquarters in 1643. Ironically, the pub went through a period of being called The Anchor. It was rebuilt in 1867 and demolished in the 1970's. Gerry Keane went back to Galway to bring his Brownesgrove-born wife Mary and their children over before he took the licence of another famous 'lost' pub - the Salutation Inn. A Birmingham Rhymester mentioned this pub in 1763: "Ye mortals who never in all you wild trips, With good humming liquor saluted your lips, Give ear to my story, ye stranges to cheer, The pleasure I sing is of Birmingham beer; 'Tis here the salutis of Life's to be found; For merchants who circuit the kingdom around, Declare, on their travels from Thames to the Tweed, That Birmingham stingo all others exceed." Gerry and Mary Keane also kept the Warwick Castle which was close to the the Sacks of Potatoes on today's Aston University Campus.