The Black Horse is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

Northfield, Birmingham Northfield is a residential area in outer south Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, near the boundary with Worcestershire, which it was historically within. It is also a Government of Birmingham, Engl ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The building had its Grade-II heritage status upgraded to II* in August 2015.

History

The 1904 Licensing Act gave

magistrates The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a ''magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

powers to close public houses that were considered socially harmful. The Black Horse was built in the suburbs. At that time many public houses were built in the suburbs and designed to encourage respectable clientele since the licence could otherwise be withdrawn. There was originally a gravelled drive for coach parties,

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as a motorized vehicle, automotive vehicle, automobile, or road vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on railway track, rails (such as trains or trams), does not fly (such ...

charabanc A charabanc or "char-à-banc" (often pronounced "sharra-bang" in colloquial British English) is a type of horse-drawn vehicle or early coach (vehicle), motor coach, usually open-topped, common in UK, Britain during the early part of the 20th ...

s and other

horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by auto ...

s. The Black Horse is one of the largest Public houses ever built in

Brewer's Tudor Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

style. There are bars, dining areas, and a

replica A replica is an exact (usually 1:1 in scale) copy or remake of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without ...

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...

. The rear of the Black Horse is in

Cotswold stone The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

facing a

terrace garden A terrace garden is a garden with a raised flat paved or gravelled section overlooking a prospect. A raised terrace keeps a house dry and provides a transition between the hardscape and the softscape. History Persia Since a level site is ...

. The earlier public house was demolished and this building was erected in 1929–1930 to the designs of the architect Francis Goldsbrough of Bateman & Bateman. The client was the brewery company John Davenport and Sons. The stone carving was done by Sidney Smithin and the wood carving by Jean Hahn. The Black Horse was further refurbished in the early 21st century. John Davenport and Sons was taken over by

Greenall Whitley Greenall is a British locational or topographical surname which has been abbreviated from Green Hollow/Hole, Green Hill or Green Halgh. Notable people with the surname include: * Colin Greenall (born 1963), English footballer * Doug Greenall, Engli ...

in 1986 and afterwards the pub became a

Wetherspoons J D Wetherspoon (branded variously as Wetherspoon or Wetherspoons, and colloquially known as Spoons) is a British pub company operating in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim ...

house.

References

Grade II* listed pubs in Birmingham 1930 establishments in England {{WestMidlands-struct-stub