It’s a landmark Birmingham pub dating back to the late 19th century which has sat idle for two years after business buckled under the post-pandemic strain of the neighbouring HS2 works.
Now The Woodman, in New Canal Street, is relaunching after new owners injected £300,000 to give it a facelift and fresh lease of life.
The doors will open on Friday under the stewardship of Union Inns whose director is Stockport-based John Brearley, a lifelong member of the Campaign for Real Ale and a passionate advocate for, in his words, “the institution that is the British pub”.
This is Union Inns’ third project after Mr Brearley carried out similar successful restoration works on the Railway Hotel, in Birtley near Gateshead, and Swan and Railway next to Wigan North Western station.
The 63-year-old spent many years as an accountant, working for legendary Manchester brewery Boddington and the Duke of Northumberland among others, but is now devoting his retirement to breathing new life back into historic old pubs.
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Speaking exclusively to BusinessLive, he said: “Over the years, I have come to appreciate the rapidly diminishing stock of what I would call true heritage pubs, those that retain substantial elements of their interiors unchanged.
“I lost my first wife eight years ago and reached a crossroads in my life where I felt I wanted to focus more on things that were real passions of mine including these pubs.
“We renegotiated the terms of the lease of The Woodman with landlord Birmingham City Council last year and have signed for 25 years. For the last four months, we’ve been on site carrying out a restoration.
“We have a management team in place so you won’t find me behind the bar, I’ll be around on the customer side.”
The Woodman, which is grade II listed, opened in 1897 and sits next to the historic Curzon Street terminal in Birmingham’s Eastside district.
Built for Ansells Brewery, it was designed by renowned Birmingham architectural practice James & Lister Lea, the brothers behind a host of other city pubs and buildings including The British Oak in Stirchley and the former skin hospital in John Bright Street.
It was a popular haunt among local factory workers in the Digbeth area and continued trading until 2009.
Inside the revamped Woodman pub After a four-year hiatus, it reopened in 2013 following a restoration project but fell victim in autumn 2022 to what the previous owner called “relentless encroachment” from the construction of the surrounding new HS2 station, an area of which The Woodman sits right at the heart.
The venue landed on Mr Brearley’s radar during a visit to Birmingham in 2022 when a stranger overheard him and his friend discussing which pubs they should visit in the city and he ended up meeting the previous owners.
The work to prepare it for its next chapter has included new wooden flooring, some painting and cleaning, new toilets, ten hand pumps and reupholstered seating.
The pub will have a food offer alongside a range of cask ales.
Mr Brearley added: “I really believe in what constitutes the pub – it’s all about people and melting pots where interesting connections and coincidences happen.
“The Woodman is a beautiful pub with its red-brick, terracotta exterior and Minton tiles, it just fits my criteria perfectly.
“It’s going to be right opposite the new HS2 station and I felt, with the right TLC, attention to detail and really protecting that heritage, we could make a go of it.”
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