(Kings) Heads Up

Birmingham seems to be all of a buzz with new and newish venues at the mo. The Island Bar, the Sound Bar, the 'all new' Que Club, talk of the owners of the Barfly buying the Sanctuary and rumours of a long delayed move for the Academy to the site of the old Dome...

I can now add another one to the list...The Kings Head, Bearwood. Yes...Bearwood! Many moons ago I remember some drunk bloke on a bus telling me that The Kings Head used to have gigs in its basement (not sure if they did, or if he'd just been sniffing Jif). At the time The Kings Head was a bit...okay...a lot...run down. It had been renamed Q or something equally dismal and seemed to be aiming for the sort of clientele who think Diamond White is a bit posh. Then it closed down for months and was heading for a bad case of the arsonitus. Instead someone decided to spent £1.5million turning it into a 'gastro' pub. Why am I telling you all this? Well, it seems that Mr Drunk Bloke On The Bus was sort of right. There is a music venue there, upstairs though, and it looks...well, judge for yourself...pretty pucka eh? Strangely, although it's due to open in early March, there's no sign of a line up yet. It would be bloody brilliant to get the kind of eclectic line up that the Hare & Hounds seems to attract...but who knows what their policy going to be. I'll keep you posted...or if you know more than me you can keep me posted instead.

PS: After writing this I stumbled on Brumbeat, a site that mentions the Kings Head as a venue in the 1960's. It's a fascinating snapshot of 'swinging Brum' and highlights just how many great venues we've lost over the years...well worth a look. Jimi Hendix and Englebert Humperdinck on the same bill at the Odeon, New Street anyone? (this actually happened in 1967...jeez).

PPS: I couldn't get a picture of the venue on here 'cos the Kings Head site is all in Flash and stuff...whatever the hell Flash is...hence the picture of Flash Gordon...obviously...