The Best Pubs to Visit in Birmingham - A Slogging Gangs Tour

Pubs are an integral part of Birmingham's slogging gang history, and we know the best ones to visit on our tours. Join us as we explore local watering holes and share stories about the gangsters who frequented them.  

On our historical night tour, we explore what it was like to walk in the streets the slogging gangs ruled at night and explore parts of the city not covered on our daytime tour. How did the gangs use the canals? How did alcohol add to the gang problem? What did the city do to try to control it? You will find out about the temperance movement in Birmingham and about the women who influenced and were influenced by the men in the gangs. This tour is available as a private tour for parties of ten or more, and it is an ideal activity for birthdays, hen nights, stag nights and office parties. Additionally, we can customise private tours to suit your needs. This tour visits five pubs, but there are yet more pubs in the city related to the slogging gangs, which we include in our other tours or are places you could visit on your own.

Garrison Pub

The Garrison Pub, which was frequented by the real-life Peaky Blinders and was depicted in the TV show, is unfortunately now derelict and not a place you can pop in, have a pint and come across a real-life slogging gang member. It is located on the corner of Garrison Lane and Witton Street in the small heath area of the city, but all you will see is the boarded-up building.

Gunmakers Arms

On our historical daytime walking tour, we stop off for a drink at the Gunmaker's Arms, which was the pub where the Gun Quarter Gang met. It was built around 1820 and was initially three houses but is now one house and a pub. It is found on the corner of Bath Street and Little Shadwell Street.

The Gun Quarter was the home of the gun trade in the city, which was the global capital of arms manufacturing in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 17th century, Birmingham was home to many boundaries, and metal workshops and the gun trade began to take off, at first in Digbeth, to utilise the skills and metals produced in the city. By the mid-18th century, the trade had moved to the gun quarter, where higgledy-piggledy houses were interspersed with gun shops, factories and gunsmiths. Fuelled by the need for weapons in the slave trade, Napoleonic wars and the American war of Independence and civil war, Birmingham became the foremost arms producer in the world. The living conditions, however, for many of the workers were not ideal. The trade was vulnerable to the ups and downs of the arms trade. As larger companies escaped the gun quarter to set up in areas with less overcrowding, the fortunes of those employed deteriorated along with their living conditions and housing. The men of the gun quarter were known to be tough, violent men with a love of ale houses and brothels. The area was rife with pickpockets, and stone-throwing from the local youths in 1869 began a campaign by local magistrates and police against the lawlessness. Despite gunmakers being some of the best-paid workers, the youth of the area were known as the most likely to be involved in a fight and were one of the main rivals to the Peaky Blinders.

Bull

The Bull, also found in the gun quarter on Price Street, was originally called the Bull's Head, and there has been a hostelry selling ales on this site since 1729, and the pub is steeped in local history. The interior maintains many of its original Victorian features, and they have a variety of cask ales and hearty pub fare. The original owner who lived in this building was a gun maker, as were many of the businesses here in the gun quarter. This gun maker, however, was also a beer retailer. A century later, in the middle of the 19th century, this pub was a common place for the "gun gaffer" to pay their employees. This practice inevitably led to much drinking and, subsequently, much brawling on the saw-dust covered floor. At this time, there was a strong catholic community in the Gun Quarter, and often, the landlord would summon the local priest to sort out the fighters rather than enlist the services of the "Peelers", as the police were known then. There was also a resident fiddle player who would continue to play whilst all about him was in complete fiasco. 

This was an affluent area of the city in the 17 and 18 hundreds, and gun dealers made considerable fortunes from the gun industry. At the time of the American Civil War, a profitable time for Birmingham gun makers involved in the export market, there were accounts that they would go to extremes to publicise their wealth. For example, when travelling around the town, they would hire two cabs, one for the man and the other for his top hat and cane.  

Rainbow

The newly refurbished Rainbow pub on Digbeth's High Street is not only the starting point for our food tour but also the place where the name Peaky Blinders started in March 1890. The Birmingham Mail reported a brutal beating by a slogging gang it referred to as the Peaky Blinders, but if you want to learn more, you will have to join us for our food tour.

The original pub dates back to 1767 but has now become a pub known for its live music and cocktails. It has a dedicated basement space dedicated to music events and a lively, originally styled bar area. 

Peaky Blinders Pub

The Peaky Blinder Pub is a themed pub in the city centre situated at 115 Corporation St, Birmingham and is known for its karaoke on the weekends. The staff are dressed as Peaky Blinders, and the walls are covered in Peaky Blinder merchandise.

The Crown

The Crown was constructed between 1450 and 1500 and claims to be the oldest pub in the city. Queen Elizabeth I stopped by in 1575 on her way back from Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire. The pub was at the centre of heated skirmishes when Prince Rupert's forces raided Birmingham during the English Civil War. It is situated on the High Street in Digbeth, and although it does not officially have any links to the slogging gangs, it is likely many of them drank there, and the pub is worth a visit in its own right.