One hundred years ago, Brummies would get their little tram token and escape the city for a holiday on our doorstep. So I followed in their footsteps – here’s how it went.
Kirsty is a Black Country bab in Birmingham, a freelance contributor with a particular interest in food and drink, music, leisure, fun and adventure. She was a former Women in Local News Best What’s On Journalist and she’s particularly interested in hearing about new openings and brilliant things to do in the region. Get in touch: Kirsty.Bosley@reachplc.com.
Kirsty Bosley taking a staycation at Joe Joe Jim’s(Image: Kirsty Bosley)
I was rooting through a tat box in an old antique shop last year when I happened upon a Birmingham Corporation Tramways token, a coin that would have once permitted Brummies to travel along the network that ran from 1904 until 1953.
I took it home and, every time I held it, I wondered about all the others who would have used it to travel from Erdington in the north all the way to Rednal in the south.
We have the West Midlands Metro now of course, but Edgbaston is as far as it goes on our side just now.
In the 1920s, the network’s southernmost point was a holiday destination for people escaping the polluted city in pursuit of fresh air. They’d pack up their picnics and jump on the tram to visit the Lickey Hills.
And so, with that tram token in mind, I decided to do that exact thing on a sunny Sunday, to see what the Brummies of 100 years ago saw.
I imagined that, aside from the wonderful country park – it’s hiking trails, beacon offering views over our city skyline and the occasionally knocking woodpecker as wonderful as ever – I wouldn’t find much left that told of a Birmingham holiday.
I was, as I often am when I make assumptions, totally wrong.
On Lickey Road, it was signs advertising ice creams that caught my attention, because I’m that kind of girl.
“It’s Birmingham-on-Sea!” I said to my holiday companion as it hearkened back to trips to the coast.
We’d found Joe Joe Jim’s, an old venue that had been Fletcher’s Arcade since 1920. A black and white photo of the place as it had been years ago hung on the wall along with a thousand gig posters advertising live shows coming to this place.
I was amazed. “Our place is not flash,” another sign read, but I saw flashes of wonder everywhere I turned.
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An old one armed bandit, a pink hippopotamus blowdrying her hair, a bumper car and a ‘CIRCUS’ sign that looked like it might have come off the top of an old coin pusher.
An Addams Family pinball machine flashing beside a Guns N’ Roses one. We made a beeline for those as salve on the sore spot that was the lasting sadness of Tilt closing in Great Western Arcade.
More signs showing sideshow characters drew my attention, but then again, so did everything else.
Leo Kongee, a human pincushion hammering a nail into his nostril, Martin Laurello the ‘human corkscrew’ turning his head round to point in the same direction as his bum and Joe-Ann Le France, “The Double Sexed Paradox” with “a feminine form but a masculine face with a fast growing beard”.
They’re beside the clean and modern accessible bathroom, with women only loos and ‘all gender’ options and, as the room continues round, a bar serving craft beer, loads of lagers, an array of spirits and a cocktail menu too.
And then, a screen, again decorated in signs and gig announcements, but I wanted to know what it was obscuring so I went nosying about.
That’s when I met Joe. Not the Joe from the name ‘Joe Joe Jim’s’ but the next Joe in that lineage – the great-grandson, who has been running the place for decades.
He let me nose in the 120-capacity gig room, again with tons of points of interest, what looks like a cadillac with a high heeled leg hanging out of it, seats and tables so you can eat bar cobs or oven-fresh pizzas while you see a band.
They were getting ready to host a ska show, Joe said, raising money for charity. Blues and Americana is popular, he said, rockabilly and rock n roll too. There’s regular open mic nights, quiz nights and more to entertain anyone that pops by Wednesday to Sunday.
As we sat and waited for some of those pizzas I mentioned in the bar, customers started to flood in to enjoy the tunes before the fundraising gig started. It felt like such a great community place, comfortable and friendly and an old-school spot to enjoy live music.
We need those.
The pizzas came and they were great too. I’d gone for a three cheese, £12, for the zing of blue and the bite of pine nuts in the mozzarella and parmesan mix.
The long bubbly base provided six smashing slices, beautifully cooked, crispy and hot served by a friendly chef behind the hatch (you collect it yourself, no fancy service) and I couldn’t have asked for more.
Brummies might be more inclined these days to zip to BHX for a holiday to Gran Canaria or Benidorm instead of the Lickey Hills, but on the old 1920s tram route, I had the best day out in the Costa Del Birmingham!
This review was independent, conducted at random and all food and drink was paid for by the reporter.
Joe Joe Jim’s is at 444 Lickey Road, Cofton Hackett, Birmingham, B45 8UU and you can find out what’s on their gig calendar on their website.