1899 – The Fighting Cocks Hotel, Moseley, Birmingham

A prominent bar and hotel constructed on the site of an earlier hostelry known for cock-fighting. The Tower on the corner containing a large clock and weather vane rises to a height of 72 ft. An anemometer and a barometer inside the dome formerly transmitted weather information to dials on the corner of the building at street level (still surviving today). The interior was described as spectacular with a tiled public bar, a billiard room and two walnut panelled smoke rooms. Much of this was lost in a 1980s refurbishment but the tiled public bar and two painted panels of local scenes (including one showing the previous pub building) have fortunately survived until the present day.

“This new house, for the Holte Brewery Co , has been erected on the site of an old house which was of very little interest. The work has been carried out in Derby Dale stone and sand-faced bricks, with roof of stone slabs. The dome is covered with copper. The whole of the fittings for bar, billiard-room, and smoke room have been designed by the architects, Messrs. T. F.W. Newton and Cheatle, of Newhall-street, Birmingham, and the work has been carried out in a most satisfactory manner by Mr. E.J. Charles, of Moseley.“
The Building News, December 8, 1899.