File:The Black Horse, Bristol Road South, Northfield (4711034659).jpg

I've been wanting to get shots of The Black Horse pub in Northfield for a while. Last time I saw it from the bus in March 2010 (heading to get shots in Longbridge) I noticed that it had scaffolding on it, so it is propably getting restored / renovated.

As of June 2010, the work is still going on.

The pub is very big and is next to the very busy Bristol Road South, which with all that traffic puts you off getting decent shots of it.

And with it being so big, I'm not sure where to stand to get it all in one go (and without the cars, buses, lorries, vans etc).

It is at The Black Horse Junction.

I only got shots of it after I got my shots of the Church of St Laurence.

I went to a certain point and zoomed into the activities that the builders are doing on the chimneys.

My attempt to get it all in one. Note that below the image was the traffic (out of shot).

The following is information from the book Images of England: Birmingham Pubs by Keith Turner

The Black Horse on the Bristol Road South in Northfield. Built by Davenports in 1929, this was the epitome of a mock-Tudor Midlands mansion house re-worked as a public house - complete with bowling green and separate refreshment room - with its stepped roofline jutting bays and gables, towering brick chimney stacks and silver-grey half-timbering (later repainted jet black as the false image of Elizabethan building has it). It is undoubtedly one of the grandest buildings of its kind in the whole of England, even seventy years on, though its present-day setting on a major road detracts somewhat from its majesty. The architect was Franics Goldsbrough of the firm Bateman and Bateman who were noted for their work on a number of other local pubs.

It is a Grade II listed building.

Similar information, but from Heritage Gateway.

1929 by Francis Goldsbrough of Bateman and Bateman for Davenport's. The grandest of the post first world war "reformed pubs" built on a vast scale in a picturesque highly successful Vernacular Revival combining Midlands half timbering and Cotswold stone, giving the impression, in its loose planning, of a gradual evolution from late medieval to Jacobean. The quality of detailing and materials embodies the best of the Birmingham Arts and Crafts tradition. The lower south end includes the managers house, half timbered on a Cotswold stone base, then the lavishly close studded wing with 2 gabled bays containing the hall and staircase followed by the similarly close studded main block under a massive stone tiled sweep of roof with a tall cross wing at the north end and finally a tower north wing. Cotswold stone slate roofs. Bargeboarded gables. Lattice casements in continuous ranges on the main block. Lofty chimney stacks with decorated shafts. The rear elevation more restrained but still with a variety of half timbered gables and with parts of the roof carried down over outshuts. The interiors have largely been modernised with lowered ceilings but to ground floor bar (originally the smoke room) retains the extended effect of a medieval hall. The stone carving was executed by Sidney Smithin whilst the decorative woodwork including the grotesques on the Bristol Road front was carved by Jean Hahn.

<a href="http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=216818&resourceID=5" rel="noreferrer nofollow">The Black Horse, Northfield - Heritage Gateway</a>