The Red, White and Blue: what do you know?

I have an enquiry here that popped up via the comments on my old ‘Lost pub of Piehill’ article yesterday, and it’s a good one, so I think it’s worth sharing: reader Claire asks if anyone has any information on the Red, White and Blue pub at Springhill, on the Walsall Road between Shire Oak and Muckley Corner?

Claire asked:

Hi

I’m trying to find some information on an old pub called the Red, White and Blue on the Walsall Road it is now a house called The Willows.

I don’t ever remember the old and run-down cottage as a pub, but now renamed The Willows, it was extensively renovated in the last decade. Despite all the work, the cottage is still recognisable as a old building. I must confess, I know little about the place and I’d be interested to know if readers have anything to contribute on the matter.

I believe that in the 1980s the house was occupied by a family by the name of Mason, and may have operated as a plant nursery, but I’m not certain of that.

Brian Ansell commented later that evening:

All I can offer is that the last time I went in there was in the mid 1960s with my brother Robert (Sailor) Edwards and his friend Gordon (Gogga) Gibson (whose father Elijah Gibson ran the Top Oak for many years).

I was fourteen at the time and the only beer they had was a barrel sitting on the bar which was usually for the farmers sustenance but knowing our Bob and Gogga the landlady would allow me a half pint and the others a pint. This was a regular occurance as in the summer months we would walk to Lichfield and back for a day out and whilst doing so we would pop into a few pubs on the way.

Thanks to both Claire, for an interesting enquiry, and to Brian for a great memory, there. Please, if you have anything further to add, do comment here or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Thanks.