I thought I’d continue sharing the hugely popular run of archive images today from the immense Gerald Reece collection. This set is a remarkable set I had no idea existed of the legendary pub ‘The Sportsman’, formerly The Huntsman, and before that Brownhills Working Mens Club [Not Ogley as I originally asserted, sorry – Bob] – being demolished.
This would I think be early to mid 1990s. It was replaced by Smithys Forge pub.
These images have been scanned by David Evans from Gerald’s material recently donated to the blog, and shows the loss of an very much loved, if frankly ugly, local icon.
I thank Gerald and David for yet another remarkable set – you are a very wonderful and generous gentlemen.
The donor of these remarkable images, Gerald Reece is of course a talented and superlative local historian, indeed now resident in Devon, who wrote the seminal work ‘Brownhills – A walk into history’ upon which this blog stands.
What do you recall from this gallery? If you have any thoughts or questions, please do share them – comment here, find me on social media or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Thanks.

what a memorable pack of photos a coment in humour however my iheritance gone i have got a pound share of my fathers passed on to me he baught it when they knocked the origina one dowm i was banking on the interest to pass on to my family HA HA thanks fothe memory
I always knew it, prior to becoming the Sportsman as: The Top Club.
I moved to the North West in 1988 but I too remember it as the Top Club!
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any one got any photos etc of the old cottage that was next to the then hawthorn tree inn please as i lived there around the 1950s
Met my husband in sportsman