A Mid-Year Blog Bash 17.5 perhaps?
25th July 2026
Following the last Birthday Bash, it was suggested that a mid-year get-together would be a good idea. The Old Joint Stock in Birmingham was suggested, and I have secured shared use of the Mezzanine Balcony for us. https://www.oldjointstock.co.uk/
Our stunning Mezzanine Balcony is the perfect setting for a sociable gathering. Set above our beautiful bar, this space puts you right in the heart of our bustling venue.
Perfect for dining, or a more relaxed gathering for drinks, we are able to offer formal dining or our popular buffet in this space
At The Bridge House, we have usually shared space with others, and as the capacity of The Mezzanine is 38-50 I expect we will do so again. I have provisionally booked for about 18, and they have charged a nominal £5 per-diem (less than a pint of London Pride). If we get enough people I may be able to secure exclusive use.
There is a Premier Inn nearby, and that is probably where I will be staying, but as it is at the heart of Birmingham I am sure there are many alternatives.
Could I please ask you to submit responses for yourself and any significant others in the usual way, via the normal comments and if you would like to submit a crossword for attendees to puzzle over, that would be good too.
It seems the contact form doesn’t work properly. Just make a comment here in the normal way
thanks to Weekend Wanda for letting me know;
“Hi John
I’ve sent a reply on the form to say I’m coming. I will come by train for the day from Nottingham. When I’d done it it said I’d not filled the form in correctly and the reply said from WordPress.
It was so much better when we used pigeons for post or even snails.
Kind regards
Christine (Weekend Wanda)”
I will be going. 👍
Great, I look forward to meeting again. I will be staying at the nearby Premier Inn;
Birmingham City (Waterloo St)
3-6 Waterloo Street, B2 5PG GB,
Ok, John – I’ll have a look at it. 👍
According to Google Maps it is 213 feet from the hotel to the pub.
True and I have booked. 👍
I’ll definitely be there. Only a very short train journey for me and I can mange the short walk from New Street and it’s downhill on the way home. I’d warn anyone that the walk is short but a taxi could take about 15mins at least as the street system is not friendly for cars for that journey at all. Use the Stephenson Street exit.
Noted, I have only ever been to Birmingham on flying visits. What would you recommend for a Sunday outing, probably with a hangover?
Probably The Coffin Works. 😳
The Pen Museum looks interesting too – Maybe they will have a Mythical Telegraph Pen
Thanks so much, John. I shall be there.
What times does our booking start and end? I’m wondering about doing it as a day trip, but how feasible that is depends on the timing.
For anybody who hasn’t been, here’s a a pic looking up to the balcony, from a family Christmas gathering there in 2013.
My booking is from 11:00 to 17:00, but for those who wish, it will probably carry on later. It is unlikely that we will get enough people (38-50) to book the Mezzanine exclusively, and there is another recommended pub nearby (The Wellington) some may wish to finish the evening there.
Zandio has just arrived with tomorrow’s Toughie; it could be a long night. Nice Pics of the Old Joint Stock ill check them later
Thanks. Those fit in well with a day trip. As a family we’ve done 12:00–18:00 a few times, and when able to just get up and run away without needing to shepherd everybody else out, I reckon I could make it an hour earlier.
Sounds good, and I’d love to be there; I can’t commit myself at this stage though – it’ll depend on domestic circumstances at the time. Hope it’s a success anyway.
No problem, I’ll pencil you in as a possible. We don’t need to commit until much closer.
I hope to be there, public transport permitting.
Great, you are on the list
Ill do my best to be there. I’d do it as a day trip: drive to Banbury (1.5 hrs) and train to Birmingham New Street. Train all the way from Hampshire costs 2 limbs, an arm and a leg.
I’ve pencilled you in next to exit. If the mid-year get-together becomes a regular thing, I hope to move it around a bit
It’ll be good to meet you. Where’s your nearest station?
Train tickets for July aren’t yet available, so checking a Saturday in May as an example, Southampton Central to Birmingham New Street is currently £38·80 (so long as you commit to a specific times of trains). A limited number of such tickets should be available for July 25th, probably going on sale in early May.
Going from Andover shows up as £75 by default, but you can get this down to £48·60 if you split the tickets at Banbury (one set of tickets for Andover–Banbury each way, and another for Banbury–New Street). And presumably less if you have a Railcard. There’s usually some way of getting the price down, though it often isn’t obvious. Whether jumping through hoops to do so is more of a faff than driving to Banbury is a different matter — you wouldn’t want to arrive in Banbury cross …
Especially on a cockhorse…
Where did I get the idea you lived in Yorkshire, Smylers? 🤔
Hello Smylers, I do live in Andover and a quick check from Andover to BHM was coming out at over £100. That’s why I concocted the drive/rail split. My first thought was to drive all the way, but as it’s a city centre location it’s not worth the hassle. I’ll check on any deals nearer the time.
I was quite excited by the idea of a trip to Birmingham in July but I see that I’m due to be at WOMAD that weekend. The Joint Stock should be a great venue and the Wellington round the corner is excellent for beer fans, generally having around twenty on tap at any point. I can thoroughly recommend the nearby city museum and art gallery if anyone fancies some culture. Its collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings is superb.
A shame you are with the World Music Fans in Wiltshire, if you have had enough by Saturday afternoon you’ll know where to find us
I am very much hoping to come. Once upon a time George would have driven us there but DD2 will not allow him to drive more than a 50m radius from Cambridge. But I guess we could go up on the train Friday, stay Friday and Saturday visiting DD1 in Worcester hospital on Sunday. Eldest grandson lives in Droitwich Spa and would take us there. Maybe George could join us at the bash, he dies do the guzzle with me!
It’d be fantastic to meet George as well, having heard so much about him! And lovely to see you of course, having both been unable to make the January bash.
If George is allowed to drive to Peterborough, there are direct trains to New Street from there?
Thanks for fielding the comments Smylers. An early start and a webinar with UK Biobank mean I have still got most of the puzzle today to do this evening
Do you work for Trainline? 🤓
Direct trains from Peterborough to New Street start at Stansted and go via Cambridge or start at Cambridge anyway! Usually one per hour.
Ah, my mistake. The Saturday I looked at that wasn’t the case (an online journey planner suggesting either changing in London or a bus between Cambridge and Peterborough!), but hopefully the actual weekend won’t be so blighted.
It would be great to meet/meet again George and yourself. I have put you down on the list with a plus one
For those driving I am advised that the best option is;
Parking at Birmingham International train Station £9.50 per day at weekends
Return ticket to New Street £3.50 – £5.00