Gutted

Thanks to Alison for letting me know that one of the venues visited as part of January's rough pub jaunt around Birmingham city centre, the Dubliner, was wrecked by a massive fire in the early hours of Wednesday last week, with police suspecting foul play. No wonder I was getting search engine hits for "dubliner digbeth explosion" etc.

Regular patrons and local historians are - like the pub itself - gutted. OK so it was hardly the most classy of joints, but it had character and that's much more than can be said of many of the drinking establishments in the city centre.