Happy birthday celebration as museum's pub turns one

There have been a few celebratory drinks for a popular museum attraction celebrating its first birthday.

Bar supervisor Amy Walters with a Babycham at the Elephant and Castle pub at the Black Country Living Museum

The Elephant and Castle public house at the Black Country Museum has marked a year since the pub, which originally stood on a road junction heading out of Wolverhampton, was officially opened to the public.

Since opening on August 16 2022 after two years of work, the Elephant and Castle has proved a popular place for visitors looking for a pint of mild, a glass of gin or even a Babycham, which has seen a resurgence in sales as 4,181 bottles have been sold over the last 12 months.

It has also been the setting for parties and celebrations and been graced by Black Country royalty such as Britain's Got Talent star Amy Lou Smith and Beverley Knight, who both enjoyed a visit on Black Country Day.

Amy Lou Smith and Beverley Knight have also visited the pub over the last year

A timelapse video of the creation of the pub, which closed in 2001, can be viewed online, which the director of programmes at the museum Carol King said was a nice way of reflecting on recreating an iconic pub from scratch.

She said: "It was a very challenging build for us because we weren't moving a building and we couldn't just go and look at the building to see it in situ as it had been knocked down, so we had to reconstruct it from photographs and the memories of the people who lived and worked there.

"I think that when you see how visitors have responded to it, it's great as it really brings back the memories of the pub for them and makes the effort that we went to worth it.

"I'm still seeing people stroking the tiles on the outside, which is really lovely to see and makes it a real draw on the site."

Ms King said the idea of the pub was to provide another opportunity to evoke memories and interact with the people at the pub, as well as enjoy a pint of mild or a bottle of Babycham and said it was part of the whole genesis of the Moving Forward project, which incorporates the new 1960s shops with a butcher, record shop and newsagents.

The pub has attracted people from across the region, including people who used to run the old Elephant and Castle pub. Lisa Newell enjoys a pint with her dad former landlord 1978-79 John Purchase and Roy Mincher, who grew up in the pub.

She said: "The idea of the project was to help bring us up to living memory and bring our story to 1968 and these new buildings give us an opportunity to do that in a different way.

"The Elephant and Castle is a really good example because this was a real pub for everyone in Wolverhampton and had lots of different people who can and socialised and enjoyed it, coming from the Irish community and the Jamaican and South Asian communities.

"It was also a delight to host Amy Lou and Beverley Knight on Black Country Day, which was really lovely to see.

"I will be honest, I do like a Babycham from the pub as you just don't get the same sense of occasion anywhere else with the glass and it really is something special."