The rise and fall of five Wolverhampton pubs - here's how our city's pubs were affected by national trade decline
More than a pub a day is expected to have closed its doors in the UK this year, with Wolverhampton not immune to the sad decline of the pub trade, with some pubs closing and others changing their business - here's a look at the changing fortune of five landmark venues
More than 200 pubs closed across England, Scotland and Wales in the first six months of the year.
Many of the city’s and surrounding towns former bustling pubs have now been reduced to eyesores after lying empty for years – and even decades – with most showing little to no sign of improving soon.
However, while many have come and gone, and reduced to rubble, there have been plans revealed in the last 12 months that show that while many of the long-gone watering holes will never see pints pulled again, there is a glimmer of hope for some of the buildings set to see a bit of life again.
1) The Swan Inn, Bilston
The 127-year-old pub, which had been empty for some time, was demolished this year to make way for more Lidl car park spaces.
The Swan, which dates back to 1898, closed in 2021 because of dwindling sales and was then bought by Lidl.
Real ale campaigners Camra said the former Banks’s pub avoided bulldozers in the early 1990s when the surrounding area was redeveloped.
The pub held ‘little’ heritage value according to the council.
The supermarket is also expected to be demolished soon and replaced with a new building.
2) Old Stags Head, Penn
The former Old Stags Head in Penn will be refurbished and re-opened under plans approved this summer. The former pub in Church Hill closed in October 2018 after a decline in trade.
The new plans see the pub, described as in a ‘serious state of disrepair’, open again with a new layout that includes a bigger restaurant.
Locals had fought off plans to convert the building, which has stood for more than 200 years in the village’s conservation area, into a new home on two occasions in recent years.
3) The Cleveland Arms, Wolverhampton
Controversial plans approved earlier this year will see the Cleveland Arms in Stowheath Lane converted into a new Toby Carvery restaurant.
An online petition to save the pub attracted more than 1,500 signatures and locals formed an action group to block the Toby Carvery plans.
The pub owners Mitchells & Butlers said the conversion would create “a community-based Toby Carvery” that would retain the Cleveland Arms name, sports teams and charity work.
The firm also promised to continue showing sport on TV.
Andy Pugh, speaking on behalf of the 1,500 people in the petition, called for the plan to be turned down. He said he “respectfully disagreed” that Toby Carvery was a “vibrant destination” and said the owners Mitchells & Butlers were “dismantling their community asset.”
4) Boat Inn, Wednesfield
The move to re-open the Boat Inn in Wednesfield as a desi pub and grill was approved by City of Wolverhampton Council in September.
The grade II listed pub on the corner of Church Street and Graisley Lane off Wednesfield High Street closed in 2020 and has been empty since.
An application to re-open the pub was approved in 2024 but the plans were never carried out.
5) Bagot Arms, Heath Town, Wolverhampton
City of Wolverhampton Council said it will use compulsory purchase powers to snap up the eyesore former Bagot Arms in Newhampton Road East in Whitmore Reans to make way for affordable housing.
The pub closed after it was the scene of a fatal shooting in 2008 and has remained empty since.
The boarded-up and overgrown site, which has become a hotbed for anti-social behaviour, received planning permission from the City of Wolverhampton Council in 2023 to turn the site into shops and flats but the work has never been carried out.
