Don your greenest clothes or shamrock-decorated fancy dress and head to Digbeth this St Patrick’s Day. You may just find a pot of gold there. Birmingham’s oldest pub The Old Crown is back with their St. Patrick’s festival this March.
Despite that the iconic parade day is cancelled this year yet again due to the ongoing roadwork in Digbeth, The Old Crown is determined to celebrate anyway. Not only to party on a great day in the calendar of our city, but also pay tribute to Birmingham’s rich Irish heritage. This year, the pub has even teamed up with Digbeth events space, The Old Library, to bring an even bigger selection of events than usual – with events running from March 8 – 18.
Co-owner of the pub, Ciaran Healy said: “While we are of course disappointed that the parade won’t be returning to Digbeth this year, we aren’t going to let this dampen our spirits or halt our celebrations. We can’t wait to welcome all those hoping to celebrate to join us for what we are hoping will be our biggest year yet.’’
Irish post-punk band, Fontaines D.C. will rock The Old Crown with a DJ set for the “Parade Day” Party on March 12. While over at the Old Library, a series of talks (on March 8, 15 & 16) will feature legendary locals like the historian Professor Carl Chinn MBE and ex-Villa player Paul McGrath. Throughout March, The Old Crown will also host a Big Irish Quiz, plus live music from Fleetwood Mac tribute band Rihannon and local Irish bands On The Sesh and Lampa.
The Old Crown’s St Patrick’s Day events:
● March 8 – An Evening with Professor Carl Chinn MBE – The Real Peaky Blinders: An
Irish Connection? An Illustrated Talk (The Old Library)
● March 11 – Fleetwood Mac Tribute Night with Rihannon
● March 12 – ‘Parade Day’ Party with Fontaines DC (DJ Set), On The Sesh, Ash Sheehan and Ire-ish plus DJs
● March 13 – A showing of ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, all proceeds go to the Birmingham Irish Association (The Mockingbird Cinema)
● March 14 – Comedy Night with Barbara Nice, Mary Flanegan and Special Guests
● March 15 – An Evening with Professor Carl Chinn MBE – Making Their Mark – The
Irish of Victorian Birmingham. An Illustrated Talk. (The Old Library)
● March 15 – The Big Fat Irish Quiz with host Aideen McQueen
● March 16 – An Evening with Paul McGrath (The Old Library)
● March 17 – St Patrick’s Day & Cheltenham Gold Cup Day with live music from On The Sesh and Lampa
● March 18 – The Six Nations, shown live at the pub: Scotland vs Italy, France vs Wales and England vs Ireland with live music from Ash Sheehan