The Jester, a First Trip to Birmingham
1986
Mike described his impressions of Birmingham on his first visit in 1986 and focused on his first visit to a gay bar in Birmingham early one evening before getting the train back to Manchester.
"It was The Jester which is on Horsefair, just by Bristol Street and in those days The Jester was the main gay bar in Birmingham... I think there was another one as well round the corner... I remember walking down the stairs into The Jester and it had a large circular bar that was in the middle of the room so the bar was surrounded by the customers... and the first thing I thought of when I saw the bar was The Crossroads Motel which was a bit ironic. There weren't that many people in there because it was about six o' clock in the evening and I only had an hour spare.
"I spoke to one or two people but nothing major...when you're in a big city ...people aren't that friendly when you walk into a new place but one or two people did speak to me. I seem to remember that some guy was chatting me up but that was twenty years ago so I didn't look like the person that's before you right now...And I actually had a one-eye haircut in those days... and eighties sort of thing where your fringe came over one eye...and there was some guy who was chatting me up but I wasn't that interested. I'd reached a point where I'd had two pints of beer and I was more beginning to think about going back on the train."
(3.50)
Contributed by: Mike