National Trust - A Brum Conspiracy #2

May I begin with a short story. A few months ago I was in The Brook pub at Elcocks Brook. The barperson was probably only 18, and I told her a story about an occasion years ago when Robert Plant and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin arrived there late one evening. She found the story amusing but asked, "who are Led Zeppelin?"

Fame is ephemeral and despite the local legacy media pumping out stuff about Ozzy Osbourne every day, it will come as a surprise to some that he is not quite in the Mozart league. Even a couple of weeks ago two teams on University Challenge were unable to identify his admittedly crappy song, "Crazy Train".

Birmingham already has a statue of the cat-killer - and his fellow band members in Black Sabbath - but a crazed bunch of campaigners want more. However, they want the taxpayer to cough up for a second memorial site in the City Centre - in Station Street. Ironically, the cat-killer himself had form for tax evasion in the States LOL!

In Part One of this story I highlighted the disgusting behaviour of the National Trust - particularly their secret use of members' subscriptions. You can read the whole ghastly story via the link below but, in short, the woke Trust teamed up with completely unelected and self-appointed campaigners to propose a plan to save supposedly "historic" sites on Station Street in Birmingham City Centre, and to pedestrianise it. This, even though it is right next to a major transport hub, New Street Station.

https://crowmultimedia.blogspot.com/2025/07/

In Part One I wrote about the listing of The Crown. The obsessive behind the X (Twitter) Account has been bombarding the Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, with posts about the campaign - but she has repaid his manic efforts by refusing the listing of The Crown! [More anon.]

I also pointed out that the National Trust has been deeply involved in a major Brum heritage f*** up - the re-opening of The Roundhouse which has now, er, closed. Since then the Trust has done it again - this time losing management control of Coughton Court, 18 miles south of Station Street. It fell out with the family, and has been kicked out.

The Trust has linked itself with self-appointed campaigners despite their tactics and absurd output. See my further post:

https://crowmultimedia.blogspot.com/2026/02/save-station-street-campaigners-back.html

The so-called campaigners state that the secret National Trust plan was being discussed, secretly, with Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and Network Rail. Accordingly Crow Multimedia sent Freedom of Information requests to all three organisations.

Network Rail claims to have no knowledge of the campaign whatsover.

Our extra tier of unnecessary local government, WMCA, appear to have some knowledge that the National Trust were up to something, but claim not to be involved:

Given the stunning incompetence of Labour Birmingham City Council it was no surprise that their response was the oddest:

It is not clear to me whether BCC officers actually attended the secret meeting. But clearly the Trust was trying to subvert democratic processes though with sick "behind closed doors" meetings on matters which should not be their concern.

Incidentally, the Trust's new pals have said recently that people are actually leaving Brum because of  "car violence" and HMO's! (In fact, the population of Brum is increasing.) But maybe the Trust should reflect on dealing with weirdos insofar as its own, flagging, reputation is concerned,

Anyone who has read Part One of this blog (link above) will have seen the Trust's evasive and mealy-mouthed response to very legitimate questions. I wrote to the Trust to see if they had any further comment (copy blog posts sent with the email):

"Further to my unsatisfactory correspondence with xxxxxxxx on the above subject (8th to 10th) July, 2025 I continue to write on this subject and so feel the need to give the NT to comment, if so advised. I would respectfully remind you that I am also a member of the Trust.

Following your unhelpful initial responses I made Freedom of Information requests to Birmingham City Council (BCC), West Midlands Combined Authority and Network Rail all of whom basically denied all knowledge of your "Report" (which is possibly inaccurate). The only response of interests was from BCC (copy attached) [copy above]

Question 1 - when and where was this presentation and who was in attendance?

I refer to my recent blog post also attached. Noting the Trust's collaboration with the Electric Cinema/Station Street self-appointed  "campaigners" in general, and with Mr John in particular:

Question 2 - does the Trust also back the campaign's political posting which is rabidly left-wing?

Question 3 - do you approve of the (false) allegations of arson being made by Mr John and the campaigners?

Question 4 - does the Trust back Mr John's "social media pile-on" against  a named employee of Glenbrook Property, the would-be developer of Station Street?

Of course, if there is anything further you wish to add about this matter, kindly do so."

Finally, the "campaigners" have stated that "all" political parties contesting the May election support the "campaign". Of course, politicians will say anything to try and get a few votes but I have sent the following press enquiry to Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems, the Green Party, and Reform. I will let you know any response!

"PRESS ENQUIRY - STATION STREET, BIRMINGHAM CITY CENTRE

Some self-appointed “campaign groups” are actively flooding social media in an effort to “save”, variously, the long defunct terrible pub formerly known as The Crown, the former porno and independent “Electric Cinema”, and The Old Rep. These groups are also anti-motoring fanatics and have the further ambition of closing Station Street to traffic despite its immediate proximity to a major regional/national transport hub, New Street Station.

These groups purport to be “organisations” despite some of their leaders seeking to remain anonymous. They are “socialists” and so, of course, have no money. Despite the economic position of Brum they actually seek to burden the taxpayer with the future costs of their absurd plans (which include, for example, re-opening The Crown as a pub in competition to Wetherspoons opposite, or even as a museum).

These groups are putting it about on social media that ALL political parties standing in the May elections support their crazed projects (despite it being unclear what their future plan is). If that is indeed so, please answer the following:

1   Are you aware that the initial plan of Glenbrook Properties includes an independent cinema within the suggested redevelopment?

2  If Glenbrook (or their successors in title) apply for planning permission for the suggested development, are not all candidates advocating against its project (without even seeing the plans) potentially debarring themselves from sitting on any Planning Committee meetings deciding on any future application - should they be elected?

3   The non-elected campaigners are insisting on the Council using taxpayers' money to CPO various parts of Station Street. Does your party hold professional advice that this is legally possible at the present time? If so, what is the projected cost to hard-pressed taxpayers to buy the land?

4   Unless someone comes up with a different proposal there is no absolutely no possibility of the Electric or The Crown making a profit. Thus they will need to be bailed out by the taxpayer - probably indefinitely. Look at failures in Brum like the Old Grammar School/Saracens Head in Kings Norton and The Roundhouse when money is simply thrown at projects without a viable future business plan. What does your party say the annual endowment to bail out Station Street vanity projects is likely to be for, say, the next thirty years?

5   Having explained the likely cost to the taxpayer in questions 3 and 4 above, what services will your party cut so as to be able to fund these projects? Please be specific.

6   Has your party prepared an economic assessment plan for these projects more generally - particularly the plans to harm major transport infrastructure - and, if so, will you release it?"

iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com

A Crow Multimedia Blog

LEGAL NOTICE (CM Version 1 - 7th February, 2026)

We cannot list every previous mention of individuals referred to in the entirety of this blog. Where we refer to a specific story please follow the supplied hyperlink since this forms legal justification for later comments. Similarly references to “posts or Crows passim” and to earlier posts mean any individuals concerned about purported defamatory or otherwise unlawful material must read later posts in the context of earlier posts. Full information can also be supplied within a reasonable time upon application via email to iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com

We may also add hyperlinks or references to content in our associated blogs, “In The Public Domain aka The Sandwell Skidder” (at thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com) and Rotten Council Governance - Legal Review (at rottencouncils.blogspot.com). Reference to content in those blogs also forms part of the context, meaning of, and justification for, contents in this blog.

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com and we shall use our best endeavours to remove offending material and/or publish appropriate corrections forthwith (together with an apology, if applicable).

We are pleased to receive comments via email to iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com, or on X via our publishers @CrowMultimedia. We are happy to publish any sensible commentary and offer a right of reply where applicable. We can also publish “guest” posts on mutually agreed terms.

If you consider that anything written is defamatory or otherwise unlawful please email iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com or telephone 07470 624207 forthwith. If your complaint has merit we shall endeavour to make immediate amends.

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BREAKING NEWS - Kings Heath Community Centre Guru's bust company

One of the leading lights of the bid to run Kings Heath Community Centre is currently a Director of a company in liquidation.

Readers of this blog will know that the three individuals who set up the organisation to seek a community asset transfer from Labour Birmingham City Council were Labour Councillor, Lisa Trickett, ex-Labour Councillor Bryan Nott (Trickett’s partner), and Matt Powell the Manager of Kings Heath BID (Business Improvement District [sic]). They also set up a Crowdfunder scheme to extract funds from members of the public.

Matt Powell has confirmed to Crow Multimedia that he is one and the same person as Matthew James Powell, a Director of bust Revive and Thrive [sic] Limited. The latest Liquidator’s Reports shows unsecured book debts of £338,175.11 and creditors have put in claims for £291,320.22. Powell says that the liquidation, which started in 2021, was brought about by Covid (although it is also fair to say that many retail companies thrived during the pandemic as people splurged from their settees).

Curiously the liquidation is ongoing but there appear to be no company assets to realise and so the creditors face substantial financial losses.

Meanwhile Trickett and Nott are sitting pretty. This blog exclusively showed how they, and a person believed to be their daughter, have plundered the profits from a "co-op" they run - Places in Common - so that it has been making annual losses of late. Read all about it here:

https://crowmultimedia.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-thurd-sector-4-places-in-common.html

NOTE 26/02/26 - a weirdo is ranting that the picture is not Powell's business. As I clearly state that Powell's company went bust in 2021 and Dump didn't even open until 2023 I thought most locals would not make such a "connection". I was wrong!

LEGAL NOTICE (CM Version 1 - 7th February, 2026)

We cannot list every previous mention of individuals referred to in the entirety of this blog. Where we refer to a specific story please follow the supplied hyperlink since this forms legal justification for later comments. Similarly references to “posts or Crows passim” and to earlier posts mean any individuals concerned about purported defamatory or otherwise unlawful material must read later posts in the context of earlier posts. Full information can also be supplied within a reasonable time upon application via email to iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com

We may also add hyperlinks or references to content in our associated blogs, “In The Public Domain aka The Sandwell Skidder” (at thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com) and Rotten Council Governance - Legal Review (at rottencouncils.blogspot.com). Reference to content in those blogs also forms part of the context, meaning of, and justification for, contents in this blog.

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com and we shall use our best endeavours to remove offending material and/or publish appropriate corrections forthwith (together with an apology, if applicable).

We are pleased to receive comments via email to iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com, or on X via our publishers @CrowMultimedia. We are happy to publish any sensible commentary and offer a right of reply where applicable. We can also publish “guest” posts on mutually agreed terms.

If you consider that anything written is defamatory or otherwise unlawful please email iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com or telephone 07470 624207 forthwith. If your complaint has merit we shall endeavour to make immediate amends.

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Save Station Street campaigners back smaller cock!

More soon on the National Trust's appalling and cowardly conduct in the various Station Street, Birmingham, campaigns soon. The story so far can be seen here:

https://crowmultimedia.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-national-trust-brum-conspiracy.html

In the meantime the "campaigners" seem remarkably shy about who is who in the campaign/campaigns. In the above post we speculated on the identity of the manic obsessive who puts out hundreds and hundreds of posts on X (formerly Twitter) apparently on hehalf of the "campaign". This person bizarrely seeks to maintain anonymity whilst advertising that s/he is running a "non governmental and non-profit organisation". But is his/her increasingly unhinged output really the work of a group, or solely that of a fanatical individual?

This blog initially thought that the author might be a notorious local Labour anti-car obsessive - particularly noting a compulsive campaign to ban cars from Station Street - an important city thoroughfare immediately adjacent to a major regional transport hub (New Street Station). It would appear that the X account is actually run by one Darren John. 

Crow Multimedia has attempted to contact others involved in the National Trust scandal, particularly as the anonymous X person continually uses "we" in posts. If others are involved in the "organisation" they might want to consider their legal position for the reasons set out below.

The Website "campaign" claims to be run by "Ken Preston" and "Zoe Bond-Pinner" from an address in Stourbridge (rather than, er, Birmingham). Crow wrote to them (by a real letter!):

"I am an investigative journalist interested in the secret involvement of the National Trust in respect of the ongoing campaigns relating to Station Street.

I would like to send some questions to you but cannot find an email for your campaign and I don’t want to use the open forum of the Facebook group.

Can you please forward appropriate contact details to the email address above please?

Can you please confirm whether you are also responsible for the “Save Station Street, Birmingham @OldStation St” X (formerly Twitter) account and, if not, who is?"

They did not reply.

We also wrote in a similar vein to another of the National Trust's gang of conspirators, Ian Francis at Flatpack but, again, received no reply.

The Facebook group, "Save the Electric Cinema Birmingham" has two administrators, Zoe Bond-Pinner and Darren John.

Most of the campaign supporters are "socialists" and so they have no money. They keep insisting that taxpayers' money should be used to "save" the Electric and, more bizarrely, to re-open the Crown as a pub. They seem blissfully unaware that deadbeat Labour Brum has only just come out of bankruptcy or that 25% - yes, a quarter - of the city's working age population are on out of work benefits. The pub trade is in dire straits and The Crown shut down over a decade ago because it was a nasty sh*thole. Further there is now competition from a large Wetherspoons directly opposite. The X person is bombarding the Mayor of the West Midlands [who he? Ed] and the ridiculous Lisa Nandy in the hope they will waste taxpayers' money on his/her absurd schemes.

Incidentally, some of us remember how awful The Crown was before it happily shut. When a non-local campaign supporter queried this someone local posted this response:

There is a plan to turn this area into an "arts and cultural quarter" [sic] even though the dismal Labour Council is promoting Digbeth as an, er, arts and culture quarter! And despite the local legacy media pumping out endless Ozzy nonsense that hype will soon fade.

Not long ago, there was a fire at "The Flatiron" building in Hockley. In a flurry of posts the Old Station Street campaign accused the owners of neglecting the building and hinted that the fire had not been accidental. This was echoed by someone on X called "jordanbhx"".  The X person named the Company (based in the Virgin Islands) and also named the two beneficial owners, both Hong Kong residents. S/he described them as "vampires". At Crow Multimedia this all seemed rather odd since the fire was said to have started in an office on the 4th floor - not the usual place for budding arsonists to choose. And, indeed, it was quickly confirmed by an enquiry to the WM Fire Service that the fire was indeed, purely accidental.

It is to be hoped that the campaigners do not face the legal wrath of the Hong Kong owners and maybe the campaigners need to think before they start making false allegations on social media. Perhaps this is why these proselytisers want to try and maintain anonymity? And quite why the National Trust wants to team up with such buffoons is beyond comprehension.

Interestingly, the X person took it upon him/herself to also become the self-appointed guardian of all of Brum's historic building and claims to now be speaking also on behalf of the Methodist Central Hall and other properties. S/he also uses the campaign to peddle a whole array of leftie claptrap - attacking Reform, Farage, the flag-flyers, motorists, Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters etc. etc. Again why the allegedly apolitical (though increasingly woke) National Trust wants to engage with all this is curious to say the least.

The obsessive X person rants over and over and over again about the proposed tower developers want to build in Station Street. S/he usually calls it "crappy" which surely means it will fit in well with the rest of Brum's contemporary architecture. The latest abuse is that the "50 floor" tower will be "phallic". But what's this? The Arora Group has planning permission for a 22 storey tower across the road from The Crown. The campaigners have suggested raising the £2m asking price and somehow finding the money to build a tower containing a "Brum Sounds hotel" full of memorabilia relating to Ozzy and others.

50 storeys bad and phallic - - 22 storeys good! How can anyone take these clowns seriously?

Addendum 27/02/26: Since writing this, the "campaign" has gone into overdrive. But, significantly, Darren John has used the Facebook Group - presumably with the agreement of Bond-Pinner - to put up the email address for an employee of Glenbrook Property (the developers seeking to build the tower in Station Street) and encouraged followers to contact him direct. There is and always should be a place for activism but there is a fine line before organising this sort of social media pile-on becomes unlawful harassment. No doubt if John & Co. keep this up Glenbrook will consult the police/m'learned friends.

Addendum 01/03/26: The campaigners have again encouraged people to personally email a Glenbrook employee - early on a Sunday morning. This now seems to be a clear campaign of harassment. 

LEGAL NOTICE (CM Version 1 - 7th February, 2026)

We cannot list every previous mention of individuals referred to in the entirety of this blog. Where we refer to a specific story please follow the supplied hyperlink since this forms legal justification for later comments. Similarly references to “posts or Crows passim” and to earlier posts mean any individuals concerned about purported defamatory or otherwise unlawful material must read later posts in the context of earlier posts. Full information can also be supplied within a reasonable time upon application via email to iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com

We may also add hyperlinks or references to content in our associated blogs, “In The Public Domain aka The Sandwell Skidder” (at thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com) and Rotten Council Governance - Legal Review (at rottencouncils.blogspot.com). Reference to content in those blogs also forms part of the context, meaning of, and justification for, contents in this blog.

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com and we shall 

use our best endeavours to remove offending material and/or publish appropriate corrections forthwith (together with an apology, if applicable).

We are pleased to receive comments via email to iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com, or on X via our publishers @CrowMultimedia. We are happy to publish any sensible commentary and offer a right of reply where applicable. We can also publish “guest” posts on mutually agreed terms.

If you consider that anything written is defamatory or otherwise unlawful please email iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com or telephone 07470 624207 forthwith. If your complaint has merit we shall endeavour to make immediate amends.

Ian Crow Multimedia Limited

Randy Andy and Opera North

Arts organisations in the UK are overwhelmingly stuffed with lefties and yet arty companies and individuals are constantly grovelling to our grotesque "Royal" family. Why? One main reason, of course, is the expectation of baubles. Some of our greatest actors, for example, cannot open their mouths off stage without spouting socialist claptrap, but are quick to accept Damehoods and other "honours" down The Palace. Hypocrisy? Naked self-interest? Who knows?

When the writer buys tickets for arts events there is often a request for donations. "No" is the short response to any organisation with "Royal" in its name, or with "Royal" patrons. Perhaps others ought to follow suit ...

Of course, their insinuation into British institutions is seen by the monstrous monarchy as necessary to perpetuate itself. The "Royals" pull every lever to maintain their grasp on wealth and power.

Long before recent revelations, the man formerly known as "Prince" Andrew was the personification of arrogance and entitlement. His ill-fated "Marriage of Fiasco" to the toe-sucker, Ferguson, became the stuff of tabloid legend. Long before the Epstein saga, he was known as "Randy Andy". Not quite, due to primogeniture, "King Priam" but certainly "Prince Priapus". And fawning politicians facilitated his pursuit of wealth and la dolce vita by appointing him as a trade envoy and the like. Pass the sick bag, Alice.

In the course of "The Rake's Progress" the wonderful Opera North inexplicably made the ghastly pair "patrons". Look away now if you don't want to be sick over yourself:

Crow Multimedia wrote to Opera North about this ludicrous state of affairs:

"Press Enquiry - Royal Patronage

It is inexplicable to the general public why a brilliant arts organisation like ON feels the need to have "royal" patrons. What do you say is the benefit of having the Duke of Kent as a  current patron?

Further, the person previously known as "Prince" Andrew, and Sarah Ferguson, were patrons of ON. Even without the current revelations it is unimaginable that such a ghastly pair should be associated with ON? Once again, what was the thinking in tying yourselves to that dreadful couple?

Can you please also name the trustees who made the decision to appoint "Randy Andy" and "Fergie" as patrons. It will be interesting to see if they, in turn, received baubles for what most would see as egregious grovelling."

Alas, answer came there none.

We should mention here that on the Opera North website, two of the current trustees boast OBE's. No doubt thoroughly merited.

There is no truth in the rumour that Opera North is renaming "The Magic Flute", "The Pink Oboe". But perhaps ON could find a, er, part for "Randy" in, say, "Dildo and Aneas [spellcheck please]" or "The Turn of the Screw". Maybe the productions are already in rehearsal ...

We wonder if Opera North will ever apologise for this shaming degringolade? Perhaps the better option would be to eschew further "Royal" patronage altogether, eh readers?

LONG LIVE THE REPUBLIC!

A Crow Multimedia Blog

Ian Crow Multimedia Limited

LEGAL NOTICE (CM Version 1 - 7th February, 2026)

We cannot list every previous mention of individuals referred to in the entirety of this blog. Where we refer to a specific story please follow the supplied hyperlink since this forms legal justification for later comments. Similarly references to “posts or Crows passim” and to earlier posts mean any individuals concerned about purported defamatory or otherwise unlawful material must read later posts in the context of earlier posts. Full information can also be supplied within a reasonable time upon application via email to iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com

We may also add hyperlinks or references to content in our associated blogs, “In The Public Domain aka The Sandwell Skidder” (at thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com) and Rotten Council Governance - Legal Review (at rottencouncils.blogspot.com). Reference to content in those blogs also forms part of the context, meaning of, and justification for, contents in this blog.

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com and we shall use our best endeavours to remove offending material and/or publish appropriate corrections forthwith (together with an apology, if applicable).

We are pleased to receive comments via email to iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com, or on X via our publishers @CrowMultimedia. We are happy to publish any sensible commentary and offer a right of reply where applicable. We can also publish “guest” posts on mutually agreed terms.

If you consider that anything written is defamatory or otherwise unlawful please email iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com or telephone 07470 624207 forthwith. If your complaint has merit we shall endeavour to make immediate amends.

Ian Crow Multimedia Limited

Kings Heath pubs buck national decline

Birmingham may be the UK's multi-ethnic "third city" (formerly the "second city") but it's the white folks who control the Socialist nirvana that is the southern suburb of Kings Heath (KH), as this image of those running a local forum meeting a couple of years ago amply demonstrates:

Formerly a working class area with a strong Irish community the area is undergoing gentrification. The growth of the state as an employer, and of the Brum universities, has led to an influx of bourgeois "socialists". You can tell this by the number of white middle-aged women wandering about wearing keffiyehs. And you can also buy something called "artisan" bread ...

The newbies are wealthy by Birmingham standards - which may not be saying much when a shaming 25% of the Labour city's working age population is in receipt of out-of-work benefits. But the property is - relatively - cheap and most of these folks are only moderately well-off. These are people who have never made any real money in the public sector, but are used to sucking from the state's nipple. Thus they can't live anywhere that is actually "nice", and chose to eke out their sinecures and pensions in an area which is only a couple of steps up from a public convenience. 

Despite never having run a whelk stall "socialists" have the crazed and fallacious belief that they can organise communities. The primary example of this in KH is an incessant war on motorists which has happily resulted in "the Left" managing to exclude traffic from the more agreeable areas where they, er, live. They have forced ever greater traffic to clog the roads where the poorer folk huddle in their hovels.

As avowed anti-capitalists (although not when it comes to their own material well-being) the rather faded Reds have waged war on KH's once famous High Street. This straddles a major arterial route but economic considerations do not apply with these people, and the plan is to force everyone onto public transport and prevent vehicles using the road at all. This is only a part of the nonsense, believe me.

As someone who shops and drinks in KH on a regular basis there is no doubt that it is becoming a sh*thole.  Yet it remains busy and shops and pubs are making so much money they actually pay extra tax to trade there. How much longer this will last as the socialists deliberately drive businesses away remains to be seen.

Yes, the local pubs and businesses pay extra tax - in the form of a levy - to a Labour Party-front organisation called, laughably, Kings Heath Business Improvement District (the BID), calculated as a percentage of a property's rateable value.

Now here is the curious thing. The media is awash with cries for help from publicans and the hospitality industry as the current Labour Government is throttling it with extra taxes and regulations. Business rates are a major bone of contention and the pub industry is crying-out for a VAT cut. The minimum wage and national insurance increases have been hollowing out pub businesses. New duty rules mean ever weaker beers are being served. Pubs are closing around the country (or operating much reduced opening hours if they are limping along). Staff are put out of work. Yes there are exceptions, of course, but these are few and far between. Yet the higher taxes, rates and costs are NOT a problem for KH pubs which are delighted to pay the BID levy on top! Why?

Crow Multimedia wrote the following press enquiry to a random sample of three KH boozers asking what the secret of their success is:

"The pub and music venue trades have suffered grievously in recent years and the current Labour Government appears to pile on the pain. Two well-known Brum pubs closed in January to my knowledge.

Social media is awash with complaints from publicans about tax generally, minimum wage increases, NI increases, and business rates. Yet Kings Heath is bucking the trend and you guys opt to actually pay more tax (in the form of a BID levy) on top of the current burden. Why are KH pubs doing so well that they can afford extra tax when many others appear to be struggling?"

Alas, the Loco Lounge, The Juke, and the Hare & Hounds declined to respond.

Usually higher taxes on businesses are passed on to consumers. Does that mean that KH pubs are charging higher prices to reflect this? As no-one is yet speaking-up, we can only guess! Just check the price of your pint next time you go out on KH's Tarnished (formerly Golden) Mile.

Another failed High Street business.

LEGAL NOTICE (CM Version 1 - 7th February, 2026)

We cannot list every previous mention of individuals referred to in the entirety of this blog. Where we refer to a specific story please follow the supplied hyperlink since this forms legal justification for later comments. Similarly references to “posts or Crows passim” and to earlier posts mean any individuals concerned about purported defamatory or otherwise unlawful material must read later posts in the context of earlier posts. Full information can also be supplied within a reasonable time upon application via email to iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com

We may also add hyperlinks or references to content in our associated blogs, “In The Public Domain aka The Sandwell Skidder” (at thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com) and Rotten Council Governance - Legal Review (at rottencouncils.blogspot.com). Reference to content in those blogs also forms part of the context, meaning of, and justification for, contents in this blog.

In most cases we try to give the subjects of these blog posts the opportunity to comment on our journalism pre-publication to ensure the accuracy of our work.

Every now and again we make a genuine error and get something wrong. If an error in the blog affects you please email iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com and we shall 

use our best endeavours to remove offending material and/or publish appropriate corrections forthwith (together with an apology, if applicable).

We are pleased to receive comments via email to iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com, or on X via our publishers @CrowMultimedia. We are happy to publish any sensible commentary and offer a right of reply where applicable. We can also publish “guest” posts on mutually agreed terms.

If you consider that anything written is defamatory or otherwise unlawful please email iancrowmultimedia@gmail.com or telephone 07470 624207 forthwith. If your complaint has merit we shall endeavour to make immediate amends.

Clarkson's Pub - fun, but a one off

Warning: Hate and envy-fuelled lefties and bearded CAMRA-types look away now.

There are millions of us around the world who have enjoyed the marvellous Amazon Prime series, Clarkson's Farm. Series Four followed Jeremy Clarkson's travails in opening a pub in the Cotswolds. From my personal point of view it was particularly distressing to see so many of the places I enjoyed in my misspent youth and, er, adulthood, have closed down (and, of course, Starmer and Reeves are trying to deliver a knock-out blow to what remains).

Jeremy eventually found a site between Burford and Witney. There are some excellent food-lead pubs in that neck of the woods: The Swan at Swinbrook, The Bell at Langford, The Three Horseshoes (recently known as The Maytime) at Asthall, and others. Alas, this is an affluent area and prices are high - Google The Double Red Duke at Clanfield, but only if you are already wearing soiled underwear.

Armed with a substantial sum from his hard-work over several decades, Jeremy set about refurbing what was an empty cafe just off the A40. And he had to invest considerable resources - watch the programme and you will be stunned at the cost involved.

The result? A fun - crowded - mini-theme park run by excellent staff, but not the place to nip-in for a quiet pint! The main pub, The Farmer's Dog, is in the extended former pub (before the cafe interlude) - which I had been to a couple of times many moons ago. In the large grounds there is a huge "tent" containing a branch of Jeremy's Diddly Squat Farm Shop and another bar playfully named, The Farmer's Puppy. There are wonderful views from both.

I live in a poverty-ridden hell-hole where most pubs are on their arses and 25% of working-age people are on out-of-work benefits (Birmingham). The economic clouds get ever darker here and publicans of my acquaintance were terrified at what the absurd "Dry January" would bring (actually, so far, it has brought the closure of two very good Brum pubs - at least). Many places have been hideously quiet. Thus I was shocked on 15th December, 2025 when I went online to book a table for two for lunch at The Farmer's Dog on either the 22nd or 23rd January, 2026 only to find that there was no availability! If fact, to even stand a chance of getting a table in the main pub you have to book early. Here is the notice from the pub's own website - and they are NOT joking:

Thwarted in our ambition to break bread we turned up for a drink. This was at about 11.45  am on a wet and very dismal Thursday lunchtime. The area by the pub itself is reserved for blue badge motorists and we were directed to a large car park across the road. It was immediately apparent that this was no ordinary country boozer as there were FOUR attendants directing traffic - at a substantial cost to the bottom-line of the business. (And we are sure that number must increase in summer).

Walking to the pub we noticed the arrival of taxis (of which more anon). We walked through the farm shop and the Puppy where there was already a host of customers. At the main pub we met an immediate problem since we had no table for luncheon. Quite rightly, Jeremy does not want the hoi-polloi tramping through the restaurant to get to the famous terrace, but this creates a rather unfortunate problem since we had to actually take our drinks back outside the pub and then enter the terrace via a separate door. Not good that bit.

Obviously JC's Hawkstone Brand dominates the beer selection. (Later in the day I sampled an IPA elsewhere and was distinctly underwhelmed.) I had the only cask that I could see on offer - Old Hooky. It was acceptable rather than good, with a rather "first-pull" tang to it.

As we returned to the car yet another taxi was arriving together with a tide of humanity from the car park. Again - this on a grim January lunchtime. Quite incredible. 

We were staying the night in beautiful Burford and were amazed when locals told us that many folk regularly stay in the town and take taxis to Jeremy's pub! We actually met one such couple.

Personally - and as we are old farts - we will visit again although not in the summer when it must be manic there. And we will only go when we can get a table for lunch. But we really applaud this enterprise which is creating many jobs locally, not just at the "theme park" itself, but for local taxis, hotels etc. Plus, of course, Jeremy has been a stalwart supporter of local farmers and, wherever, possible, sources local produce for the shops and pub.

One caveat. We sincerely hope Jeremy will be around for a good few years yet, but clearly he and the TV show have been the draw for thousands of visitors. Quite how this enterprise will survive if he keels over tomorrow, we are not at all sure. But enough of that - this was a fun visit and a boon for the local economy. What's not to like? Go and see for yourselves.

Incidentally, we dropped in at the original Diddly Squat Farm Shop on the way back. Although very small, cars were flooding in on another miserable January day. 

On a final and slightly unrelated note, as we headed northward to Britain's "third city" we visited (for the first time in decades) - The Horseshoe in Shipston-on Stour (south of Stratford-upon-Avon). It's a cracker!

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The Thurd Sector #4 - Places in Common Limited

As we have pointed out in this series the Thurd Sector is crammed with lefties and self-declared, er, anti-capitalists. These jokers are adept at screwing the taxpayer (and others) whilst feathering their own nests.

In recent times a new crock of gold has become available via the climate change industry. As ever with the Thurds, there are layers of organisations feeding off one another - but usually with the taxpayer as the patsy. And the climate change lobby is viciously anti-motorist.

Places in Common Limited in bankrupt Labour Birmingham is actually a "co-op" - another type of organisation trying to feed off Britain's shrinking cadre of workers. Two of the original directors from 2019 are still running the show now - Bryan Nott and Labour Cllr Lisa Trickett (who earned £18,876 from taxpayers as a Councillor in the last municipal year). Originally there were two other directors, one of whom was also involved in a notorious Brum Labour-front Thurd Sector cash machine, The Active Wellbeing Society [sic] - another "community benefit society".

Two of the directors dropped away but Nott and Trickett were quick to appoint one Alice, er, Nott to their nice little earner. Could she possibly be related?

This "co-op" was set up ostensibly to promote [warning - load of w*nk ahead] "community development and local regeneration". The registered address is in that affluent and "trendy" suburb, Moseley. But almost immediately it pivoted to the riches flowing from the climate change industry. 

Here the position becomes a little complicated in that all the money (or a very substantial part of it) received by the co-op seems to have come from just two contracts to promote climate change. The first is with a Dutch Thurd Sector outfit called Climate KIC (although it also uses other names including its actual legal name, the snappy "Stichting Climate KIC International Foundation". It won't surprise readers of this series that the vast bulk of its funds comes from the EU and European governments. Happily, and despite Brexit, some of the euro loot is finding its way into the pockets of the Notts and Trickett.

The legal status of the second outfit, "West Midlands Route to Net Zero" is opaque. Birmingham University is involved as is the Labour-controlled West Midlands Combined Authority. Although it has a posh website (cost unknown) it is completely silent about its legal status and finances. I have written to it and will keep you posted. Suffice to say here that the notorious. appalling and viciously anti-car Brum Labour Councillor, Waseem Zaffar, is a member of the Advisory Board.

And what of the finances of the Nott/Trickett Co-op? Below is a table summarising the key financials. The "Directors" are also the "staff" of the Co-op and so the high "admin costs" entries reflect the dosh they are stripping out. Where stated the precise sums are shown in the bottom line of the table.

The actual "work" done seems to be writing reports and developing policy to promote climate change. Happily this has been very remunerative for our campaigning heroes.

After paying a bit of tax in the first couple of years the Directors have now paid none by reason of there being significant financial losses. These have been brought about by the large sums being grabbed by the Directors. In 2021 to 2024 inclusive the admin expenses have EXCEEDED the actual revenue coming in. Look at 2023! And in 2004 the Notts and Trickett only had revenue of £26,200 but paid themselves £31,500. In most businesses this would be wholly unsustainable yet the tap somehow keeps flowing. The figures below are in the public domain and have been submitted to the Financial Conduct Authority.

[The Directors will have to declare the income they are grabbing as part of their personal tax liabilities and potentially pay income tax on it.]

The "route to less than net zero" has been, indeed, taken and the Directors have gone beyond and deliberately ensured minus figures i.e. losses.

In the meantime, a new (Labour front) benefit society has been set-up to takeover the Kings Heath Community Centre from the failing Labour Council in a bent deal. Mug punters have been asked to part with their money for this via a crowdfunder. The crowdfunder, run by Bryan Nott, has failed but has simply been extended (and is currently at 69% of target if you are mad enough to want to invest).

The Board includes, incredibly, the Manager of the appalling local BID, or Business Improvement District, which has been shilling this project all along even though it has nothing whatsoever to do with improving business for the hard-pressed traders who are forced to pay extra tax (the levy) to trade in Kings Heath. Did I mention that, equally incredibly, Cllr Lisa Trickett is on the Bid Board?

And, of course, Bryan Nott and Lisa Trickett are also on the Board of the new Benefit Society where they will no doubt bring their financial acumen acquired whilst running Places in Common to the table. 

What could possibly go wrong?

Investors and BID levy payers - don't say we didn't warn you!

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