Tony Lewis
The Black Eagle - Factory Road

Tony Lewis, Licensee of The Black Eagle was born in South Africa with an Italian mother and a cockney Irish father, Tony’s father fought in the war in South Africa and due to ill heath, decided to return there after the war, and so Tony was born. He must always have been destined to end up in the food trade as his mother came from a family of caterers!

On leaving school, Tony had a passion for drama and consequently went to drama school. From this he progressed to appearing on magazine covers and commercially on television. This was followed by enrolling at the City Literacy Institute in London and also the Guildhall, where he further studied drama which led to a spell of doing voiceovers on the radio.

The next move on Tony’s career was to Wigmore Hall where he studied singing. This led to appearances in plays and rep on a weekly or fortnightly basis which took him all over the country with such productions as Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Pyjama Game. When ‘resting’ between plays Tony supplemented his income and cut his licensed trade teeth by working in pubs such as The Ship, The Mayflower and The Angel theatre bar.

The opportunity to take over The Black Eagle came up in l990 when Tony was appearing in panto with Ken Dodd. He decided to take over the pub with two partners as a stopgap but soon discovered, however, that if they were to give their full commitment to the pub they would have to give up the theatre. The Black Eagle had been closed for two years and was desperately in need of some T.L.C. The pub was a victim of a 1970’s ‘modernisation’ and it was only when they started to strip the gaudy, coloured paint and quilted leatherette from the bar they discovered the superb mahogany panels and Minton tiles that we see today.

At first they just traded from the two front bars, whilst work was being carried out on the rest of the pub, they did, however, stock real ale from day one. Robert, one of the partners, had been a chef before his acting career and very soon set up the catering operation, which, as we know, has gone on to win many awards. The pub has won Birmingham CAMRA pub of the year several times, Regional pub of the year and Evening Mail Traditional pub of the year.

Tony and his team have created an oasis in a little backwater of Birmingham, with a superb beer garden which is an absolute suntrap in the summer. We congratulate them and look forward to many more years of the same.

© Nigel Barker 2007

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Last modified: 03/11/07