Author Topic: Have I got the Mermaid from the Mermaid Inn?  (Read 348 times)

Whispering Giant

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Have I got the Mermaid from the Mermaid Inn?
« on: May 08, 2021, 06:24:17 PM »
I moved from Brum to Notting Hill in London in the late 1980s and lived just off the Portobello Rd.  Hanging in one of the junk arcades was a life-size mermaid.  Her top half was realistically modeled in some sort of ceramic or plaster of Paris and she had long blond hair.  Her bottom half (her tail) was made of greenish-tinted polystyrene ending in a fish tail.  She was supported by a heavy old-fashioned brass chain.  The dealer wanted £120 for her and said she had come from the Mermaid Inn in Birmingham.   Even though I was a hard-up student I had to have her so blew most of my grant and bought her.


She still hangs in my flat in London and I want to know more about her.   I've researched the Mermaid Inn in several B'ham Forum threads but the only mention of a mermaid at The Mermaid is the one in painted stone like a ship's figurehead in the centre of the main frontage outside.  My mermaid seems designed to have been hung over a bar in a hotel or pub and she is slightly tarnished by nicotine smoke as if she has been in a smoky atmosphere.  My question is - Does anybody remember a realistic mermaid hanging over the bar in the Mermaid Inn?  The Inn seems to be currently semi-derelict after a fire and was an Indian restaurant after it stopped being a pub.  Both the side towers have gone but her sister - the stone mermaid  -still seems to be in situ outside.
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Hi De Hi

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Re: Have I got the Mermaid from the Mermaid Inn?
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2021, 03:56:04 PM »
I moved from Brum to Notting Hill in London in the late 1980s and lived just off the Portobello Rd.  Hanging in one of the junk arcades was a life-size mermaid.  Her top half was realistically modeled in some sort of ceramic or plaster of Paris and she had long blond hair.  Her bottom half (her tail) was made of greenish-tinted polystyrene ending in a fish tail.  She was supported by a heavy old-fashioned brass chain.  The dealer wanted £120 for her and said she had come from the Mermaid Inn in Birmingham.   Even though I was a hard-up student I had to have her so blew most of my grant and bought her.


She still hangs in my flat in London and I want to know more about her.   I've researched the Mermaid Inn in several B'ham Forum threads but the only mention of a mermaid at The Mermaid is the one in painted stone like a ship's figurehead in the centre of the main frontage outside.  My mermaid seems designed to have been hung over a bar in a hotel or pub and she is slightly tarnished by nicotine smoke as if she has been in a smoky atmosphere.  My question is - Does anybody remember a realistic mermaid hanging over the bar in the Mermaid Inn?  The Inn seems to be currently semi-derelict after a fire and was an Indian restaurant after it stopped being a pub.  Both the side towers have gone but her sister - the stone mermaid  -still seems to be in situ outside.
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I had a few drinks in the Mermaid over the years but have no recollection of a mermaid inside. The only one I know is the large stucco one on the front of the building, which as far as I know is still there.


 

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