NEW YEARS EVE

The Victoria and Island Bar presents: NEW YEARS EVE!

★Two Venues
★Four Floors
★One Ticket

From Rock 'n' Roll to 80's classics and beyond!


★Island Bar:★
CLUB PRIMATIVE
Primitive music for Primative people. Playing 60s Garage, Rockabilly and Rock 'n' Roll. From the Sonics to the Trashmen, to Elvis and Eddie Cochran

THIS IS NORMAL
Our Friday night resident bringing you the finest in Indie, Electronica, Pop, Garage Rock and genre hopping party tunes from 70s to 00s


★The Victoria:★
THATCHED
80s/90s DJ Greg Bird (This Is Tomorrow/Tropical Hotdog) presents his ever popular clubnight playing tunes from 1979-1990. From Soft Cell to David Bowie, Talking Heads to Spandau Ballet!

HARD CHEESE
Saturday night residents at The Victoria take you on a journey of 50s Rock 'n' Roll, 60s Soul + Motown, 70s Funk + Cheesy Rock, 80s Pop + Hip Hop true Victoria genre mayhem mash-up!


Tickets are £8 until Christmas Eve and £10 after. 8pm - 3am Access to both venues, all four floors with just one ticket!
Tickets: https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/buy_tickets/events/?id=10013771

Burger Safari

Welcome to The Victoria's Burger Safari.
From the 15th-20th November we will be serving exotic meats from around the world:

●Ostrich burger with tomato chutney●
Ostrich is a large flightless bird that is native to Africa. Ostrich meat tastes similar to lean beef and is low in fat and cholesterol, as well as high in calcium, protein and iron.

●Wild boar and apple burger with smoked cheddar and bacon●
The wild boar is the ancestor to the domestic pig. It is native to large parts of Euorpe, Asia and some parts of North Africa. The lean meat of wild boar can range in flavour from mild and delicate to gamey, depending on variety, season, diet, and age.

●Venison burger with red onion marmalade●
Venison is the culinary name for meat from Deer. It has a flavor reminiscent of beef but is richer and can have a gamey note.

●Bison burger with wholegrain mustard mayo and Monterey Jack cheese●
Bison meat is another name for buffalo meat. The animal is native to North America. Bison tastes like beef, but a little sweeter. There is less of a heavy feeling, with no game or wild taste.

●Kangaroo with grilled pineapple and a fried egg●
The kangaroo is a marsupial native to Australia. Its growing appeal stems from its well-flavoured, slightly gamey taste. Kangaroo meat contains very little saturated fat relative to other meats and is high in protein, zinc and iron.

All served with side of salad and chips.
£7.50 per meal

Birmingham Comedy Festival!

Birmingham Comedy Festival runs from the 1st until the 10th of October.

Here at The Victoria we have several event planned to bring a smile and split some sides!

SUNDAY 3rd

HILARIOUS COMEDY

presents - THE BRUM PACK, KAREN BAYLEY + FRIENDS, 7:30pm, £3

MONDAY 4th

MEN WITH BANANAS - A double act with sell out Edinburgh Fringe shows and five star reviews under their belts, and after a year long hiatus they return to Birmingham for one night only with their peculiar brand of feel good hilarity and mayhem.

"Really good. Go see 'em" - Noel Fielding, 8pm, £5 (£4 conc.)

TUESDAY 5th

SOUND AND VISION PUB QUIZ - Comedy film and music quiz,

8pm, £1

The Winner Takes It All!

THURSDAY 7th

POPCORN COMEDY - Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Tim Key and BAFTA winner Will Andrews! + Hilarious videos Birmingham Comedy Festival Show, 7:30pm, £8

Also over at The Jekyll & Hyde there will be:

WEDNESDAY 6th

Retro Comedy Film Night:
Arsenic and Old Lace - A rare chance to see the classic 1944 comedy Arsenic and Old Lace, directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant. A honeymooning couple are forced to ditch their plans when the groom discovers that his spinster aunts are killing people in their nice little home, and burying the corpses in the cellar!

- FREE ENTRY | 7:45pm

THURSDAY 7th

Half A Dog Comedy Presents:
Rock 'n Relativity Holiday Conspiracy - An insight into the mind of a man whose life has become ruled by internet conspiracies, join him as he guides you through the world of the internet and the evidence that has proven to him that these conspiracies are true. - £5 | 7:30pm

Lunchtime Offers!

We've just launched our new lunchtime menu with a choice of gourmet sandwiches, wraps and light bites. Served everyday from noon until 2:30pm and all day Saturday and Sunday. Choose any of these plus either a glass of house wine/ bottle of beer/ soft drink for just £4.

Also to celebrate we're offering 2for1 on all our gourmet sandwiches! Just bring the voucher below in with you for a yummy lunch!

Check out our new lunch menu here:

http://www.thevictoriabirmingham.co.uk

Happy eating!

The Vic x

If you can't download or print from this link then join our mailing list to receive further offers. This can be done on the front page of our website: http://www.thevictoriabirmingham.co.uk

Cider Festival - Which Cider Are You On?

The Victoria is hosting a two week Cider Festival this Summer from the 12th-25th July.

We have a great range of modern and traditional Ciders and Perrys available throughout the fortnight including: Dunkertons, Thatchers, Addlestones, Brothers, Hogans, Kopparberg, Westons, Aspalls and also barrelled cider from Moles Black Rat & Gwynt y Ddraig

In honour of this the manager, Julian Rose-Gibbs has composed a piece on the changes in cider popularity over the last few decades:

Which Cider you on?

I remember a long time ago I saw cider as a vessel with which to propel my self (and most of my friends) towards inebriation. We would search out the Woodpecker or Strongbow (because those were the only ciders available all that time ago) buy it in 2 litre bottles and mix them with 2 litre bottles of lager making snakebite. Hideous I know but it did the trick.

I am glad to say that 20 years on cider has come a long way and now is the time to celebrate that fact.

Not only has the production of cider increased but countries importing it and the styles of cider have exploded recently. There are still traditional ciders and scrumpy in production but now our market has been infiltrated by the fruit cider and everybody is at it.

Our own producers tend to divide themselves into East verses West of the mid to South parts of the UK such as Aspall, Thatchers, Westons, Gaymers, Bulmers and Brothers the list is endless, not to mention the Swiss invasion of Koppaberg taking over our beer fridges with Rekorderlig hot on it’s heels. The latest one I noticed from further a field is Savanna from South Africa a dry cider to combat all the sweeter fruit varieties around.

Now it is not surprising that with so many people over the bar asking for “cider and black” that the producers eventually cottoned on and decided to add their own berry flavours-these range from your usual pear and apple to ciders with all manner of berries added and lime infusions, blush ciders and I noticed the word ‘premium’ and ‘reserve’ creeping on to cider bottles just like the spirit market did years ago. So far I am just glad no one has produced a blue cider, when that happens we’ve gone too far.

On that note the marketing of cider has become more sophisticated from tradition and heritage of the Magners campaign to the all out music offensive of Gaymers-they even brought the Twang to the Victoria a while back.

One thing is certain, with all the new flavours, styles, packaging and marketing – cider is going places fast and I intend to keep up, responsibly of course.

Julian Rose-Gibbs

The Victoria

The Victoria and The Jekyll & Hyde will be hosting their Summer Cider Festivals 12^th-25^th July.

Glastonbury From Your Sunday Lunch

Just missed out on a ticket to Glastonbury? Fear not! We'll be showing it all day on our big screen downstairs. Far better than trudging through mud clutching a warm flat beer, right... right!?

✿ 2for1 cocktails all day
✿ Sunday Roasts (vegetarian too!) from 1pm-8pm
✿ Refreshing cool beers on tap served in a glass!

But if that's all too creature comforts you're welcome to turn up in your wellies!


Free Entry

The Vic x

Lamb's Spiced Rum Competition

On Thursday the 10th June The Victoria will be hosting the Lamb's Spiced Rum bartender competition.

Starting at 3pm bartenders will be introduced to the rums and then create their own spiced concoctions! There will be first, second and third prizes awarded from the competition, made up of cash prizes - £250; £100 and £50.

The evening event is open to everyone! A free party starting at 7pm. Lamb will be bringing five cases of Lamb’s Spiced Rum and there will be complimentary drinks from 7-8pm!

The presentation of the prizes to the winners will take place at 9pm in the evening. With a professional photographer at both the competition and evening party.

Facebook Event

World Cup @ The Victoria

We'll be showing all England Matches upstairs projected onto our 8ft screen and through our booming PA!

How Do I Get In?

75 tickets will be available for each England game 2 weeks before the game, 25 people will also be able to get in for free for each match without a ticket. People with tickets should get to the game 45 mins before kick-off so they can get a seat, grab some food and make use of the beer promotions. If people with tickets have not arrived with 30 mins to go then people without tickets will be allowed in in their place.

The tickets are available from the bar, only one ticket per person.

A free entry DJ night will then be laid on after the footy.

There will be food available before and after the match. The bar will be open throughout but so you don't have to leave your seat we'll also be offering bottled beer in an ice bucket deals!

Enjoy!

This Is Tomorrow

This is Tomorrow have been running events at The Victoria ever since we opened. With an amazing array of gigs from artists such as:

FOALS, ESSER, HOT CLUB DE PARIS, NEW CASSETTES, CUT OFF YR HANDS, THE RIPPS, LOOK SEE PROOF, WAVE MACHINES, TUBELORD, CALORIES, DINOSAUR PILE UP, FLASHGUNS, JONQUIL, THIS TOWN NEEDS GUNS, THE DRAYTONES, JOHNNY FOREIGNER, TIRED IRIE, MIDDLEMAN, THE RASCALS, ASSEMBLY NOW, 4 OR 5 MAGICIANS, SECONDSMILE, JAMES YUILL, SCARLET HARLOTS, THE LINES, ENVY AND OTHER SINS, UNTITLED MUSIC PROJECT, GRAVITY CRISIS, BOURGEOIS FOUR, SHADY BARD, GREAT ESKIMO HOAX, MAYDAY / TANTRUMS, WILLIAM, WINTERMUTE, MINNAAARS, THE SOLOMONS, RIVERS PRESLEY SET, BLACK MEKON, THE CHANGES, SUNSET CINEMA CLUB, 35 SECONDS, MY PSYCHOANALYST, SHAPES, JOSH WELLER & HONEYTRAP

And recently on Saturday 1st May TIMES NEW VIKING.

And I quote "Crowd Surfing, Moshing and all around craziness in The Vic this evening....Amazing night, thanks to everyone who come down!!!!!!!" (Matt Beck, This Is Tomorrow organiser). We'll post a review shortly of this, but needless to say it was one of the most exciting gigs to date at The Victoria with TAD ALLAGASH, YUCK and SAVANT supporting and only a few days away before Times New Viking play at A.T.P!

On the 5th Feb 2010 This Is Tomorrow put on the CALORIES + WILLIAM + YOUVES. Did you miss out? Worry not! For Blue Whale Studios were there recording the whole event. Check out the wonderful video showing off our new sound system:

You can see more videos of gigs at The Victoria here http://www.youtube.com/bluewhaletv

The argument for Real Ale

Is it just me or are we getting sick of the same old thing in our nations pubs and bars. Everywhere we go we are offered the same fizzy, bland chemically treated beer. Is it any wonder some watering holes are disappearing due to our loss of interest, well, if you have not already discovered the world of real-ale, do not switch off. Allow me a column of your time.

If ale conjures up images of old portly men with beards wearing woolly pullovers then you need to take another look. Eager to shrug off the past cobwebs are microbreweries and brewpubs creating new and alternative ales using many different techniques, but it's not in this new wave alone that we find the reason for its recent success, no!

Consider this- real ale although part of our rich heritage continues to evolve without losing any dedication to quality. The production, storage and dispensing of real ale needs knowledge and care. Even in these dreary days of economic gloom real ale is the only growth beer market. Yes even with all the new ’colder than the last one’ lagers emerging, lager is in decline.

Another plus of real ale is the patriotic side to it. It is British and a lot of pubs today sell and eagerly promote local independent brewers sticking it to the large corporate every day. So you see there are many reasons to revisit real ale but I’ve saved the best till last..... it tastes good, remember flavour?

Yes you may still see old John, beard soaked in ale and belly sticking out from under last years woolly, because he is still around but now with almost 700 breweries and double the amount of women drinking ale (possibly due to it’s natural organic ingredients) there is always one for you. Still not convinced? Come down to our place and try one.

JULIAN (manager)

The Victoria has two real-ale festivals a year, the last one was April 8th-10^th with 15 cask ales on tap.

Welcome to The Victoria Blog

Welcome! We decided it was high time that we took to blogging. We've been tweeting and facebooking for a while now but we also get asked a lot of questions in the venue and from publications regarding drink knowledge and all the events we host.

So without further ado here is The Victoria's blog. You'll find cocktail recipes, drinks information, gig reviews/ information and no doubt a bit of what we fancy blogging about!

If you wish to reach us just email info@thevictoriabirmingham.co.uk or visit our website:

http://www.thevictoriabirmingham.co.uk

Where you can find our full gig listings

The Vic xxx