There is a bit of a backstory to Henry’s.

The O Bar is Henry’s fourth home. Back in 1968 Henry’s Blueshouse was held every Tuesday at The Crown on Station Street where it featured emerging British bands such as Status Quo, Chicken Shack, Judas Priest, Jethro Tull, Rory Gallagher & Taste, Ten Years After, Thin Lizzy and American Bluesmen including Arthur Big Boy Crudup, Champion Jack Dupree, Lightnin’ Slim, Reverend Gary Davis, J.B. Hutto, Son House, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Whispering Smith and more.

In 1968 Henry’s featured a young Birmingham band named Earth. They were rebooked several times, asked if Henry’s Blueshouse owner Jim Simpson would manage them, which he did, name-changing the band to Black Sabbath, taking them to two hit albums (“Black Sabbath” and “Paranoid”) and a hit single (“Paranoid”) before losing them to two sharp-suits from London with fancy cars.

Deciding not to repeat the same mistake, Simpson went on the road through UK and Europe with a string of 26 American Bluesmen as well as recording them, which necessitated closing down Henry’s for a short break of some 50 years. Simpson reopened Henry’s, still in Birmingham, this time at The Bulls Head, but his plans were disrupted when the Brewery who owned the pub sold it, Henry’s moved to Velvet Music Rooms, just around the corner. After a splendid 20 months, the bar owners sold that venue and Henry’s Blueshouse moved down the street to its current home, The O Bar.

For more information, contact Jim Simpson on 0121 454 7020 or email jim@bigbearmusic.com