New home for music night that discovered Sabbath

Jim Simpson, the original manager of Black Sabbath is to make Barbara’s Bier Haus on Birmingham’s Broad Street the new weekly home of the legendary 'Henry’s Blueshouse' live music night.

Barbara’s will now host the event every Tuesday night from tonight, when 'Slide Boy Roy' takes to the stage.

Henry’s Blueshouse first ran in Birmingham from 1968 to 1970 at The Crown in Station Street. This was where Simpson discovered the band 'Earth', managing Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward as they developed from blues to heavy metal, renaming them Black Sabbath and looking after them for their first two albums in 1970.

As well as Sabbath, Henry’s welcomed a multitude of other fledgling bands to The Crown, including the likes of Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, The Groundhogs and Rory Gallagher.

Henry’s closed in the early 70s, and Simpson spent most of the next decade on the road with American bluesmen. Today, he still runs Big Bear Records, the oldest independent British record label set up in 1968, and has organised the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival for the last 42 years.

Henry’s Blueshouse was relaunched at The Bulls Head on Bishopsgate Street in 2019, and has been based on Broad Street, latterly at Snobs, since 2024, averaging a regular weekly audience of around 100.

Simpson said: “We’re pleased to be moving to Barbara’s, a popular venue during the latest Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival, with lots of festival goers saying how well-suited their sound quality, layout and atmosphere is to live music.

“This positive experience coincided with Snobs deciding to concentrate on nightclub activity on late Friday and Saturday nights, pulling back from bar activity on other nights.

“That led us to run a trial night at Barbara’s last Tuesday, which went down a storm! Barbara’s has a bigger stage, and the view of that stage is much better for music lovers who can watch from a cosier and more intimate seating and dance area. Plus they have their own in-house sound engineer.

“Henry’s had some great evenings during its two years at Snobs, but we’re now looking forward to developing even better nights at Barbara’s.”

Simpson added: “We’ve certainly come a long way since I first named Henry’s back in 1968 after a particularly handsome Afghan Hound who lived next door to me!”

Jamie Whittingham, general manager of Barbara’s Bier Haus Birmingham, said: “We’re excited to welcome Henry’s Blueshouse and, judging by the trial night on 4 August, we think it’s going to be a popular weekly gig.

“We already host some of the best party nights in Birmingham and are keen to attract an even wider clientele to enjoy our atmosphere, drinks offers and tasty food.”

Henry’s Blueshouse relaunches at Barbara’s Bier Haus on Broad Street this evening, with free admission.