A Slice of Pies Fever at Collingwood Footy Club’s Official Watering Hole
Words by Doosie Morris · Updated on 16 Sep 2022 · Published on 16 Sep 2022
Chris “Mitchy” Mitchell has been running the 169-year-old Birmingham Hotel – an old-fashioned, no-frills pub’s pub on Smith Street in Melbourne – for close to 10 years. It’s taken the lifelong Magpie-mad bar manager a few of those years to turn the joint from dive into a perfectly unpretentious and welcoming watering hole, with exposed brick walls dotted with footy and beer posters.
The parmas have helped, as have the undercover beer garden and swathe of screens showing sports matches from across the world, from AFL to UFC and NBA (and most other sports in between.)
But this Saturday, there’s just one game on locals’ minds at the only official pub of the Collingwood Football Club (which is, paradoxically, located just outside the boundary of Collingwood in Fitzroy). As the Magpies – the sole Melbourne team remaining in the finals – face off against the Swans for a sold-out prelim final at the SCG, it’ll be standing-room only at the Birmingham. There are more than 150 covers booked for the big game, which kicks off at 4.45pm. As on every day of the year, Collingwood Football Club members get 15 per cent off – “but we welcome everyone,” Mitchy says. “We even had Freo supporters in here last week.”
Nerves are running high as one of the city’s oldest clubs – with one of the league’s most legendary fanbases, the Black and White Army – guns for a spot in next week’s Grand Final.
“We’re not gonna win,” Mitchy tells Broadsheet resolutely. And while Sydney is the favourite to snatch victory on its home turf, not everyone is convinced. “It’s just nerves, he’s just playing it down,” a bartender chimes in. “He does this every time.”
Whatever happens, it’ll be a stirring spot to watch the drama unfold. The Birmingham, unlike a few of the city’s other former footy haunts, still has Carlton Draught on tap and bartenders who are always up for chat. It’s the kind of place that welcomes a lone visitor but can cater to a crowd and, as Mitchy says, everyone’s welcome, regardless of the Pies link.
“No matter what people say, Pies fans are much friendlier than we look.”
The Swans vs Magpies AFL preliminary final begins at 4.45pm on Saturday September 17.
