Culture And Memory

Tales of The Gladiator

Tales of the Gladiator: Reviving Druids Heath's Heritage. Tales of the Gladiator will preserve the heritage of The Gladiator Pub, Druids Heath, through community engagement, innovative events, and digital records. Closed in 1996, the pub's decline marked a loss in the social fabric of the area. Our project celebrates its role as a community hub by collecting artefacts, photographs, and oral histories from locals during open engagement sessions and archive research. The project will benefit the community by valuing this lost space, creating pride and rekindling local identity. We will preserve memories through an exhibition, a community-performed play, a film, oral histories, and a commemorative beer served in a pop-up pub. These will be archived and accessible at The Outpost, a community space opposite the pub. Our legacy will be a visual and aural archive, a play, a digital film, and merchandise that preserves the working-class heritage of Druids Heath.