[2] It is believed the building was constructed between 1450 and 1500 with some evidence dating to 1492 (the same year the Saracen's Head in nearby Kings Norton was completed).

[3] The building was purchased in 1589, by "John Dyckson, alias Bayleys",[4] who, in the 1580s, had been buying a number of properties and lands in "the street called Deritend" and in Bordesley.

In the original deed, John Dyckson is described as a "Caryer", which in the West Midlands at this time, when roads were nothing more than hollow-ways and bridle paths, implied that he owned several trains of packhorses.

In 1851, Joshua Toulmin Smith saved the Old Crown from demolition when the Corporation proposed demolishing the building in order to "improve the street".

In the summer of 1994, Pat Brennan and his youngest son, Peter, were doing repairs and clearing out the old sheds to the rear of the property when they found the old well, which had been closed off for more than 100 years.

At the end of May 1998, under the guidance of Pat and Ellen Brennan and their sons Patrick, Gary and Peter, after the family's £2 million investment into Birmingham's most famous hostelry, The Old Crown was restored to its former glory and reopened.