The Fountain Inn pub, also known as “Aunty’s bar”, was a safe haven for LGBTQIA+ people in Walsall, and those travelling in from the wider West Midlands region, during a time when homosexuality was still illegal. It closed its doors following Alice Cronin’s (the much-loved Aunty that gave the venue its name) retirement. Now almost sixty years later, the bar has inspired Birmingham Opera’s upcoming mini opera.

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After the LGBTQ+ community lost Aunty's in Walsall during the 1960s, another Black Country venue came along to cater for LGBTQ+ people across the region. Flamingo Club, Wolverhampton was opened in 1965 by George Smith, and it soon became a popular haunt for the LGBTQ+ community not just in Wolverhampton but also further afield, much as Aunty’s had been before it.

Despite the fact that homosexuality was still illegal until 1967 (and even then the laws were not equal with heterosexual counterparts), clubs and pubs were open as safe spaces for the community during the 1960s, and The Fountain Inn, AKA Aunty’s Bar in Walsall was one of those safe spaces.