“Where’s Cradley Heath ?” asked Charles, one of the more difficult questions to answer, along with;
- “Why is that pub shut when it should be open ?”
- “What do you think of these shoes ?” and
- “Why ?”
Possible acceptable correct answers included;
- The Black Country
- North of Cradley (not the Worcestershire one)
- Staffordshire (old counties)
- Rowley Regis
- near Halesowen
- Dunno
But not;
- Just below Merry Hill
- West Midlands
The OS extract is a bit of a jumble, but at least there’s a station.
Only a Beer Guide pub would bring you here, I’d guess. Or faggots.
Oddly for a Scotsman living in Norfolk, Charles is an aficionado of faggots, and like the Childcatcher sniffed these out as soon as we hit the High Street.
Scriven & Thornton Fine Foods is a stunning butchers, resembling a little slice of Bury Market brought indoors. We stocked upon pork and apple pies for the journey home, pausing to scoff them in a truck stop at Welford.
That was the highlight of our tour of Cradley Heath Central. We resisted the lure of the GBG regular Spoons,
and the potential pre-emptive Club.
Plenty of micropub potential elsewhere;
On the walk to our GBG pub you have interesting street names, views to The Hills, and industrial estates of the first order.
The Plough & Harrow is the only real ale in a vast area between the Heath and Halesowen, a solid community pub in the Tipton style beloved of pub tickers.
Pleasingly, it opened five minutes early, so we were installed in the best seat in the house by 10.55am. Outside Spoons and Stonegate, a rare pint before midday.
The signage suggest beers from Worcestershire, but this is a solid line-up from Shropshire, Herefordshire and, of course, Snowdonia.
In an ex-Banks’s pub, it was necessary to go for the Original ((Mild to you and me).
The Original was fine (NBSS 3), but Charles instinctively knew it was a bad choice. The pub, though, was where you want to be if you find yourself in Cradley Heath at 11am.
Some astonishingly large sandwiches of a style last seen in a Salvation Army café in 1977,
the award winning pumpkin from the Halesowen Allotment Fayre,
and a soundtrack from 1980. Even Charles recognised “The Tide Is High“.
After a succession of modern bars and brewery taps, this was a little throwback to an earlier time, when gentlemen wore pullovers and ties and pubs weren’t redecorated every three years.
And, no, Charles didn’t leave his faggots under the table.
retiredmartin 
Surely he’s helping his Uncle Ted hide out?
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a cultural reference, isn’t it ? Is it from Baywatch ?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Are you suggesting Ted has been hiding out as a Pamela Anderson impersonator for the last decade?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pullovers and ties …great picture you paint…I presume the gaffer was suitably attired in said outfit? Cradeley Heath in the GBG is a rarity I guess? Speedway still open or has that long gone?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cradley Heathens are still racing, but their home track is either Monmore Green or Perry Barr as the stadium in Cradley Heath is no more (I think).
I had a stall at the Black Country Boating Festival a couple of months ago and the whole one end of the marquee was taken up by the Cradley Heathens stall trying to raise funds to resurrect/renew the old stadium (again, that’s what I think is happening…I wasn’t paying full attention!). There will be people who know more than me…mostly in Cradley Heath!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You know more than me, Pete 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like a great quiz question Pete! Cheers pal I will go into Kevin Turvey mode to find out
LikeLiked by 2 people
Is “Intended Street” a marriage or planning reference? Weird name for a street.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I guessed a provisional name for a new street they never changed !
LikeLike
Love it.
LikeLike
“Or faggots.”
Careful. Folks on this side of the pond might misunderstand. 😏
Cheers
LikeLiked by 1 person
Only wilfully.
LikeLike
I just meant that they might take that sentence as proof that British cooking is not that great. I mean, who would willingly eat a bundle of sticks? (heh) 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
” Bad language will not be tolerated ”
Surely an even better sign than being in the GBG that the pub is a good ‘un.
LikeLike
Time to do every one of Sam Smith’s establishments then.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That might be a challenge if I ever finish the GBG !
LikeLike
Ah, the Plough and Harrow looks like my kind of place. And I’m a big fan of Intended Street – I wonder if that was just on the town plans and they forgot to actually name it
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it’s very Runcorn (too posh for Widnes). I think your theory on street naming holds up.
LikeLike
Have much enjoyed catching up on all these recent posts, vicariously traveling, thanks to you. Especially loved this line: “Some astonishingly large sandwiches of a style last seen in a Salvation Army café in 1977”– Ha! I don’t suppose they’re history buffs, preserving such traditions as a public service?
LikeLiked by 1 person
The folk at the Plough & Harrow were what I call Old School – shirt, tie and pullover, and would certainly have enjoyed social catering like that in 1977, as did I as a young boy. You rarely see rolls like that these days !
LikeLike