The train from Stechford to Brum drops you in the centre of “New” New Street Station, an unfortunate place to be dropped.
For the third time in a row I failed to find the exit, wandering aimlessly past Leon’s and Five Guys and Prets before emerging blinking in Chinatown.
So the half hour I’d allowed myself for a leisurely stroll to get to the Burning Soul Brewery Tap at opening was suddenly a chicken-run inducing 20 minutes.
Here’s the highlights.
Burning Soul is on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter, which gets increasingly scruffy as you edge closer to Villa Park.
It’s not a thing of beauty, but when did I care about external appearance ?
I arrived dead on 1pm, pleasingly beat a clutch of slow beards to the door.
As usual, there were already loads of people in before opening, apparently at the end of a brewery tour. I would rather enter that special place in hell reserved for folk who let their dog lick me than go on a microbrewery tour, of course.
Now I bet you’re wondering what I’m going to say about this tasting room in a shed with teeny opening hours, a strong preference for card payment and no handpumps.
Really, you need to read the definitive report by BRAPA. Sadly, I couldn’t find that on Bing, so here’s the more enthusiastic Peter Allen review.
Just to annoy Si, I loved it. Cheery staff, shiny taps, and tasty beer. Particularly the Black IPA, which was astonishingly intense.
But what made this visit special were the couple of blokes on vacation from Wolverhampton to do Brum
Phil and Ian couldn’t be bothered with the tour either, and invited me to join them at their bench to talk Black Country pubs and vigorously debate the merits of BBB.
Top Pub Men. But then they’re from Wolves, so what do you expect ?
retiredmartin 
Martin, I thought the first pic was the view of the pub from its upstairs room, & was desperately scrutinising it to see where the actual bar was (I know how busy these city-centre pubs get)! Sadly, not to be.
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Surely EVERYONE recognises the iconic New St by now 😉
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As I think was explained on here a few weeks ago the easy way of finding New Street station’s exit is to use the escalators on the B (north) end of the platforms.
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Indeed you did explain, Paul, but that relies on me being able to see the B (North) end of the platforms with my duff eyesight, obscured by eateries. See also:Nuremberg.
Still a classic bit of modern architecture, mind.
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Just how long are those platforms if you can see Nuremberg?
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I’ve been on a tour of Burning Soul, but it was Two Towers when I did it, before they shipped out to The Gunmakers Arms.
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I think my two Wolves pubbers were headed to Two Towers next.
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“pleasingly beat a clutch of slow beards to the door.” –You know you’re reading RetiredMartin when you get a delightfully funny line like this one.
Don’t know if I could tolerate that bright red floor for longer than a single pint. But then again maybe the pint would grant me added tolerance. 😉
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“wandering aimlessly past Leon’s and Five Guys”
Five Guys? Those blokes and their burgers from California?
“More metro coming”
I like the sign on the right; ‘light rail – a greener way travel’. I guess it doesn’t use heavy metals? 🙂
“Micro pub at top closed”
Which you won’t know until you get all the way up there.
“New BRAPA self-driving car”
Didn’t they use that in Star Wars as the landspeeder on Tatooine?
“Possibly NOT an art installation”
These days, who can tell?
“Office wheelie chair chic”
Possibly the first known use of a non-motorised mobility scooter.
“Particularly the Black IPA, which was astonishingly intense.”
You’re not talking about the bartender are you? 😉
“and vigorously debate the merits of BBB.”
Can’t ask for better than that!
Cheers
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Just reminded me what I ended up having for lunch at New Street Station. Giant cheeseburger and fries. Expensive but very tasty.
Five Guys have been over here for six years, expanding into the leisure parks and shopping centres of the wealthy cities. Not challenging Maccy D yet.
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Only twenty minutes from the world’s best pork baps but time was tight.
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Great Western?
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Yes.
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I had two pork baps in the Great Western yesterday teatime. My wife had suggested lunch at Codsall Station so that was both of Holden’s railway pubs in a day. And it was bostin’ pints of Bathams Mild in the Unicorn, Wordsley and Royal Exchange, Stourbridge in between – and Draught Bass in the Railway back in Stafford.
After Stockport, Huddersfield and Eccles I’ve lost count of the Proper Pubs I’ve used in the first half of this month.
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Well, I’m glad you liked it (and thanks for the plug!). I’ve been back twice since then and probably like it less than on the first visit (they say you should never go back…and they’re probably right!) Every time you go there’s a different set of beers on so there’s no consistency. I’ve also got over the novelty of bench seating in an industrial unit…but the beer there is really good.
The barman in the ‘Evil Keg’ photo is the chief brewer (I believe).
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Thanks for your Mention, Martin.
Phil and on behalf of Ian.
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Are you sure that’s not a Rick Parfitt lookalike in the last photo? Great blogging – I would like you to spend the next month blogging exclusively on Brum! Litter is a disgrace but binmen strike has been ongoing for about four decades I think….Looks well worth a visit
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The Jewellery Arms was superb, I thought. You’d enjoy that.
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