A short journey to the mysterious Wylde Green, which has never featured in any pub blog, ever.
But they have their own bears, respect for that.
Back in January 2019, young BRAPA (42) visited the Spoons in Boldmere but forgot to tick the preemptive craft bar.
Perhaps because it wasn’t open, a feeble excuse if you ask me.
More shop than bar, on entering.
But the presence of the dog and dirty shoes confirmed it’s a pub.
No cask, no call for it or summat, so I had a half of something inadvisable and laughed at a story that ended with the punchline “caught him having a w**k”.
For any children reading, he was catching up on sleep.
I popped in the Bishop Vesey for Old times sake, as it had scored top marks in 2005.
In 2021, no-one needs seven (7) handpumps, certainly not in a Birmingham suburb.
But I did remember to use my first Spoons/CAMRA voucher for something like 27 years, and the Backyard Blonde improved under my warm caress to a 3.
The pub, though, was a riot, a melting pot of cultures, and I loved it.
West Midlands Wetherspoons are some of the greatest things life has to offer, and for £1.49 they can be yours, all yours.
retiredmartin 
Are those bears the local equivalent of Stockport’s frogs or Ellesmere’s mermaids?
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Or Cambridge cows or Sheffield Bears. Yes it’s the year for ticking animals.
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In simple terms, yes. First there were the owls and then a few years later it was bears which appeared all around Birmingham, Solihull and Sutton Coldfield…all decorated by local artists and sold off for charity at the end of the season.
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You do have a way with beers. Russ will kill that comment.
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Are Spoons starting to flog non national brands a bit more, or is it just some bars? Be interesting to see if their autumn beer festival runs this year.
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Not obviously, I think the Bishop Vesey is an outlier. Still Abbot, Ruddles, Doom, and the cheapo microbrew as standard.
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I’ve seen Backyard in most of the local spoons. They do a wide range including a nice stout and the Spoons in Walsall, Bloxwich, Aldridge and Sutton always seem to carry 1 or 2.
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BTW, are you saying BRAPA is the answer to everything?
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I thought that was cheese.
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BRAPA is the answer to cheese?
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Cottage cheese, obviously.
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Great to see Boldmere Bear making an appearance Martin, there aren’t many of those Big Sleuth sculptures still in circulation (I think there might still be an owl and a bear outside the Children’s Hospital in the City Centre though). As for the question as to whether Boldmere constitutes the less glamorous end of Sutton Coldfield, the Falcon Lodge estate would easily beat it in the earthiness stakes. The Bishop Vesey is one of the more consistent Wetherspoons I’ve come across for beer quality, which reminds me I need to dig my CAMRA vouchers out. I might have to arm wrestle you for the rights to Wylde Green though – here’s my ‘evidence’ but you’d have to put it to the pub bloggers arbitration board (https://wmexplorer.blogspot.com/search?q=wylde+green). Cheers, Paul
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I’ll concede to you on Wylde Green, Paul !
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All the real hipsters are drinking at The Sommar Tap in Boldmere…£11 pints means it is catching a lot of the spoons regulars
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