December 2023. Darlaston. Greater Walsall.
I was going to call it a day after Stourbridge because the fourth pub in Darlaston looked a bit tricky.
Train back towards Snow Hill, change at the Hawthorns for the metro to Wednesbury, walk to Wednesbury exchange where they subject me to tinny Vivaldi and charge m 10p to use the loo and I just miss the No.79, all the time worrying my Day Pass wasn’t valid due to Walsall being a different country. AND I was going to bump into Wolves and Villa fans on the way back.
No, I’d come back another time and do Wednesbury and Darlaston and Bilston properly and do a Desi Pub.
But instead, here I was in bustling Darlaston town centre, wondering if I’d ever been before.
Blimey, I had.
So the Swan would be my sixth tick here. Could only remember the Fallings Heath, used to be a great curry place there called Suki’s. Tellingly, of the five above only the Green Dragon has survived.
It’s a sprawling place of several suburbs, but the town centre was completely deserted at 5pm. Surely not all at Molineux, whose £53 seat price had put me off attending their top-of-the-table clash with Burnley.
At the top of town the tiniest bit of heritage,
but the town centre is redeemed immediately by The Swan.
although joy turns to panic at the front door where a sign says “Regulars only due to limited space. Please ring the bell”.
I ring the bell, say hello, and am admitted. Perhaps I’m now a regular. Goodness me, they let Simon in.
It’s a classic corner street boozer, the sort of pub folk tell doesn’t make the Beer Guide anymore, but in GBG24 anything goes.
As long as the beer’s good, and the HPA on a bench seat in front of an etched window will be one of my best experiences all year. I was astonished to be asked if I was paying by card.
Classic pub design, friendly locals, a cool and crisp HPA that just got better and better (3.5).
An Old Mudgie friendly playlist of Foreigner (’81), Abba (’74) and Seamus Moore (who ?).
Blimey. Aren’t pubs wonderful ?
Luckily, I still have to do a December 2023 Stocktake, and if this isn’t Pub of the Month then, well, something else will be.
And here’s the evidence that the West Midlands has fallen.
retiredmartin 
Excellent work on gaining entry into the Swan Martin, and completing the West Midlands Good Beer Guide. Any Darlaston folk who braved Molineux for the Burnley match would have found themselves interminably bored so you definitely had the better end of things. The Swan, the Green Dragon and Middleton’s chip shop (assuming it is still going) make for a great pocket of the Black Country even if the rest of Darlaston is a bit of a ghost town. Cheers, Paul
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Thanks Paul. Middleton chippy still open. Passed it on the bus.
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Middleton closed years ago. And it’s not on a bus route
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Well that’s surprising since I actually saw it in Darlaston having caught the bus from Wednesbury bus station !
https://top-takeaways.co.uk/l-s-middleton-wednesbury/
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What a place that was! Had to fight my way in, super suspicious, but once fruit bag bloke n Co took me under their wing, was like being in a WMC.
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Knew it was you Si ! Very WMC, yet another GBG24 entry that you wouldn’t have expected. Good beer too, though the Old Rosie seemed to be the drink of choice. Fruit bags ? In Darlaston ?
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I’ve family from Darlo, live 3 miles away and quite shamefully have never been in a pub there.
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