HALF A DOZEN PUBS IN EVERY GBG COUNTY. No. 46 – THE WEST MIDLANDS

One of my favourites, but a ridiculously large county to pick half a dozen pubs from.

Why don’t CAMRA split out Greater Stourbridge into a separate chapter, and give the whole area below Birmingham centre to Warwickshire, hmmm.

Let’s start by annoying the Great Western fan boys;

Wolverhampton – The Stile

Yes, the Great Western is great, it’s next to Wolves railway station, it has that Batham Bitter on (sometimes) and everything, but if I recommend the Stile I’m pushing you to walk the town, perhaps stop in the wondrous Art Gallery,

and visit one of the all-time back street gems,

bowling green out back,

bargain Banks’s Bitter (NBSS 4+) and bowls of stew which in 2018 seemed to cost a couple of quid.

“Luckily, even the most well-oiled resisted the temptation to sing along to “Love of my life” by the Dooleys, the most cutting-edge selection on a jukebox which I couldn’t work anyway.“

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Another back street boozer as we enter the real Black Country, where you’d expect me to pick the Vine (Bull & Bladder), so I won’t, despite the artisanal culinary offer.

Wollaston (Greater Stourbridge) – Unicorn

But I want you to visit Stourbridge, to see the glassworks museum, to marvel at the collection of unspoilt Batham pubs like the Unicorn,

where you can join in the conversation about the Masons and the embarrassment of being related to a Telegraph reader.

OK, you’ll get attacked by an over-friendly dog who’s after your cob, but that’s pub life, isn’t it ?

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Head about 6 miles east next; it’ll only take you about 6 hours on public transport.

West Bromwich – The Vine

Got to have a Desi pub in there somewhere, and the Vine is one of the originals.

Nothing special architecturally, and the main seating areas are basically conservatories.  But the atmosphere is wonderful. Perhaps it was the contrast between Cambridge and multi-cultural Brom, but this has always struck me as the pub where every section of society meets for cheap grub, beer and football on the TV. I believe the Good Beer Guide would call it a “cultural melting pot”.

Over 20 years I’ve popped in the legendary indoor barbecue a dozen times, enjoying simple grilled meats and fish with naan and inadvisable chillies, washed down by a single changing beer.

Carling is the beer of choice, but I shan’t be telling folk that they’re clueless idiots who should be drinking real ale with their Methi Chicken.

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Do all of these towns start with a “W” ? You wonder.

Nope.

Birmingham – The Bull

It’s always been tough picking one pub in Brum. I’ve never warmed to the Welly as much as some, and I hadn’t quite appreciated the charm of the Bull until Life After Football’s expertly curated tour of the hostelries north of town last Spring.

In its own way, it’s as gorgeous as the Bartons Arms, and incredibly cosy with its rambling interior and bench seats. As long as the jugs don’t fall on your head.

Hooky never tastes as good as it did here. That really is a classic Old Skool beer line-up.

Just don’t overdo it and fall in the canal. Did you know Birmingham has more canals than Venice (and Milton Keynes, come to that).

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Let’s head east for the last of my five for some Bass.

Coventry – Town Hall Tavern

No West Midlands tour is complete without Coventry’s cathedrals and other architectural gems,

but it’s been a bit short on classic boozers since those pubs on Spon End that used to open at 10am to sell Brew XI and Bass were ruined by industrial decline and the smoking ban.

Luckily the Town Wall remains, just off Spon Street,

A Proper Pub, a Bass shrine, and they’ve even got the Manet painting on the wall. Possibly the original.

Great Bass, great banter.

Particularly when the gents at the bar start talking high secure units and greeting fellow theatre lovies with “Enter Stage Left”.

“Don’t shout” says our barperson.

“He MADE me shout !“.

Over to you to complete the six.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

36 thoughts on “HALF A DOZEN PUBS IN EVERY GBG COUNTY. No. 46 – THE WEST MIDLANDS”

  3. A good choice.
    The Beacon or the Great Western wouldn’t have surprised me but with bits of Warwickshire and Staffordshire included it can’t have been easy deciding.

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    1. It’s a long while, perhaps a decade, since I last popped in the Beacon. It’s not a place you tend to pass very often unless you’re heading to Himley to complain about the Crooked House being shut.

      Will you be presenting a motion in Dundee to have Wolves returned to Staffs ?

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      2. A lot of the classic Black Country pubs are places that you have to make a certain effort to get to rather than just happening to be passing.

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  4. Never actually been in the Bull, although a lot of people speak highly of it. IIRC we tried to get in there on our Birmingham trip in 2017 but found it closed on a Saturday afternoon.

    There’s also a large chunk of historic Worcestershire in the West Midlands, of course.

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      1. So we went in the disappointing Gunmakers instead, although that was the only time I have met the elusive West Brom EL in the flesh.

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  5. Lots of Baggies fans moaning about the prices at The Vine. I wouldn’t know, too busy paying £6 for Staropramen at the closer to the ground Royal Oak.

    Hear the Bartons Arms closed suddenly a fortnight ago.

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    2. Two months ago I was paying £2.60 for Bathams Mild and £5 for a big plate of faggots, chips and peas so there’s not much grounds for “moaning about the prices at The Vine”.

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      2. I wondered if Paul was referencing a different Vine too !

        Does my Vine (the one near the Hawthorns) have dynamic pricing e.g. Prices up when WBA play glamour opponents like Rotherham or win a corner ?

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  8. Ah, this was the post I’d been waiting for Martin and you’ve conjured up some fine selections there. The Stile was the scene of one of my most memorable pub meals, an authentic goulash with at least three different types of coleslaw! The Bull is well worth seeing just for the ceramic collection and sense of gunmaking history, a real parlour classic, and I was only in the Unicorn yesterday on my way back from Kinver. Impossible for me to pick just one additional candidate (and yes the Great Western and the Beacon Hotel would need to be in there) but I’d have to give a shout out to the Trumpet as somewhere that’s unique locally. Musti and Denise are managing to keep the place afloat despite the impact of Covid and other recent setbacks (a burglary), and it’s still very special indeed when the jazz is in full swing. Cheers, Paul

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    1. Paul,
      On the Stile I’ve recently posted elsewhere that “it is open from 11.30am and every day and has a proper diversity of customers who get on so well together, friendly and efficient staff, a well-kept cask conditioned beer brewed only half a mile away, a few nationally recognised keg beers, great value sensible food from a modest menu, ground floor toilets and a bowling green for those who actually want to participate in sport rather than just idly watching a big screen to see others doing it”.

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      1. Last month might have been the first time used the Trumpet.
        On getting home I learnt that my late mother in law used to go there for the music, it being not far from Sedgley.

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  9. Has to be a pub from Walsall with it being the home of the Midlands (or the epicentre)
    Black Country Arms, The Fountain, Katz or even the Jiggers.
    I’d go for the Fountain, particularly on a vinyl night.

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