April 2025. Wolverhampton.
What started out as a “Proper Day Out to Wolves” on the codger forum became Sheffield Hatter’s “Curated Pub Research Trip” when thrown open to the CAMRA masses on Discourse.
Which meant Will had to pin down start points, lunch breaks, bus routes and supply commemorative T-shirts. It’s hard being a leader.
At least Wolverhampton is compact, and we could rely on all-day openers, and assess for ourselves whether we ought to be chopping two or three Beer Guide entries from a major city like Wolves’s dozen GBG picks*.
I’d picked the Premier Inn next to the Great Western to make a holiday out of it; this isn’t a city you’d park your campervan in.
Two hours by train via Derby and Brum, and you arrive to glorious sunshine and a modern Greene King Hungry Horse. A chance to test if the Abbot’s drinking well.
Not today. A #PubMan needs to be in peak condition for an orderly assault on half a dozen pubs in quick order, and I resisted the undoubted charms of the Moon Under Water as well.
despite the call of a £1.29 Plum Porter. (I only use those 50p vouchers in Spoons).
Regular readers will know this as the place that banned a top Pub Man a few years back (no blue plaque), and was also touted as the home of Spoons Pub Museum.
Wolverhampton has culture, artistic and musical,
but that hadn’t been quite enough to persuade Mrs RM to join me today, despite the glorious blue skies highlighting a city with better refuse collection than its neighbour to the east.
Solid architecture,
ancient churches,
a Premier League ground bang in the heart of the city…
No Wolverhampton gets voted the Best Place to Live in the UK. No, honestly.
Not much open pubwise early doors, though,
so I admired the meat markets on the approach to our first pub,
and tried to find a seat for 10 minutes in lovely West Park.
West Park seemed virtually devoid of seating, so it’s a good job Wolverhampton has pubs, that’s all I’ll say.
*VOTE NO TO REDUCING THE SIZE OF THE GBG
retiredmartin 
No, no, vote for an amendment – Reduce the size of the GBG by getting rid of the brewery section.
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It might be a burden to tickers, but the brewery section is the part of the GBG which has the greatest historical longevity, giving an overview of the British brewing industry at that point which you can refer to for decades to come, unlike the ephemeral pub entries which can be out of date within weeks of publication with places shutting or undergoing disastrous changes of ownership or management.
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I agree to the extent that I don’t think you could reasonably sell a book to the public without a brewery section, dull though it is to me.
My middle ground would be to have a proper brewery section separate from the pubs. The inclusion of breweries on the county maps is a real mess, look at Devon. Give them their own map then list them alphabetically as at present.
I think you could have a simplified section that didn’t list ALL the occasional beers with tasting notes and make it smaller.
Oh, and reduce the length of pub descriptions. I bet you could describe the Hare & Hounds in 12 words, Matthew!
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Martin,
If only you could have been in Torquay to argue that.
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I seem to be having my argument (on a different subject) on Discourse at the moment !
That Ash is a great chairman isn’t he ?
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People often laugh when I say I once went to Wolverhampton on holiday, but it’s true (I stopped at the same Premier Inn between the railway station and the Great Western).
It makes a great base of course for trips out to the Black Country brewpubs. It was only a few months after my first trip to Franconia and they reminded me a lot of the ones there: https://whenmyfeetgothroughthedoor.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-bull-and-bladder.html
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Never a hotel but I spent a dozen or two nights at friends houses whilst volunteering at the Wolverhampton beer festival long ago.
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Probably a better breakfast.
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Wolverhampton definitely looked a lot better with the sun out.
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The Pub Men brought the sun with them, Andy.
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The Sunbeam; presumably named in honour of Sunbeam motorcycles, made in Wolverhampton by John Marston (no relation to the brewers as far as I know).
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last comment by Tim in Belper by the way (not sure where to put a name when commenting)
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Nor do I, Tim !
Adding name to the end of your comment like US Dick does allows me to add it on the blog.
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Banks/Marstons also produced a beer called Sunbeam (presumably the same reason) for a few years in the last decade. One of the ones recently dispensed with
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A very common sight until recently, Sunbeam. No idea who it could possibly appeal to.
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In the 70s, once it got established I think the GBG featured about 7,000 pubs and is now down to about 4,500 (source – BRAPA). As far as I can tell this is in line with the overall decline in pub numbers over the period. To me, real ale quality has got better, otherwise it would be pointless having CAMRA.
As another person who has stayed at the same hotel in Wolverhampton (and knowing several others) I wonder if they realise how much of their clientele is actually there for the beer.
As my name isn’t Trump I refuse to add ‘US Dick’ to the end of this comment.
Ian [IPW]
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Strongly agree, Ian. Beer quality, in and out of the GBG, seems to be improving. The marginal cask outlets tend to give up on it, as even Doom Bar won’t shift, but you can get a good pint in the ones left.
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We are ALL US Dick.
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