A GREEN DUCK IN ALDRIDGE’S HOP STATION

February 2026. Aldridge. Walsall.

No railway station in Aldridge (the curse of B******g), but plenty of buses from my secret campervan stop. I still made the schoolboy error of heading for central Aldridge, confused by Lazy Turtles and Hop Heads,

and missing the main point that my target GBG pub was actually in a suburb a mile north of town. I thought Aldridge was the suburb !

Here’s what you come here for; Beef Bourguignon spelt correctly,

and a place to buy your £25k Linn/Naim Hi-Fi system.

They’ve got the red triangle the wrong colour, mind.

The Hop Station is in a little shopping area containing another old GBG pub, the Lazy Hill’s desi menu sadly not available until 3pm.

So the micro beats the roadhouse on opening times,

and while it’s no heritage pub it’s spacious and comfortable and friendly,

with darts and U2 and “Steaks by Heather”. A real community micro.

Half a dozen in already, with a man talking to his dog the highlight.

Excellent beer, too. Green Duck’s Space Lord a chewy NBSS 4. A deserved GBG newbie, though if you sense a slight lack of enthusiam in the dull title, you may be right. It’s not you, Hop Station, it’s me.

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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.

26 thoughts on “A GREEN DUCK IN ALDRIDGE’S HOP STATION”

      1. I still haven’t got around to visiting Haywards Heath after your strong-ish recommendation, and now you want us to go to not-at-all-fascinating Aldridge. Too much lack of excitement. (Though I was quite impressed by the way you toned down the Lone Tree. Apologies for reading out of order.)

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  3. “No railway station in Aldridge (the curse of B******g)”

    Gonna guess that one is ‘building’. Also, (looks up)
    I haven’t paid too much attention to your OS maps but, I must say, that one has absolutely boring names.

    “I thought Aldridge was the suburb !”

    Tsk, tsk.

    “Here’s what you come here for; Beef Bourguignon spelt correctly,”

    Wait a tic! … Correct!

    “They’ve got the red triangle the wrong colour, mind.”

    (slow golf clap)
    This is my shamed face (that actually took me a second to get). 🙄

    “So the micro beats the roadhouse on opening times,”

    (looks down)
    Nice use of their limited outside area.

    “with darts and U2”

    Is one supposed to throw the darts AT U2?

    “with a man talking to his dog the highlight.”

    That’s not an updated euphemism for going to see a man about a dog is it?

    “though if you sense a slight lack of enthusiam in the dull title, you may be right. It’s not you, Hop Station, it’s me.”

    It must be a tad, arduous, at times to always be ‘on’ when penning your posts. 😏
    (heck, your enthusiasm was so dull, you spelt ‘enthusiasm’ wrong. 😉

    Cheers

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    Reply

      1. Thx Paul.
        So, does that mean ‘building’ should be changed to ‘bustling’?
        (as in, get in done in a hurry**)

        ** – government definition of hurry, of course 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I’m not sure who the Canadian equivalent is (Ben Johnson ?) but Beeching has an historic reputation on a par with the Child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

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      3. “I’m not sure who the Canadian equivalent is (Ben Johnson ?) but Beeching has an historic reputation on a par with the Child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

        I’m in a bit of a ‘mood’ (as I’m sure you’ve guessed), so in my opinion, ALL of our members of parliament would currently be the ‘equivalent’. 🤔

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