February 2026. Stonnall.
A rare new GBG pub double, and just a 20 minute stroll from Lazy Hill in the West Midlands down to Stonnall over the Staffs border.
I am delighted to find I know nothing about Stonnall (pop. 1,546) so I use AI. Chat GPT tells me it’s the 3,756th dullest town on earth, but that may be an hallucination. And it may have counted Shirley 3,755 times.
“Visit the famous Lone tree” it tells me, so I do.
Every afternoon at 3:45pm the entire population of the villages make a pilgrimage there, with their dogs. I spent ages trying to get an atmospheric shot; this was the best I could do;
It’s no Sycamore Gap, is it ?
Reading the information board at the Pinfold you might imagine you’re in a major tourist site,
and there’s a temptation to prise open the time capsule, but we all know that inside it’s the 2016 Good Beer Guide document listing the Brexit benefits.
The park contains discarded Blossom Hill rather than Bulmers,
and our pub is a classic 4pm opener,
Though, of course, there’s already a couple in at 3:58.
It’s a busy community pub, the sort Banks’s used to do well, unfussy and welcoming.
I ask the landlady what the chap in front (Mr 3:59) is drinking, she says “They’re all good !“, and I suspect they are; the Butty Bach is cool and creamy (NBSS 3.5).
I consider asking about the bizarre appeal of the Stonnall tree, but settle on weather. It’s about to change, apparently.
retiredmartin 