With apologies to Devo.
February 2026. Lichfield.
My third GBG pub ticked before five, I actually felt wiped out as a night in Lichfield lay before me. Young BRAPA really needs to finish the Guide before he hits middle age and loses that ticking energy.
But with, er, zero pounds spent on my night’s luxury accommodation I knew I ought to do one revisit, and it would have been the old school Earl if I’d seen a Pedigree pump.
But you can’t come to Lichfield and not do a micro, Stafford Paul will tell you that.
It boils down to a problematic choice between Beerbohm and the Whippet, the other two thirds of the unholy GBG trinity on Tamworth Street.
Are there three Beer Guide pubs closer together than these three anywhere ?
The Whippet has bench seating all the way round so gets the nod,
and it’s a pleasant half hour with soundtrack of Supertramp, the Bee Gees and Fleetwood Mac, and a well-travelled landlord who has to take a long phone call about a gas meter reading.
Add a chewy pint of Shiny Disco Balls (3.5) and you’ve got a decent start to your night,
which ends with crispy beef and Singapore rice (NCTSS 4) from Golden Wok,
a takeaway so good I’m already planning a return to Lichfield, particularly if Stafford Paul can join me in the Horse & Jockey.
retiredmartin 
I was having a similar thought yesterday in Derby, with the Victoria Inn, Brunswick Inn and Alexandra Hotel very close together. But they’re in a stretch rather than a cluster, so maybe Lichfield wins.
LikeLike
Thanks a lot for leading me to watching the Devo video for the first time :-S
LikeLike
Yes, Lichfield is so easy for me to get to, especially with this government having enabled the recent reintroduction of both evening and Sunday buses there. And I usually don’t need much notice.
Manchester’s Kennedy Street has three pubs in a row but I think only Lichfield’s Tamworth Street has that plus a pair of pubs opposite.
LikeLike
Oh, and the Earl of Lichfield was where I first drank Marstons.
That was 21st December 1972.
LikeLike