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… Continue reading HALF A DOZEN PUBS IN EVERY GBG COUNTY. No. 46 – THE WEST MIDLANDS
Tag: West Midlands
YOU CAN RING MY BELL, RING MY BELL (TO GET ENTRY TO THE SWAN IN DARLASTON)
December 2023. Darlaston. Greater Walsall. I was going to call it a day after Stourbridge because the fourth pub in Darlaston looked a bit tricky. Train back towards Snow Hill, change at the Hawthorns for the metro to Wednesbury, walk to Wednesbury exchange where they subject me to tinny Vivaldi and charge m 10p to… Continue reading YOU CAN RING MY BELL, RING MY BELL (TO GET ENTRY TO THE SWAN IN DARLASTON)
25 MINUTES BEFORE THE TRAIN FROM WOLVERHAMPTON. WHAT TO DO ?
July 2023. Wolverhampton. With West Midlands GBG in the bag, I reckoned one more pint before home (slowing down, old age). Colmore in Brum ? Not after Si’s withering assessment at the weekend. How about Wolves ? Perhaps the Chindit on the walk back ? Haven’t been there for a decade. Sign advertising for a… Continue reading 25 MINUTES BEFORE THE TRAIN FROM WOLVERHAMPTON. WHAT TO DO ?
SIZZLING WOLVERHAMPTON
July 2023. Wolverhampton. It had taken three hours to get from Sheffield to Pensnett for the penultimate West Midlands tick. You’ve seen the photo of the cob; you’ll know whether that slog out from Dudley was worthwhile as well as inevitable. Now it got even more tricky. Look at the map and Wolverhampton looks mere… Continue reading SIZZLING WOLVERHAMPTON
DUDLEY M.O.R.
July 2023. Dudley. Tuesday lunchtime. It’s raining in Brum (twinned with Glasgow) again. I’ve no idea what logic saw me heading back on the train to Birmingham a mere three days after that Saturday of micros and brewery taps. Certainly, it was safer to visit the Black Country once BRAPA had left, and an uncompleted… Continue reading DUDLEY M.O.R.
TOP 100 PUBS – THE TOWN WALL TAVERN, COVENTRY
Right, time for some of this… April 2023. This is the problem with having completed the Guide. I now feel it’s fine to be distracted from doing GBG23 (if I ever was) by the temptations of the past. I mean, what’s the point of visiting Coventry if you don’t go the Cathedral Town Wall Tavern.… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE TOWN WALL TAVERN, COVENTRY
SENT TO COVENTRY, HAPPILY
April 2023. Thank you GBG23, for giving me a first visit to Coventry since Christmas 2018, bar a (failed) pre-emptive at the Ricoh. Has Cov changed much ? Well, blimey. Where has all this building work north of town come from ? Can it all be student accommodation, like in Sheffield ? Dunno. But it… Continue reading SENT TO COVENTRY, HAPPILY
A GOLDEN GLOW IN THE WELLINGTON
20th March 2023. If I was really going to get full value from my rail ticket(s) to Brum that Monday I’d have visited the wonderful Art Gallery, but as you’ll know it’s closed for a while, and I’d had liver and onions so a Balti in Sparkbrook wasn’t an option, either. So a last pub… Continue reading A GOLDEN GLOW IN THE WELLINGTON
THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING IN WOLLASTON
20th March 2023. I’d given myself two hours to walk the 5 miles to outer Stourbridge and back, visit the two new GBG pubs, squeeze in lunch and perhaps a Bathams. It was JUST enough time. I’d forgot how many pubs there were along the A458 as Stourbridge becomes Wollaston, and the Black Country becomes… Continue reading THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING IN WOLLASTON
I AM OLDSWINFORD’S ONLY BEER TOURIST
20th March 2023. I’m making terribly slow progress towards completing GBG23 (IF I’m actually doing it), which I know will disappoint those of you who had a tenner on me at 18/1 to repeat my GBG22 triumph (what happened to the film starring Emma Stone by the way ?). In truth I’m waiting for the… Continue reading I AM OLDSWINFORD’S ONLY BEER TOURIST
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