PubBlog

Norton Canes:

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This is a pleasant locals pub. There’s no railway any more near here, but it did pass close by. There’s a choice of food from cobs to a full meal, and a decent choice of real ale and cider. There’s a beer garden as well.

Cannock:

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Called in here before a walk back home. It’s a by-the-numbers carvery- but very cheap at £3.59 Mon-Sat. We only had a soft drink.

It’s innoffensive, but unexceptional.

Essington:

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This is The Bumpkin‘s local, so I’d better be nice.

It is a nice pub, and surprisingly large, with a real mix of ages from 20somethings on their way to the big city to pensioners. It’s very much a local’s pub, (being the only pub in the centre of the village) but everyone’s friendly. The beer is pretty much always good too, with changing guest beers.

Essington:

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We’ve been curious about this pub for a long time. It’s alongside the A462, a surprisingly busy road that connects Willenhall to the M6. It’s an inviting pub, with a decent car park over the road.

We sampled beer and food: both were good (Abbott Ale FTW), and prices were good too, and the staff were pleasant, so it’s worth a visit. It’s a bit off the beaten track if you’re not driving though.

Essington:

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I’ve been here before, but not for many years. It’s a pleasant little pub with real ale and food: about it’s only disadvantage is it’s location: more than a mile out of Bloxwich.

Still, we were out walking and meeting The Bumpkin, so we dropped in. Very pleasant, nice beer garden.

Lichfield:

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This one seems popular with the Lichfield Blog crowd and the rest of the twatter-using occupants of Lichfield, and we had time to kill before the 991 bus arrived, so we dropped in. We’ve been here before, a few years ago, on a Saturday, when it was packed, noisy, and like a sub-standard, cheap canteen.

It’s much better now. The main rooms have been refurbed, and the back room seems about to be. There’s a nice outside area (with a beach!), decentish beer, and nice staff.

Church Lawton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs:

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Near the A50/A34 junction, this pub lies alongside the Trent and Mersey canal, and is traditional inside. Sadly, I was driving, so couldn’t sample the real ale (including Dizzy Blonde…), but I did have lunch, which was excellent and good value. All the staff were very friendly too. Loads of parking, and a canalside beer garden.

Wall, near Lichfield, Staffordshire:

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As reported by Brownhills Bob a short while ago, The Trooper is now open again, so we took a walk out to have a look. A few years ago, this was a popular place for meals and well known for some distance around.

First impressions outside were good- it looks smart, but the first impressions inside weren’t: It had the appearance of being a bit too food biased, and maybe a little bit up itself: the restaurant area is large, and the staff had the standard upmarket food pub uniform.

This impression was wrong: The bar area is still a bar area, and while there’s a strong food bias (it’s a “restaurant and free house” according to signage), it still feels like a pub, unlike The Boat nearby, which doesn’t get a listing here as it’s a restaurant, not a pub.

It’s definitely gone for the ‘upmarket pub food’ end of the market, and seems to do this quite well: not cheap by any means, but not terribly expensive either, a good choice of beer and cider (several real ales, for a start), and a friendly barman. Lots of outside space too, but it’s a pity about the ‘Jazz Lite” music playing- it’s a bit like shopping mall lift music. To be honest, the slightly-posh pub food market is probably the only way to make a decent amount of money- making the pub a place people purposely go to for food, and it’s probably going to succeed there: certainly we’ll go back, even with the long walk.

The menu says it’s part of the Comfy Pub Company- which is based up the road in Stonall, and doesn’t seem to have any other pubs yet, which suggests that it’s been bought from the previous pub co, who allegedly drove a previous landlord out with high rents.

Gnosall, Staffs:

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We called in here on a day’s boat trip. What a very pleasant pub. Real ale, very friendly staff, and very fine pub food at a decent price. It’s right by the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal and just on the edge of Gnosall.

Lichfield:

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Further proof that often you can find better pubs just outside the very centre of a town. There’s cask ale, and when we visited a pretty decent band playing too. The place was full of locals, who knew each other, but was still friendly.