PubBlog

Wolverhampton:

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Hard to belive this hasn’t made it before given the number of lunchtimes I spent here. The Hogshead in Wolves is a very different animal to it’s short-lived Walsall namesake: The Walsall one seemed to specialise in cattle-market, loud music, and crappy lagerfizz. The lager is here as well, but the pub is a little upmarket. It’s still a chain pub, but there’s a good choice of well-kept real ale, more outside space, and decent staff. the food’s Ok too. That’s why this one is still open, and the Walsall one isn’t.

Fordhouses, Wolverhampton:

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I had to deliver a friend’s PC back to him, and this was one of the nearest places to go for food. It’s part of the Table Table chain, so I suppose it’s a slightly upmarket chain pub, like The Dilke. As such, it’s OK, but not cheap (while not that expensive either), and the food is OK rather than spectacular. I didin’t try the beer, but the choice was good, and the staff pleasant. The place was pretty busy, but service was still OK.

Wednesfield:

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It’s a Wetherspoons, so you know what you’re getting: cheap beer (and lots of choice), cheap food. As it is, it’s one of the better spoons, less grotty than The Imperial, for a start. It also has the advantage of 2 really good pubs nearby. The beer garden backs onto the canal and could be nice on a hot day.

Bilston:

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A Wetherspoons. Pretty standard ‘spoons, so decent beer, cheap food, but not really any atmosphere. It’s a big, open place, and was quiet when we visited.

Bilston:

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We called in here for a look as Andy used to work here when his Auntie was landlady many years ago.

She may be spinning in her grave: It’s potentially a nice pub, and even the Wolves fans were behaving, but the choice of drink was decidedly limited (no ale, no diet mixers), and my Stella was dreadful. Shame really.

Bilston:

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Another famed pub in the Wolverhampton area, this is a one-room pub best noted for the huge choice of real ale, which is truly exceptional and well kept. Other than that it’s a one-room pub, no music, mixed clientele. There’s food, but we didn’t try it, and the beer really is the whole raison d’etre here.

Wolverhampton:

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The Great Western is something of a legend: It’s right next to the old low-level station and within a short walk of the current station on the West Coast Main line. It’s always popular: the beer and food are rightly famed, and on a Wolves match day it becomes standing room only, despite being a distance from the Molineux. Even on a non-match day, it can get crowded.

The place itself is only one room, but with nooks and crannies, and a large eating area and beer garden out the back. It’s full of railway memoraibilia, and has barely changed in the 15 or so years I’ve been dropping in.

Wednesfield:

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The second truly excellent time-warp pub in Wednesfield, built in the late 30s and listed. Inside, it’s like stepping back in time, and both food and beer are excellent and reasonably priced. Between this and the Pyle cock, Wednesfield can be unexpectedly pleasurable.

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Wednesfield:

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How wonderful a pub is this?

It meets several itmes on my ‘desireable‘ list, in that it’s Victorian, it has cobs, it’s not far from a canal and a bus, has 3 public rooms, seems to have a beer garden, no children visible, no TV, and a real fire.

It’s got atmosphere in spades, and excellent beer too. I just wish I lived nearer. Things are very traditional- a bar, a smoke room, and a lounge, and it’s really like a Black Country pub of years ago.

sadly it seems to be about to undergo a change of managment, as it’s to let.