As such, it’s the standard BCA arrangment: choice of real ale, with a TV screen displaying the choice. Traditional decor in the BCA house style but completely fitting a Victorian pub. Decent food (cobs, pork pie, sausage rolls, and snacks like crisps), inoffensive music that you can talk over.
It’s a short way out of town, like The Swan, but very walkable from the 529, and it’s a fantastic pub.
Top local pub chap and rightful mayor of Walsall Mikee Evans went here a few weeks ago. We wanted to visit a friend in Willenhall and had loose plans for The Robin Hood, too.
This didn’t work out, but we did make The County. Recently refurbed, it’s a lot tidier and pleasant, and as Mikee mentioned, it still has seperate bar and lounge.
No cask ale, but tolerable lager, pleasant vibe, even in the bar. Not a destination pub, but one you’d happily drink in, unlike last time we visited.
Somehow, I’ve not blogged this before, though it definitely has been visited in PubBlog’s timeframe.
Last time we visited, it was a busy, but pleasant and well-run pub with a few real ales.
Today? Well, we weren’t having a good day, but basically, it’s just yet another urban, tatty, run-down pub with football and lager. Only one room open, so we got all the joy of the football and the shouting from the people watching it. The lager was at least tolerable, so it claws back some respectability there.
The name, and the grey paint job visible on the Whatpub link had me expecting trendy craft micropub, but this is not the case.
This was at one point Mad O’Rourke‘s Kipper House, and it was that incarnation I visited it as back in the early 90s. It’s also been known as The Worker’s Rest, which I felt suited it better.
Now? It’s a unremarkable but OK backstreet boozer. A little tatty in places, but friendly enough. No ale, but 2 drinkable lagers. No wine- “We’ve just sold the last one”.
Nothing to write home about but an honest enough everyday pub.
A meet-up before Beer Festival 2. Had a bit of a Desi Pub vibe, and certainly they do Indian barbecue at times. No ale, but the Cobra was decent. Not plush, but the place was clean, the landlord pleasant, and the prices reasonable, and it was right by the bus stop 🙂
Lovely. The star of the evening, I’d last been in here over 10 years ago, when Andy lived nearby. It’s changed a little- the room out back has got bigger, I think, but it’s still a multi-room, traditional pub. It’s a Black Country Taverns pub, and one of the better ones, with atmosphere as well as the usual great beer.
Just over the way from The Bridge, this was a different matter. Traditional, real ale, friendly (to the point of offering free samosas) and a nice place, even with a few kids about for the Bonfire Night celebrations.
Mixed feelings about this. The locals were a bit hostile, but the landlord friendly. The pub looks nice outside, but inside has suffered a by-the-numbers Punch Taverns makeover. Also there was no ale, as “it didn’t sell”, so we suffered Yardbird– at over 4 quid a pint. Not an awful pub, but not my kind of place.
Traditional drinkers pub, but the rougher type. No ale, no decent lager, so choosing a drink was hard, and not the most welcoming place either. We didn’t linger, as apart from anything else, the loud-looking disco was being set up.
A by-the-numbers Marstons feedbag pub, but fairly pleasant for it. A bit soulless, and the beer was a bit lacking IMO, but there was a choice of ale and there were other people just drinking, as well as us. Nothing special, but could be a lot worse.