The 3rd very local pub. No food, and the lounge is permanently empty, but a nice local friendly pub with OK beer, good prices and nice staff. Dominated by the local football club, but not annoyingly so.
All posts by stymaster
The Victoria
A favourite of mine on the outside edge of the town centre.
Decent beer, reasonable prices, nice atmosphere (music, but not too loud, no chavs). There’s a small but pleasant beer garden. The only food is cobs, but as we all know that the presence of cobs is one of the signs of a *proper* pub. Music is rockish, audible but not too loud to talk over.
Black Country Arms
Formerly a strip club, and before that the Green Dragon, this is reputedly one of the oldest pubs in the area.
Anyone that remembers the old Green Dragon that re-opened in the eighties will recognise the interior: It’s almost the same, but clean and tidy. The new owners wanted to create a traditional pub, and they have. There’s a huge range of beer including decent ale (with some in house ale on it’s way), music you can hear but hold a conversation over, friendly staff, and no chavs evident. In fact, the only problem was that the bar got very busy until extra staff arrived.
The Dilke
Visited this (unusually) by car, with mothers in tow for Saturday lunch.
It’s a pretty standard pubco chain pub, part of the Table Tablechain (what a depressingly shite name for a ‘brand’. Wankers.), but pleasant enough.
Reasonable range of beer, though none for me (driving). Surroundings OK, Food OK too, and family-friendly. Not really my thing, but handy enough if that’s what you’re after, and sometimes useful.
The Boatmans Rest
Previously The Red Lion, this is very much a local for me. In Walsall Wood High St, handily opposite the local Indian restaurant (which is why I visited, to wait for my takeaway with a pint of wife-beater and a magazine).
It’s a nice enough, busy two-room local: no food at the moment, but a couple of guest beers. The staff are friendly and the beer not too expensive. Entertainment, if that’s your thing, on some Fri/Sat nights.
The Elms
The Elms is one of those pubs that leave me in a quandary. It’s not that nice. It was a grotty old hole full of chavs serving shite beer, but it’s been cleaned up. Still a bit of a nest at times though.
Problem is, there are only two pubs and one ‘wine bar’ close to the centre, and that’s ‘close’ as in ‘about 10 minutes walk’, so by default it’s where you go. It’s got the location too.
Still, at least you don’t stick to the carpet anymore, and my pint of wife-beater was above average too.
[edit 26/4/2009]
It’s still bloody grim. The Stella’s shit again too.
Closed: The Black Cock
Here we go then, kicking of a new load of crap I post:
(pic stolen from PigBlog).
The Black Cock. One of my locals. Good food, good beer, neither the cheapest, but not the most expensive either by some good margin. Local community pub that has varied over the years from rough to pretty nice. It’s pretty nice now.