Lichfield:
Another pub right in the centre of Lichfield, and this one embodies what’s wrong with many town centre pubs: Loud music, crap beer, and no soul. It even looks tatty, though it’s evidently not that long since a refurb.
Category Archives: Staffordshire
The Horse and Jockey
Lichfield:
This one did hit the spot. Just off the busy Bird St, this place is a free house, has cask ale, and advertises cobs. There’s a mix of ages, music (but not loud music), and friendly staff. The best pub of the evening.
The Kings Head
Lichfield:
Right in the centre of town, this pub is usually busy. It’s not a bad place: decent cask ale, outside space, cheap food. On the face of it it should be a very nice pub indeed, but something says ‘just OK’. A few too many pissed up blokes, kids playing football outside (this is in the yard of a town centre pub on Friday evening, not an afternoon in a spacious garden). Dunno, it just didn’t hit the spot.
The Harrows
Near Coven, just off the A449 Wolverhampton-Stafford Rd:
This place has changed hands fairly recently- and I was last in here nearly 20 years ago. It’s now a pretty average managed pubco pub in several ways: nothing really stands out, but it’s not a chain pub. I was driving, sadly, so the beer remains unsampled.
It clearly used to be a multi-room pub but has been opened out. There’s food, but it doesn’t take the pub over: The food itself is very slightly expensive compared to some, but the steak was *excellent*, even though the rest didn’t match that, it was perfectly OK.
The Railway Inn
Shenstone, Staffordshire:
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Shenstone is essentially a slightly posh commuter village for Birmingham. Unusually, this Railway pub still has a railway nearby: the Cross-City Line is just up the road.
The pub itself? Well, I was driving, so the beer didn’t get tested. The wine got no complaints though, and the food was very good: it’s obviously quite an important part of business, but the restaurant area is clearly defined- this isn’t a restaurant with a bar, it’s a pub that serves food. The interior is typically modernised, but it’s not devoid of atmosphere.
The Ash Tree
Armitage Rd, Rugeley:
A Marstons chain pub, Moe’s family feedbag style, but with a good location by the side of the canal and a nice patio area. If you look in the right direction, you can’t see Rugeley Power station :-), and there’s a play area to keep kids quiet(er).
Unusually I was driving again (I woin’t be making a habit of that, and will be correcting the balance later), so the beer can’t be vouched for, but there were all the usual suspects and a couple of guest ales, plus the wine came from a bottle, not off the dreaded tap.
The food is two-for-one, but this just works out to typicalish prices anyway, so don’t take an odd number of people. It was mixed- mine was OK (but not 8oz by any measure), others not so good.
The Dog and Partridge
Calf Heath, between Wolverhampton & Cannock:
Visited this by car, unusually. It’s out of range for a walk for us, plus we had Mom with us for lunch.
We’ve driven past many times on a shortcut towards a friend’s house, and fancied the look of this place. It’s a former canalside pub (this section being no longer in use at the time of writing, sadly) with some very nice outside space, and multiple rooms inside. It’s right alongside the M6 too, and not far from J11 for a stop if anyone fancies it. There was a pretty Ok choice of beer, including Adnams, which i didn’t sample due to having the car, and the food was pretty good- mostly standard pub food, but a few surprises, and soem of it was definitely above average. Very friendly staff too, and busy on a Saturday lunchtime.