Category Archives: Walsall

Pubs in Walsall

Brownhills, Walsall

The Jack “Jigger” Taylor

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Brownhills:

An actual new pub in Brownhills, and one that opened during the pandemic!

The second pub with a name connection to The Brownhills Miner, the other being The Jigger’s Whistle just a few hundred yards away.

Opening was delayed due to lockdown, but it’s very much open now. Outside, nothing of note on the frontage- it’s a converted 1960s bank- but there’s a decent beer garden and inside, it’s nicely turned out. It’s a bit of a spoons-a-like, but there’s no food on offer as yet, and part of the Amber Taverns chain.

Sport showing on the TV, but not loud, decent wifi, pleasant staff, decent beer as well. Ordering is via the Round app which isn’t too bad, but could do with integrating into Google pay.

Overall, a great addition to Brownhills’ High St, which continues to recover.

Aldridge, Revisits, Walsall

Revisit: The Lazy Hill

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Whatpub Link

It’s been a long time since we’ve been in here, but it’s not changed, covid precautions aside.

It’s still a great pub, there’s still great beer. The large function room at the back that belies the place’s origin as a club was open to increase space, and the place was busy on this last night before Lockdown II The Sequel.

The beers had changed, but a great selection. Great service, too.

Revisits, Walsall, Walsall Wood

Revisit: The Boatman’s Rest

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A revisit of a revisit.

Previous post here
Whatpub Entry

The Boatman’s Rest has changed hands again, and the latest incarnation is pretty much a Desi pub: the lounge is basically an Indian restaurant.

Pretty good too. rumour has is that it is owned by the people that run The Red Lion, and the menu looks similar. Odd bit of synchronicity there; the first time I visited this pub (in the 70s) it was The Red Lion. Great food, friendly staff, no cask but decent lager.

Revisits, Walsall

Post-Covid Revisit: St Matthews Hall

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A day off work, and a friend was off too, so lunch and drink seemed like a good idea. This place being handy for the bus station was good, too.

You know what, ‘spoons have nailed this post-covid pub going. OK, it was Thursday lunchtime, not Saturday night, but spacing is adequate, screens are up, hand sanitizer all over the place, and even better, if you don’t mind using the app, you can sit in the beer garden and they bring you drink!

Other than that? It’s ‘spoons. So the beer is decent (cask ale!), the food is OK if unexceptional, and the toilets are, of course, miles away.

Revisits, Walsall, Walsall Wood

Post-Covid Revisit: The Drunken Duck

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It had been a very, very long time since my standard routine of waiting in the pub while some nice chaps cook my curry had been possible, so this was my second post-covid pub. The Duck is a bit more rough-and-ready than The Royal Exchange, so I was a bit wary.

To be fair, very well done. The same screens at the bar and one-way, but contact tracing, hand sanitizer, and sensible locals. It did feel a bit odd and lacking in atmosphere, but the Stella was drinkable. A subsequent visit was much the same, then…

….it shut.

Then re-opened, with a refurb- new flooring, a general tidy up, and some new flooring. It’s all a bit tidier, and not bad at all. No cask ale, but that’s been gone for years now.

Permanently Closed, Revisits, Walsall, Walsall Wood

CLOSED: Post-Covid Revisit: The Royal Exchange

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My first post-covid pub visit, and the first time back in a pub since March 20. First new pub since March 14, and less than a week after pubs were allowed to open.

It was nice, if a little odd. Sensible setup, good cleaning regime, reduced food menu, forcibly reduced beer choice as the delivery hadn’t pitched up. Most people were obeying distancing guidelines when we arrived, and hell, it was good to be in a pub again. Food was decent, and even if it had to be Guinness, we were in the pub.

A few members of the traveler community turned up (well, actually lots of them), which was fine, but they didn’t seem to be adhering to guidelines, which is something I’d feared from anyone after a few drinks (and a subsequent visit proved this with a few locals). Still they were in another room and the landlady kept a lid on it, to her credit.

2 more visits and the cask ale isn’t back on still, but I suspect that reduced footfall is the reason; cask here is usually excellent.

Aldridge, Walsall

Revisit: The Elms The Crown The Crown Inn

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Aldridge:

Previous visit here.

The Elms The Crown hasn’t been anything to entice you for more than 20 years, when it did enjoy a brief time of having a tiny bit of class about it: certainly that’s been lacking for the last 10, as The Crown descended back into tattyness and continued the cheap carvery.

It’s been done up again, and, just to annoy the Aldridge “Village” locals, it remains not called The Elms.

We dropped in to see what has changed.

Well, half the car park is now outside seating, with the currently fashionable scaffold-pole tables, and hefty cable locks to stop the locals nicking the chairs.

Inside, there’s pubco-catalogue furniture, and a coat of paint. The carvery has gone, but the TVs with the volume cranked up in the bar have remained. There’s some cask ale, and a large selection of keg, but that’s about the only thing to be positive about; the staff seemed a bit indifferent, the place stunk of cooking (and not in a good way), and you had the choice of bored kids with their parents or the noise from the TVs. There was only one wine on offer, the others having run out, and essentially, it was still the same old place with a bit of turd-polishing.

Revisits, Walsall

Revisits: The Watering Trough

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Revisit of a revisit of a revisit.

I’d been really, really concerned about The Trough. Back, 30 years ago, it was a haven in Walsall: the one rock pub; safe; comfortable, decent music.

Over the years it’s been a bit variable, but overall it’s remained a rock pub.

So the announcement in local press that it was going to be a fun pub with a Peaky Blinders theme filled me with dread.

As it was? Well, there’s a few “Garrison Public House” signs, a few fake B9 signs, and a shitload of Peaky Blinders pictures that could be really awful.

But…

It’s still the same pub. Rock music, the same layout, really friendly staff. No ale now, but decent lager. Happily, it’s still a nice place to go. The architecture of the pub actually fits with the times of the TV series, and happily, you could take all the tat out in five minutes.

Revisits, Walsall

Revisit: Flan O’Briens (The Borough Arms)

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Still fabulous outside, still a bit disappointing inside.

It’s under new managment, after a short closure, but it’s been open for a while, so it was a bit disappointing to be presented with the choice of Carling, Fosters, or Coors as draught beers, and nothing else, so I opted for terribly expensive and not-quite-cold-enough Morretti in bottles.

To be fair, it was friendly enough, and tidy inside, though Karaoke was being set up. As noted previosuly, this could be a stunning pub- it is magnificent outside- but once again, it’s a little bit disappointing: with better beer choice and no disco/karaoke it could be wonderful.

Revisits, Walsall, Walsall Wood

Revisit: The Boatman’s Rest

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Previous Revisit Here

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The landlord from the first revisit is still there, but there’s a subtle change: the pub seems to be going Desi.

The kitchen is refurbed, the lager is Cobra, and there’s a fairly typical indian barbecue menu on, which, to be fair, is excellent. The terrible stereo is still present in the bar, and there’s no ale, but the Cobra was fine and the food great, though it remains to be seen if Walsall Wood High St can sustain 3 establishments serving Indian food, even with me living nearby.