Southend:
A pretty average pub- Moe’s family feedbag style, right on the seafront and with great views. Friendly enough, and quiet on a Thursdasy afternoon, but the IPA was a bit duff (again). With better beer it would be quite a nice place to sit and watch the sea.
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.
At Brownhills West:
One of the pubs around Brownhills that hasn’t shut yet, unlike the Rising Sun opposite.
It’s not a terrible pub- there’s a decent selection of beer, and the outside seating is OK even with the A5 just feet away, but at times (including this) it’s a bit canteen-like. It enjoys a good reputation for it’s 2-for-one meals, and so, even on a Thursday, it was packed- passing traffic means it gets a good trade, though there were lots of local accents evident.
Still, it’s a good stopping point near Chasewater, and the beer and wine isn’t bad, if not the cheapest.
Fektham, Middlesex.
A typical Wetherspoons, but better than many. Not as grotty as some, food OK, beer pretty good. Near to the station, too. A huge range of real ale.
Somehow, I didn’t know this place existed until a colleague mentioned it.
An ex bank, right in the city centre near the cathedral, it’s rare in being a Fullers pub in the Midlands. The beer is excellent, the building magnificent, and the food looks good, if not the cheapest. There’s a nice atmosphere too. It also must be the only pub with a theatre…
One of two Shakespeare pubs I know of around Birmingham City Centre, this is the one just off New St. It’s a handy escape from the shopping hordes.
It was one of the first smoke-free pubs too, doing so well before the ban, with some seating outside on the pavement to cater for the smokers. There’s decent beer, music you can talk over, and OK food (standard pub food, but well priced), but that does mean it gets busy at lunchtimes and immediately after work. It’s very obviously part of a chain (the menu is the giveaway), but still feels like a proper pub.
This pub is part of the Ember Inn chain. It’s got a prominent position on Walsall’s Sutton Rd, and is also handily close to the Rushall Canal and the Arboretum Extension, so it made a handy spot for lunch today.
It’s perfectly fine, for a chain pub, and of course, Ember Inns have one advantage: No Kids. Food is OK, beer OK too, but neither is cheap. There is, however, a good amount of outside seating.
AKA The Royal Oak, this sits handily alongside the Canal at the north end of Pelsall. It was the Royal Oak for years, until a previous landlord met a nasty end after a robbery. It was refurbished and relaunched as The Fingerpost, at first pitching itself a little high for the locality, but now represents a fairly OK chain pub with Ok food and beer and a great canalside patio for the summer.
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It’s also free from 2010 World Cup Football. That’s worth a few points…
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.