Sutton Coldfield:
Hadn’t been in this for years, and this time I only went in to use the toilet, my dear better half getting the drinks while I sat soaking up the sun and smelling the lavender in the adjacent patch of land, right where the A454 meets the town centre.
Nice pub though, and nice beer. Relaxed atmosphere, decent clientele.
Sutton Coldfield:
This place plugs its beer garden heavily, and no surprise- it’s large and pleasant, but it was a hot summer Saturday and most of the town were there, so we sent inside. Fairly traditional, but in a stripped boards way rather than carpet. Decent staff, good beer, what looked like an interesting menu, and not a bad place to drink. Unsurprisingly next to the railway station.
Sutton Coldfield
Never noticed this pub, never mind gone in before, despite passing by many times. It’s got an initial vibe a bit like The Kings Head in lichfield, with a enclosed courtyard and rooms either side, but there’s more space. It’s clearly very old (check their website, above)
Very pleasant too- nice staff, decent beer (several cask, and not just the usual), not too much Sutton attitude, OK prices. The layout gives several different areas, which is nice.
La-di-dah Sutton Coldfield:
I don’t like Sutton, or as Google Maps and pretentious twats seem to call it “The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield”. This is the place where residents have been known to paint out the Birmingham coat of arms on street names, declaring the aforementioned Royal status as justification. The place in the Midlands with the highest concentration of new Range Rovers outside Solihull.
If I stop ranting for a moment, there’s stuff to like about Sutton. There’s leafy suburbs (if you’re rich), it’s on the cross-city line. Sutton Park is lovely, there’s some very nice buildings, and there’s decent enough pubs, if you like your pubs in general a little bit too plush and food orientated for me. Shops were OK last time I looked (twenty years ago!), and there are independent restaurants.
The Boot is still very much enough of a pub to be pleasant. It’s clean, tidy, and recently refurbed inside, and big. There’s a strong push for food- it’s taken to callinmg itself The Boot Inn and Kitchen, like other pubs with gastropub pretentions. The food is actually a standard Punch Taverns menu, but looked OK.
I was actually only there to use their (pay and display) car park instead of suffering the inevitable disappointment at Good Hope Hospital, but I was running early so dropped in (for orange juice). Friendly staff, pleasant interior, and no arseholes (in Sutton!), so I wonder if I can engineer a visit without a car?