please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Wee Jimmy Krankie was in there the other night (it is just across road from theatre)
|
First time I've been in for a long while and it's still a decent pub. Late afternoon so quiet but service was brisk and the beer was fine. Only four handpulls working, which is a pity but this is hardly a real ale part of the city centre.
|
Sited in a lively and slightly edgy district of Birmingham, this is a nice traditional pub, probably Victorian. The beer selection wasn't enormous but satisfactory (Ginger Pig and St. Austell when I was there). Live music on Saturday evenings to which you can boogie along if there's space! A good discovery.
|
Nice enough pub near to Chinatown and the gay quarter of Birmingham City Centre. It's also right by the Hippodrome. 4 ales were on - Malvern Hills Black Pear, Slaters Premium Bitter, Greene King Old Speckled Hen & St Austell Tribute. It seems that Westons Old Rosie is normally available. But it was off tonight. The pub has two high ceilinged rooms. The one was busier than the other. But it still seemed fairly quiet on my visit this evening. Worth a try. There's always the Wetherspoons nextdoor if you can't find anything you fancy.
|
It was all going swimmingly until I had the Titanic Wreckage (7.2) ....a shvery nice beer in a decent pub
|
I'd thought it very unremarkable on last trip 6 or 7 years ago, but last night it seemed very convivial and welcoming, and a little oasis from the style bars. Opting for the best known beer, I bravely tried the Old Speckled Hen which was an excellent pint (if not quite Post Office vaults standards).
|
Called in on Monday afternoon (12th Dec) and was very disappointed. Only 2 beers on and my pint was average!
The barmaid was not very friendly and there was a bucket and cleaning materials on the bar all the time that we were there with no attempt made to tidy the place up.
Worst of all was the smell in the gents toilet. Will definitely give this pub a wide berth on future visits to Brum.
|
Decent pub, had a rather average pint of real ale but to be fair it was propbably the beer style that i didn't like more than anything, my fellow drinkers said their beers were decent. Food was consumed, hearty and good apparently.
|
Exceptionally good Guinness served in here. Keep off the carpet.
|
Reasonable enough city centre pub kind of in two halves. Busy as you would expect given it's location. Reasonable enough for what it is - had 4 ales on (two regular, two guests) had the Oxfordshire Nations which went down well enough)
anonymous - 27 Feb 2011 13:03 |
Unremarkable but rather convivial in its own right. Sampled a couple of ales from the Backdoor Brewery and perfectly acceptable. Worth a detour!
|
Couldn`t get me hat on, went in there Saturday afternoon, footie on the telly, triffic real ale �2.50, Daily Star left on the window ledge - so could catch up with Wayne and Colleen, someone eating steak`n kidney pie and chips, scantily clad maidens walking past to the Arcadian.....it was like being in a geezers pub.
|
The only proper pub in this part of the city centre (the rest of the area was demolished and rebuilt with cheap concrete years ago). Across the road is the gay quarter, straight ahead a few dangerous chav disco bars and Mr Egg and to the right the chinese quarter and a load of bars that don't sell beer, so the customers seem to be a mixed bag.
Can get a real ale in here for �2.50, which I'm told was very good and Guinness is under the critical �3 pricing barrier. Place has a neatly furnished lounge plus a smaller bar area, which has a big telly showing football.
Has a menu with reasonably cheap bar meals served all day, the usuals like chicken burgers or pie and chips for a fiver etc, plus, one you don't see in many pubs nowadays, faggots.
Best to get a window seat in the bar or one of the pavement tables outside, as there are always plenty of people watching opportunities, whether it's drag queens going to the other side of the road, or police scrapping with the chavs.
Not a place to spend to spend the whole evening in, bit if going to the O2 or Eddies, a good pre-gig watering hole.
|
The Fox is a bit of a strange `un, stuck between the Hen/stag night Reflex types, the Trendies in the Arcadian, the theatre luvvies across the road and the gay quarter. The pub itself seems a bit too traditional to be situated where it is but then I suppose it`s a listed building so the developers couldn`t demolish it! The beer`s ok, tried the odd real ale and they were in good nick, tend to stick to the lager as the bar staff can be a bit ellusive and can`t be bothered waiting for the ale to settle. Decent people watching pub with large windows that face the theatre and the main entrance to the arcadian...not that anyone should be perving at the scantily clad ladies wandering about...disgusting behavior! Just remember when vacating the building, left turn gay quarter, right turn straightsville.
|
The pub itself is fairly run down and could do with a coat of paint, but aside from that, it's pretty good.
This is round the corner from Riley's, so I always get here half an hour early before going to play some pool. Always get a decent pint of ale. Last visit had something green on (the bloke next to me said it tasted lovely!), but instead I opted for something from Slaters brewery, which was quite sumptuous. Always at least two real ales on, always changing, and tend to be from microbreweries rather than anything generic or mainstream.
Worth a visit.
|
Service and beer good and was able to sit outside on the warm evening I visited.
|
Service and beer good and was able to sit outside on the warm evening I visited.
|
Service and beer good and was able to sit outside on the warm evening I visited.
|
Very quiet when i went here midweek food and beer ok.
|
Have a soft spot for this place. You find some interesting ales and it always seems fairly relaxed. It has the rare advantage of being a city centre pub which actually gets some daylight in, so if like me, you like an afternoon pint you can sit in the sunny front bar and watch the world go by outside the Hippodrome. Quite and eclectic crowd as well and cheaper than most of the pubs/bars around.
|
Large pub just outisde the city centre, opposite the National Trust-owned Back to Backs properties- an interesting snaphot into Birmingham in times past. Apparently the Fox was the local for these houses, so it's worth combining a visit.
The pub is quite attractive from the outside, with the impressive stained glas around the doorway and windows visible from outside and within.
It's pretty open-plan, with two large rooms served by a central bar.
Would agree with previous postings that this is a circuit pub with real ale rather than a dedicated real ale pub, what with the pretty loud music and proximity to the theatre.
The ale that is avaialble is reasonably varied and in good quality though- 4 beers, mostly from microbreweries. I enjoyed one from the local Back Yard brewery.
Not a must visit but it's OK. Wouldn't be averse to another visit.
|
Largish pub occupying a prominent position opposite The Hippodrome Theatre and on the fringes of the Chinese Quarter. From the outside, we learn that the pub was established in 1891.
The U shaped bar serves two distinct and separate areas - a basic bare boarded front bar and a larger carpeted lounge area with a mixture of traditional seating and sofas. There's some impressive columns and stained glass leaded windows depicting the fox motif. Not surprisingly, framed theatrical posters advertising past performances are plentiful.
Beers on were Tribute - � 2.75p - plus Beartown Bearly and Slaters The Craic, which I presume was a beer brewed specifically for the forthcoming St Patricks Day, for which the pub was gearing up. There's other pumps in the lounge bar, but these didn't seem to be in use on my visit. The pub is a CAMRA GBG regular.
This is a pleasant enough pub, but the music from the juke box was over loud and, although it's on the way to The Lamp Tavern, I might pass this one by next time
|
Decided to meet here with my mate the other friday as a change from the near by Dragon Inn. Was quite empty at 5.30 which is usually the best time for pubs up town. Enjoyed a pint of Slaters Why Knot, which was low abv and a good starter beer. My mate thought the place was run down and in need of a lot of work. I agreed that with a bit of work it could look much better though I wouldnt want another trendy place round here, that would spell an end to the real ales...
|
ROBCamera gives a great account of the pub itself. I like the theatre memorabilia, tasteful and not over the top.
St Austell Tribute and Tetley Cask are always on, but they often have 3 or 4 other real ales - but what lets this place down a little is there is no regular MILD. Ironically, after whinging about that, i decided to review the place, as yesterday, a guest one was on. I had Backhouse Brewery's Hobs Hole MILD, which improved as the pint went down.
This place is always worth popping in if you are near
|
Very good city centre pub close to a lot of action.Well kept selection of real ales and the front bar is traditional ,attractive and gives a great view of the totty staggering about on their high heels as they weave between the bars in the streets outside.Fortunately the traditional look of the Old Fox keeps the bar free from lager swilling pub crawlers.The tranny bar up the road will catch out a lot of pissed lads later in the evening because the cab rank starts outside.
|
This pub advertises itself as a theatre bar which means that it gets busy pre/post performances at the Hippodrome and Symphony Hall nearby. The front bar is like a small tap room with stained glass windows all around and a few dining style tables. The back bar is much more of a lounge with several sofas and comfy chairs. The walls are covered with theatre posters as you might expect. There are at least 10 handpumps but I�ve never seen all of them in use. On Wednesday at about 8 they had Tetley Bitter, St Austell Tribute and Old Speckled Hen which are regulars plus a couple of guests on in the front bar Goffs White Knight and Hanbys Wem Golden Honey. The Goffs was a well kept pint, drunk whilst talking to the friendly and chatty staff who were pretty efficient as well. It�s been in the GBG since 2000 and quite rightly.
|
Visted this good city centre again late on Friday night , a small selection of real ales , all well kept and at a reasonable price for The City i.e. less than �3 a pint ! The pub was busy , but still able to get a seat , able to talk as music not too loud all round a good atmosphere and always a safe bet for a nice drink in the city centre. 7 out of 10.
|
A little on the rustic side - especially given its location- but in a way that helps it stand out amongst the saccharine bistros it shares a postcode with. Some very nice surprises in amongst the guest ales too (you don't see Backyard Brewery Big Red in many city centres). Staff a little evasive, but they'd probably give you the time of the day if you asked nicely enough.
Recommended
|
Began my Birmingham crawl last night with a visit to this pub. Seemingly quite empty at 1945. Staff were friendly and humorous (the young barmaid was singing along to the jukebox with a good voice on her, and the guy who served me was quite jovial).
Nice half-pint of Wye Valley BUTTY BACH, 4.5% - very well kept indeed, all brewer-intended flavour and texture present.
|
Pleasant, friendly pub: good food and ale.
|
Called in on my way down to the Lamp and enjoyed a Burton Bridge real ale. It was a bit noisy from the racing from Cheltenham on the screens, and all those in the bar including the staff seemed to be very involved in betting on the races. No problem with the beer though.
|
I've been to The Old Fox a few times and the real ale is pretty good - Old Hooky on the last few visits. Also tried the Sunday lunch which is touted as "just like your mother used to make" - not bad but not a huge portion of meat and reasonable value at �5.95.
The decor is a little shabby and the beautiful leaded and stained glass windows could do with a good refurbishment. Staff are pleasant and helpful.
Handy if you want to visit the National Trust "Back-to-back" houses opposite.
|
Visited this lunchtime after a gap of about 15 years and was pleasently surprised. St. Austell's Tribute was very good as was the beef and mustard sandwich with chips. Freindly staff and customers. Got quite a bit of info from a couple of the regulars on the drinking scene in Brum, most of which consisted of Broad Street and swear words. Great theatre posters.
|
Ventured into here on our Birmingham mini MILD trail yesterday. Looked very promising with 5 real ale handpulls but all were bitters, why isn't one a MILD. No good to us MILD drinkers so carried on towards the nearby Lamp Tavern with their Church End Gravedigger MILD and The Anchor for Hobsons and Beiging MILDS.
|
Theatrical pub on the outskirts of both Chinatown and the gay district. Varied clientelle with crowds of theatregoers descending occasionally. Usually a good guest ale on -- one
of few real ale outlets in the immediate area.
|
Friendly atmosphere, would go here again
anonymous - 2 Jan 2005 19:35 |
