Jolly Crispin, Upper Gornalback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Returned here on Saturday and Sunday afternoon for the pub's cider festival. Last time I was here, they had no ciders at all. On the Saturday, they only had one available with no staff to man the tent at the rear. By Sunday, the tent was open. But only about a dozen of the 20 ciders were available following heavy sessions the previous 2 evenings. Nevertheless, the range available was fairly good. The pub now has its own microbrewery (Fownes) and regularly has 2 or 3 of their beers on which are competitively priced. During my 2 visits, beers on were Fownes Crispin's Ommer, Challenger, Best of British Hops & Summer Bitter, Oakham Bishop's Farewell & Athena, Titanic Nautical Mild, Blue Bee Nectar Pale, Arkwrights Original, Navigation Classic IPA, Scarborough American Pale Ale, Phoenix White Monk, Shugborough Jolly Crispin Funday Bitter, Green Jack Rising Sun & WJ King Sussex Downs Ale. Ciders and perries included Broadoak KB, Perry & Moonshine, Westcroft Janet's Jungle Juice, Abrahalls Medium Still & Thundering Molly, Chant Singing Cider, Westons Wyld Wood, Old Rosie, The Governor & Country Perry, Burrow Hill Medium, Watkins Oak, Moorlands Farm Cyder, Hecks Port Wine of Glastonbury, Sandford Orchards Devon Red & Snails Bank Tumbledown Medium & Dry. A charity fun day was held on the Sunday and was reasonably well attended. Service seems to be better than it once was. But I was still served out of turn on at least one occasion. A marked improvement on this visit.
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queued up for opening this morning with a large group of ale followers,needless to say we werent disappointed,over 8 handpumps and the pint of oakham styrian goldings was divine,8/10
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I like this pub just not as much as I used to. Not such a wide choice of ales and there were. Staff not as.. um.. visible, shall we say. It's a lot quieter than it used to be. I tend to go in on Saturday afternoons and sometimes we've been the only 2 in there. It's a shame. Not sure what's happened.
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Traditional suburban local, with low ceilings and a central bar serving distinct areas that create a pleasant, cosy feel, with bar rooms at the front and a more comfy lounge at the rear. The beer choice is the real draw, with all the beers socurced from local microbreweries. Tried the ginger ale which was very pleasant, along with the bar staff. Good smell of food but I didn't try any. The 558 Dudley-Wolverhampton bus passes here and many other good pubs and this is defintely worth a visit on any visit to the Black Country.
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Lots of beers available, bit of a beer tickers dream, not too many locally produced beers so worthwhile if you want so you something a bit different.
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Returned to The Jolly Crispin for the third time on Easter Sunday evening and left disappointed. The beer selection is still good - Dark Star Hophead, Tom Wood Harvest Bitter, Nethergate Green Pike & Umbel Ale, Cathedral Magna Carta and Fullers ESB and London Pride. There are no real ciders any more. However what really let this pub down was the service. Whilst the one barman was pouring through a new beer, the solitary barmaid chose to ignore us in favour of one of the locals who had strolled up to the bar and got served straight away despite us having waited 3-4 minutes. I shouted across 'It looks like we're being ignored' in a sarcastic tone and received no response. Eventually the barman served us whilst the barmaid kept giving us 'dirty looks'. I've worked for several years in pubs over the years and it's not too difficult to clock the order in which people come to the bar. As a customer I also find it common courtesy to point out anybody who has been waiting longer than I have. Despite the good choice of real ales and nice enough interior, I will be giving this pub a wide berth in future. The ignorant bar staff and customers let it down badly.
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Enjoyed our visit to this popular friendly pub. Good range of ales on from old favourite breweries like Thornbridge (Jaiper) and newer ones like Brass Monkey and Whitehaven. We also had a dark beer Saltaire Titus Black. I don't think that was the only dark beer, but I have only recorded the 5 beers we had on this visit. Superb pub.
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Oh dear. Whats happened..
We have been here on numerous occasions and the beers were always excellent and the choice superb.
The choice this time was very limited. Too many beers of the same style. Light hoppy beers. What happened to darker stronger beers ?
The quality wasnt as good as it has been either. Perhaps we called in on an off day, but having been here many times in the past, we were disappointed this time.
Not that we wont be going back. These things happen. It would be a shame if this were to be a regular occurence.
Dont let it slip.
I rate this pub ( based on this visit ) 6/10
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An enjoyable cosy and friendly pub. A good selection of beers on my visit, including a dark one - Wickwar Station Porter, in excellent condition.
Comfortable lounge bar at the rear with panoramic views of the Black Country is well worth seeking out.
Clearly a good ale pub, with a nice relaxed atmosphere, would be good for a session but was only able to stay for an hour. Will be returning though!
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Good selection of ales but not enough perries and darker beers.
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Good pint of beer. Reasonably priced. Quite a busy little pub. Can get a bit too crowded in the summer. Nice beer garden too.
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Enjoyed my vsit to this friendly pub. The beer range was good and enjoyable.
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One of my favourite pubs on our occasional visits to the Black country. The beers were a bit samey on this visit, all pale gold summer beers, it would be nice to have a bit more variety, but this is nit picking. The beers were as they should be and although the pub was quiet it was still nice to relax in the olde world atmosphere.
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Excellent. Used to be legendary, but I felt it a bit smokey and beer-bore under previous owners, new owners have kept essentially the same formula, but felt much friendlier. Inerested to see if beer quality can stand the tst in a range this big.
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18th Century Pub with a good selection of rotating guest beers. Could do with renovating and getting rid of the musty smell and the damp. No food - just wet sales. Was sold recently and might change for the better
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On my visit some months ago there was a good range of real ales on hand pull, all except the MILD which was an unusually tasty keg MANNS CHESTNUT MILD. Apparently occassionally have a guest MILD so will have to visit again especially as my son has now moved just round the corner. A pleasant interior with a comforting atmosphere.
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