All Nations, Madeleyback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A short walk from Blists Hill Victorian Town, it doesn't look much initially from the outside but then you see the keystone dated 1789 and the blue plaque on the wall and you know you're going to be transported back many years to a time when pubs weren't identikit drinking halls or sophisticated restaurants. In advance of the afternoon's rugby, the television was perched precariously on two stacked firkins and the (male) locals were streaming in for their halves of bitter and a good chat. I had a pint of sublime All Nations Bitter for an equally sublime £2.60 a pint - I didn't hear anyone ask for the Hobsons Old Prickly, Town Crier or Goffs White Knight (although no doubt they would also have been in excellent condition). If only we could have stayed longer...
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Excellent unchanged local with very good cheap beer and a range of good value bar snacks (cobs and pies). I had the All Nations Bitter, a recreation of the beer that was once brewed at the pub. Friendly bar staff and locals.
Comes close to perfection
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it is a good old fashioned pub serving decent ales in a pleasant location etc etc I did find it just a touch 'League of Gentlemen' though.
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Unfortunately no longer brewing but 4 beers available. Hobsons Twisted Spire, Ludlow Gold and Slaters Haka all good. Very busy on a Sunday afternoon where the locals had returned from a Quiots match at the nearby Blists Hill Victorian Town Museum.
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Three visits over the Christmas period and as always fabulous beer and toasted black pudding baps. Very busy on Xmas Eve & Xmas Day lunchtime but a little quieter on Boxing Day.
Beers tried; All Nations/Shires - Dabley,Dabley Gold & Redneck all excellent. Mortons Essington Old Ale, very good & Titanic Stout which was stunning all weekend.
Local CAMRA pub of the year again & definately a CAMRGB (Campaign for Really Good Beer) favorite.
Good to see Jim & all the locals again as they always make us feel so welcome. Can't wait for the next visit.
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Just a flying visit, but in that time sampled the menu, tried the home brew real ale and soaked up the ambience. This is a proper pub with decent beer, a warm feel and good basic pub grub. The good news is that an Ironbridge Gorge passport ticket gives you an excuse to keep going back to the area for 12 months!
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A funny little house on a hillside. log fire, home brewed beer and local guest ales. black pudding sandwiches, pork pies and pickled eggs. Friendly landlord/lady, hilarious locals and the occaisional welsh choir. Carlsberg don't make pubs (thankfully) but if they did it'd be no where near as good as The All Nations.
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Great Entertainment with Paul Parker and all the right friends outside last night and the Dabley Gold on fine form
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At last another great visit to All Nations over new year. Good to see all the usual locals in their usual spots in this excellent pub.
3 beers tried, Shires - Seven Gorgeous, Dabley Gold & Three Tuns - Clerics Cure, all in excellent condition & well served. All soaked up with the usual black pudding & cheese toasty prepared by Linda despite being on her own, thanks to Jim being off recovering from his recent knee op. Good luck of that Jim hope to see you up and about again soon.
If you are ever in the area or at Blists Hill Museum you really must pay this little piece of UK beer history a visit, for this is what pubs used to be like & maybe how they should still be. A true gem...
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As previously said... A gem. Basic but brilliant is the only description I can think of.
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"pubs don't get better than this" ... 6th May ... this pub did last Saturday and beat itself ... beer just brilliant, music, people, atmosphere - all wonderful
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The All Nations recently hosted a 12 hour 25th anniversary party on a Saturday as well as catering for the usual Saturday quaffing. Over 70 people were well looked-after and marquees, a bouncy castle and a barbecue serving locally sourced meat were laid on. As the balmy summer day turned to evening, the local band provided an excellent rhythmical backdrop to satisfied supping and good conversation. A perfect day.
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Nice one RobthePrinter, I was merely quoting Orwell's timeless words! I would indeed prefer to drink rather than wear my Dabley, at the CAMRA pub of the year for Telford and East Shropshire no less.
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Careful "dableywolf" - all but one of the regular female bar staff are indeed mothers (and I know there are quite a few regulars who would volunteer to help out the one), but you're pushing your luck with "motherly" - would you rather drink your Dabley or wear it ?!?!?
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My first long overdue visit to the all nations. I always wanted to visit in the old lino/formica days and try the pale ale but never got round to it. As said many times before pubs don't get any better than this. Sampled the Dabley , I gather the ale as is the closest to the old pale ale I suppose! Excellent condition, and reasonable too. The location is idyllic. The bar is proper!
If you are going to waffle on about health and safety then I suggest you go to the nearest identikit chain pub where you can discuss risk assessments with the faceless manager.
A gem.
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Oh dear Equality1st it appears you have rattled the Dabley Wolf cage,repositioned the Mountain Bikers saddle and shaken Robtheprinters ink wells,all based on a visit when the rugby and television was on. I will assure you that the remaining 360 days of the year are as written in the reviews. Congatulations to all the team at the All Nations for being awarded a CAMRA certificate
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dablywolf
WOW what a description of the All Nations. I live in the south and drink at the Royal Oak,Friday St. No stout but always a mild,7 ales,5 ciders & perrys. I'm lucky to visit the in-laws 3 or 4 times a years and live in All Nations when there.
Sadly there just are not enough pubs like All Nations & the Royal Oak left I think they should be twined I love them both.
Thanks for such a great description of such a great pub.
Cheers
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The All Nations - with apologies to George Orwell�s original �The Moon Under Water� from the London Evening Standard, February 1946 in which he describes his ideal pub:
�My favourite public house, 'The All Nations', is only a few minutes from a Gorge Connect bus stop and a world renowned open air Victorian town, but it is on a side-street, and drunks and rowdies never seem to find their way there, even on Saturday nights.
Its clientele, though fairly large, consists mostly of 'regulars' who occupy the same chair every evening and go there for conversation as much as for the beer.
If you are asked why you favour a particular public house, it would seem natural to put the excellent Dabley Ale, brewed on the premises, first, but the thing that most appeals to me about 'The All Nations' is what people call its 'atmosphere.'
To begin with, its whole architecture and fittings are uncompromisingly traditional. It has no glass-topped tables or other modern miseries, and, on the other hand, no sham roof-beams, ingle-nooks or plastic panels masquerading as oak. The grained woodwork, the relics of yore behind the bar, the cast-iron fireplace, the ample beer garden, the photographs of yesteryear above the mantelpiece, � everything has the solid comfortable ugliness of a bygone age.
In winter there is generally a good fire burning in the bar, and the lay-out of the place gives one plenty of elbow-room, except on quiz nights and during the Six Nations rugby, where the action takes place perched atop two barrels (get there early). There is a single public bar, and an outside serving hatch for those who are too bashful to buy their supper beer publicly.
Games are only played with cards or dominoes, so that you can walk about freely without constantly ducking to avoid flying darts. Dogs are welcome, as long as they remain on a lead and help to lap up superfluous crumbs.
In 'The All Nations' it is always quiet enough to talk or read the newspaper. The house possesses neither a radio nor a piano, and even on Christmas Eve, New Year�s Eve, international rugby victories, music quiz rounds and such occasions the singing that happens is of a decorous kind.
The bar staff and landlord (a genial cove) know most of their customers by name; they do not pamper a select few, but take a personal interest in everyone. They are attractive people; �some of them, who still possess hair, have it dyed in quite surprising shades �and they are polite to everyone, irrespective of age, sex, country of birth or allegiance towards a particular football team. (Pubs where the barmaid calls you 'Ducky' always have a disagreeable raffish atmosphere.)
Unlike most pubs, 'The All Nations' sells eggs as well as mixed root vegetable crisps, and it also sells chocolate and pickled eggs, and is obliging about ordering you a taxi home late at night when excess alcohol has rendered one incapable of using a hand-held telephone.
You cannot get dinner at "The All Nations', but there is always the snack counter where you can get ham, cheese, beef and bacon sandwiches, cheese and black pudding toasties (a specialty of the house), pasties, pork pies, pickles and those large bags with edible misshapen pig skin in them which only seem to exist in public houses. You can get a good, solid lunch, for example, a cut off the joint and a locally baked floury bap� for about forty three shillings.
The special pleasure of this lunch is that you can have home brewed draught stout with it, as well as Dabley Gold, a guest ale or cider. I doubt whether as many as ten per cent of pubs serve draught stout, but 'The All Nations' is one of them. Coalport Dodger is a soft, creamy sort of stout, and it goes better in a pewter pot.
They are particular about their drinking vessels at 'All Nations' and never, for example, make the mistake of serving a pint of beer in an inappropriate receptacle. Apart from glass and pewter mugs, they have some of those pleasant china ones which are now seldom seen. China mugs went out about ninety years ago, because most people like their drink to be transparent, but in my opinion tea, from a kettle boiled on the stove, tastes better out of china.
The great surprise of 'The All Nations' is its garden. You go through a narrow passage leading out of the saloon, and find yourself in a fairly large area with assorted tables with iron/wooden/plastic chairs round them. Up at one end of the garden there are chickens and a downward grassy slope for the children to roll down.
On summer evenings there are family parties, hog roasts or live acoustic music, and you sit under the patio heaters having beer or draught cider to the tune of a delighted pub dog yelping. The prams with the younger children are parked near the gate.
Many as are the virtues of 'The All Nations' I think that the garden is one of its best features, because it allows whole families to go there instead of Mum having to stay at home and mind the baby while Dad goes out alone.
And though, strictly speaking, they are only allowed in the garden, the children love to seep into the pub and even to dream of fetching drinks for their parents. This, I believe, is against the law, but it is a law that deserves to be broken, for it is the puritanical nonsense of excluding children �and therefore to some extent, women �from pubs that has turned these places into mere boozing-shops instead of the family gathering-places that they ought to be.
'The All Nations' is my ideal of what a pub should be, �at any rate, in the Telford area. (The qualities one expects of a pub showing wall-to-wall soccer, pumping out ear-splitting aural assaults and encouraging consumption of vast qualities of tasteless binge-bilge, resulting in uncontrolled emissions of various bodily fluids and aggressive or lascivious behaviour are slightly different.)
But now is the time to reveal something which the discerning reader will probably have guessed already. There IS such a place as 'The All Nations'.
But, to be fair, I do know of a few pubs that almost come up to 'The All Nations'. I have mentioned above the qualities that the perfect pub should have, and I know of one pub that has eight of them. Even there, however, there is no draught stout and no mugs of tea.
And if anyone knows of another better proper pub that has draught stout, great home brewed ale, a relaxed atmosphere, an open fire, cheap and filling rolls, a garden, a good smoking area, motherly barmaids and no radio or TV (except for important international rugby games), I should be glad to hear of it, even though its name were something as prosaic as 'The Red Lion', 'The Slug And Lettuce', or �Le Brasserie de Coq.�
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RobthePrinter and beerbiker are spot on. Equality1st appears to be in the minority and is about to look very silly indeed, as the knowledgeable quaffers of CAMRA have just selected this magnificent community pub to receive a prestigious regional award, beating off the challenge of other excellent local hostelries who have a greater desire than the All Nations for self-promotion.
Best pub in the area - official.
Mine's a Dabley Ale...
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Another great visit to this historic brewpub.
Banter with the locals was as good as ever. Correction to my last post,Jim the landlord tells that the TV sits on two 36s!!!
Great value baps & rolls, ordered 5 blackpudding,cheese & onion toasties for just �11.40.
Beers tried, Broughs Pale, very good and didn't last long, Dabley Gold, as good as always and Shires Severn Gorgeous which was excellent and my beer of the weekend.All at �2.40 per pint so good value as well.
To visit this wonder is a must for all history and beer lovers,just don't expect a modern gastro pub, this pub is truly a classic.
Also great to meet RobthePrinter.
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Without offending anybody I hope, this is a traditional working class brewpub, one of the very few left - I LOVE the place.
On visits from down south I regulaly take my 73year old Mother in law and 80 year old Father in law in and would never worry. Yes I to have seen the TV balanced on two 18s in the corner.
The Dabley Gold is a treat as are the black pudding toasties.
If you have a problem with Health & Saftely I suggest you drink at home it would be better for all concerned.
Looking forward to my next visit on the 27th March, please never change I like history just as it is
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Sorry "equality1st" but your comments are so unfair. I'm probably among the most regular of the regulars at the Nations and rugby bores me to death (as does football). But, because Jim the landlord and quite a few others are rugby fans they have a TV on for major international games (if you were worried on H&S grounds I suggest you've had a VERY sheltered life).
Does it bother me? - not a bit, because although the game leaves me cold the atmosphere in the pub is warm and friendly, unlike that I've experienced in pubs when there's a football match on, which can rapidly become downright unpleasant if not frightening.
All I can say is that I'd be happy to take my 76 year-old mum in there, at any time (I'd probably tell her not to sit in front of the telly....).
Just accept that The Nations makes a lot of people happy - and the idea of 'selected customers' being 'pampered' is a 'load of b******s.
You should try the pub two minutes from my front gate - all the football you want on three big screens, beer I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy and a glass in the face if you look in the wrong direction - perhaps you'd like it?
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Visited this well reviewed establishment at the weekend but was sadly disappointed.The pub was awash with rowdy rugby supporters watching the game on a television that was perched dangerously on two beer barrels.Health and Safety Take Note. I took refuge in the ample grounds outside and was advised by a few disgruntled regular customers that the landlord had his select customers and pampered to their wishes.Requests for football scores at half time are met with a stern No.I fail to see the difference.Thankfully the quality and taste of the Dabley rescued the visit and should the landlord treat all customers equal to his rules the pub could be recommended
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I first went to the "All Nations" in 1979 when it was amongst the handful of surviving home-brew houses. 30 years later, it has changed but hung onto traditon whilst updating its facilities in a reasonable way. The pub has simple seating and tables, full of contented people chatting away on a rainy afternoon. The beers were excellent, especially the dark mild, and although this is not a pub for a meal, the snacks were fine, including good pork pies and a formidable black-pudding and cheese toastie. I am not surprised this pub has a good local following and would recommend it to anyone passing through Telford, especially if they're visiting the museums in Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale.
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Three home brewed ales on when I visited. Had a pint of the dark mild which of which there were no complaints. �2.00 a pint for all home brewed beers I think I saw on the bar price list. If that is the case then it is very good value for money especially of you are drinking the stronger beers. This is a no nonsense traditional pub. Excellent.
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This is a REAL pub. The best Real Ales, the best lunch rolls, the best clientele, and above all the best staff anywhere.
The art of good conversation is not stifled by blasting juke boxes,and if you knew no-one when you came in, you will by the time you go out.
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Nice little one roomed brewpub (Worfield Brewery) almost facing the Victorian Town museum (although well hidden from it). Plenty of pictures of the pub and the surrounding area around the walls. Has a pleasant looking beer garden as well. It was quiet as it was only about 5 p.m. but I got a cheery welcome from the landlord and some mad tail wagging from the dog. 5 handpumps with one serving real cider. The other had Worfield Dabley Ale, Dabley Gold, Coalport Dodger Mild and a guest, Western Arches from Cottage. Had a pint of the Gold @ �2.30 which was good. This pub reminds me of the Anchor at High Offley, it�s a timewarp pub, a little gem. Sadly I was driving so I had to depart after one. I think I�ll be calling in again though next time I�m on my way to Ironbridge.
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I also disagree with Angeldrop! This is a fab pub with welcoming staff and interesting clientele. Lovely setting and garden and great ale. I even sent my boss here a couple of weeks ago (and he is very fussy) and he loved it!
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review no.5 to totally disagree with angeldrop! The landlord and his band of assistants couldn't have been more welcoming when our (prearranged) coach party descended on a Saturday afternoon. The queue out the door was soon served. Even provided a coffee (no machine-kettle in kitchen) without a problem.Locals not bothered. Excellent local area brews, even better @ �2/�2.30. Baps looked great tho didn't sample.
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Angeldrop, in all the years I've been a regular at the All nations, up to 6 evenings a week, I've never known Jim to be obnoxious. I've never been served out of turn even when the pub's been full of strangers.
I suggest Jim didn't like your attitude which was probably obnoxious.
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ANGELDROP, YOM DOW NO OWT ABOWT BEER OR BOOZERS!
This is the best pub in the area my friend, excellent beers, very good value and brilliant food. You even find people from Colombia drinking there!
The Black Country Boys!
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Quote - "angeldrop":
"I found this pub very unwelcoming when i arrived, with the landlord Jim, being very rude and obnoxious"
Oh dear, didn't get off to a good start did you? Perhaps you'd like to tell us more - perhaps if u'd given him a few minutes' warning Jim could have ordered the regular customer's outs'ide, changed hi's clothe's, laid out a red carpet and arranged for Jackfield Band to play a s'election of variation's on "Here the Conquering Hero Come's".
From personal experience Jim's not VERY rude and obnoxious on first acquaintance - he tends to reserve that level of familiarity for people he knows fairly well...
"I ordered a pint of dabley ale and was ignored when i waited for 20mins at the bar while he served his regulars customer's" - nonsense - and you know it.
After all this, and the attempt to poison you with dog hair you still "feel that there should be some soft music playing in the back ground to make it more of a welcoming feeling" - I think you're flogging a dead horse here, let's face it, it's never going to be your favourite pub.
For anyone else, who wants to visit a genuine, traditional local pub, with the friendliest welcome you'll find anywhere - just read the comments made by the other's ;�) on here - 7 out of 8 can't be wrong!!
...and I'll continue to put my money where my mouth is - I'm the bloke with the ink-stained hands (sorry - hand's) propping up the end of the bar at teatime most evenings.
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Having a full command of the rudiments of the English language such as the correct use of apostrophes, proper nouns and the word "I", I feel in a better position to comment upon this fine establishment than the previous reviewer.This is a very welcoming pub, with the landlord and staff striving to create a friendly, relaxed environment for drinking and topical badinage. The pub is of such a compact size that it would be impossible to be ignored for any length of time before you were served with a pint of foaming Dabley and a delicious roll. The landlord's obvious commitment to quality and imagination was demonstrated recently during cask ale week with a chance to quaff Blue Anchor Spingo, Ma Pardoe's Entire, Three Tuns XXX and the house brew - ales from the only four original surviving brewpubs in the 1970's.The lack of music is one of the very reasons that this pub is an oasis of quality in the current desert of oafish chavs quaffing Stella whilst baying at Sky Sports. Background music would be like a broken pencil - pointless.Great pub, and credit-crunch busting value for money.
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I found this pub very unwelcoming when i arrived, with the landlord Jim, being very rude and obnoxious. I ordered a pint of dabley ale and was ignored when i waited for 20mins at the bar while he served his regulars customer's, then once i had received my pint the glass was covered in dog hair's from his dog that is allowed to run free behind the bar, i found this very unhygienic , when i went back to ask for a clean glass i received a very rude grunt from the landlord. I also feel that there should be some soft music playing in the back ground to make it more of a welcoming feeling.
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A most friendly establishment that reminds of eras gone bye with warm staff and genuine clientele HOME BREWED BEER LOG FIRES ROLLS WITH VERY LARGE FILLINGS AND ABOVE ALL ELSE ATMOSPHERE
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Brew pubs are always great value for money and this one is no exception. Excellent beer, warm reception and nto spoilt by its proximity to a tourist trap.
More please.
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Superb! Always wanted to visit this pub and never managed to find it when in the area. My wife asked if I'd like to try and find it and we managed it after a few wrong turns. Real character, friendly and the ales brewed on the premiuses were to die for. Highly recommended if you like "real" pubs.
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An absolute gem and a little piece of restored Telford history.One of the original four brewpubs remaining in the 70's. Unspoilt, friendly local for conversation and good home brewed ale. No games machines, no Sky, just chillout. Now the home of the Worfield Brewery, Jim, Rose and the staff will always have a warm welcome waiting for you. The Dabley Ale is an excellent session beer. Also served are Dabley Gold (5%), Coalport Dodger Mild, seasonal home-brews, usually a guest beer, often a porter, Budvar, Amstel and a choice of ciders. Single roomed interior is small and cosy, with a roaring log fire in winter. Dogs are welcome, as are Welsh rugby/Wrexham fans. The ham/cheese/beef/pork/bacon/black pudding rolls are legendary. Turn up on Mondays for a lively quiz, or pop in for occasional live music at weekends. Excellent provision for smokers. Six Nations Rugby - but only rugby - is available to watch on a TV perched atop two barrels, but otherwise there is no TV or background music to disturb the flow of intelligent conversation and satisfied supping.
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A gem for those seeking an unspoilt blast from the past simple small independent pub. It looks like an old detached cottage perched high on a hill side. Inside is a small bar, wooden tables and a couple of real open fires. No games machines or piped music, just conversation. A good place to unwind, sit back, sip ale and chat. Only down side is it does get very smokey due to it confined space. I personally rate the Dabley Ale as the best, although the Gold is good too. They have now dropped the Highgate Dark Mild and brew their own mild instead, which i think tastes better.
anonymous - 24 Nov 2005 09:40 |
One of the few brewpubs left when CAMRA was founded in the 1970's this gem of a pub is back brewing and selling Dabley Ale and Dabley Gold (the house beers) alongside Highgate Dark Mild (potentially other mild/porter/stout in its place), a guest beer and a real cider (currently Old Rosie from Weston's). If you're visiting the Ironbridge Gorge and find youself in the vicinity of Blist's Hill Victorian Museum ask for directions, as it's only a few hundred yards from the entrance on a side street running parallel. Well worth a visit.
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