please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
2019 Good Beer Guide Entry and Stourbridge and Halesowen Pub of the Year 2018.
Part of the Black Country Ales Chain. Like the Wellington in Brum, there's TV screens showing the 11 or so real ales on.
This has a real pubby feel. Multiple houses knocked together, providing some side rooms complete with real fire. Bar is long, thin and has a wickedly sloping floor.
BCA seem to source very unusual brews and I had a fine Black Storm Porter - all the way from Whitby to the West Midlands.
Perfect Pub.
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This is still a great real ale pub, with a decent range of good value food. It's a 'drinkers' pub' but not a drunkards pub: nice atmosphere of people supping their pints appreciatively & chatting with family or friends.
Went there for lunch recently, having only been for drinks previously, & was impressed by the food: a relatively small but interesting menu on offer, from traditional pub grub to the more exotic/spicy, all at down to earth prices.
The beer prices may not be the absolute cheapest around but what a choice! 14 pumps including Abbeydale, Angel Ales, Bathams and Oakham, all well kept and you can have a taster of one or two if the variety leaves you uncertain which to choose.
This is not a posh pub nor a posh restaurant but as a 'real' pub selling good beer with tasty food available it's hard to beat.
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Finally got around to visiting this pub a couple of weeks ago, seizing the opportunity whilst attending a birthday party at the Townsend Social Club opposite. It appears to be in the process of a renovation. But nevertheless, this is a great little pub with a mixture of locals and real ale enthusiasts. 14 ales are on, plus real ciders. On my Friday evening visit, they had Adnams Broadside, Nottingham DPA, Brew Co Treacle Stout & El Dorado, Bank Top Dark Mild, White Rose Summer Hoppiness, Byatts Big Cat & Coventry Bitter, Angel Eyes Eros, Bathams Bitter, Oakham Inferno, Abbeydale Moonshine, Hobsons Up 'n' Down & Art Brew Anarchist Bitter. Ciders were Moles Black Rat & Westons 1st Quality. The bar staff were very knowledgeable about their range. Hope to visit again.
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I visited this pub on the 9/4/2013 good pub but ales are expensive unfriendly locals ! beware !
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Best pub ever.
Pub would be ruined if it were to be decorated
benzo - 28 May 2012 22:49 |
This is indeed a splendid traditional hostelry, with its emphasis firmly on a readily-changing broad spectrum of cask ales, but also with a serious nod to down-to-earth simple pub snacks using the best quality ingredients. The bar is in one long line with an arsenal of pumps ready for action - quite an impressive sight and without prior knowledge, one would not expect it from the pleasant but unexceptional exterior. This is where the Good Beer Guide is invaluable.
At least 10 beers were available on our visit, most of which were sampled by each one of our 8-strong party. Quite simply, there were no complaints. Au contraire, in fact: this pub was at or near the top of many people's list out of 25 or so visited on a canal boat holiday stretching from Alvechurch via Birmingham, Dudley and Worcester and back again.
The landlord was knowledgeable and welcoming. No pretence, but not in any way base either. This was a pub that does what it does very well, but very quietly and with no frills and furbelows.
The turkey and ham pie with gherkin and mustard was quite simply the best I've sampled - boy do they know how to do pies in this neck of the woods! Straightforward, cheap, tasty fare using sound ingredients and excellent fodder to support what will inevitably be a fairly heavy session on the ale.
The pub is friendly, and capacious with plenty of seating around if bar-proppage does not appeal. We managed 2 visits in the same night, so clearly it was doing lots of things right!
A true classic - those of you lucky enough to visit regularly please make sure you continue to do so as any threat of closure would be an inestimable loss.
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The pub has lots of hardbacked seats - nothing too comfy - but the beer and food make up for it. An amazing choice of beers including one specifically for dogs! The cobs and cold pies (turkey & ham, pork) are fabulous. Only gripe is they recently started charging for gherkins. Boo! The staff are friendly and knowledgeable and the pub-goers talkative. Even if you went on your own, you'd soon make friends.
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Visited this hostelry yesterday. Nice pub with a very nice atmosphere and excellent range and quality of beers. The only thing I would criticise about it was the price of the Belgian beers on tap!!! �3.50 for a half pint is totally wrong! I was told it was because they have to import it (which is pretty obvious as it is brewed in Belgiam) but I know other pubs that have Belgian beer on tap, and they only charge half the price! It was the first time I have ever seen or heard of Duvel Green though, so it was an experience to try it.
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Have visited a few times, lovely old pub, great selection of beers and a nice atmosphere in which to drink.
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A choice of 14 beers, plus some Belgian ones, plus real cider and perry - Heaven! We spent a very happy lunch-time there, the beer & perry were fantastic, the cobs were excellent value, and the staff were really friendly and helpful. Toilets (gents at least) were perfectly adequate, not sure what there is to complain about.
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Always very popular amongst real ale drinkers. I believe the pub itself is actually two buildings that (many years ago) were knocked through. As others have pointed out, the floor quite obviously slopes and I don't think it has ever been redecorated since it was built (late 19th Century). I've only once visited the toilets, and as I recall they are outside the back door (not pleasant). No beer garden or car park.
Beerwise, Bathams is always on draught along with other guest ales and a few Belgian beers - Leffe, Kriek and Hoegaarden. There is also a tribute ale to a (popular) late member of staff.
In my opinion, an unsuitable pub for children.
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Can't fault the beer at all, lots of chioce of real ales plus Belgian beers on draught. However, it really does stink, especially the gents. it also has damp and tobacco stains all over the walls. A bit of TLC required. however if I was in Halesowen I wouldn't let the decor actually put me off!!
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I really like the pub. Had heard it was somewhat smelly but upon visiting found a real gem of a boozer. Slopping floors and pleasant staff. Nice Cobs and even better beer. I think there was about 14 handpulls on when i first visited and i tried more than a few. All very well kept. I now go back as often as I can. It is quiet and relaxing. Just the job!!
Pity that they dont do more food as i would give it 10/10
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Fantastic real ale pub with unusual sloped floor, friendly service and 12 handpumps! 8/10
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Great pub, full of character. If you like real ales there is a very good choice.
Very friendly cosy pub.
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Famous ale drinkers pub which was very lively the on the Friday evening we visited. It comprises a long thin bar with two wider rooms at either end. 15 real ales available, mainly of the light hoppy variety but at least one dark one usually available. Quality was pretty good, but as with most pubs with such a large selection of ales, reducing the range by a couple would sharpen it up a touch. Also has Liefmans Kriek and Framboise on draught.
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I have been to Belgium, Holland and France and all around the UK, but it was this pub that i finally received my first cloudy foul tasting Leffe blond. I would have bought an English Ale had it not been for the fact that the beers, all thirteen of them, were pale 4.3% knock it out quick get it down your neck ales. The 14th, a stout, was undrinkable according to my palate.
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What a choice. Plenty of good quality real ales on offer and friendly staff serving too.
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proper blackcountry pub(can i say that?). P***heads dream, great choice of beers, about a dozen with plenty of choice from all over the country, no no all THE country, and a characterful landlord.
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Beautiful Victorian bar, with a great selection of ales. Won the 2006 CAMRA pub of year for the whole West Midlands, so beating every pub in Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull and the Black Country. The only downside is that it is so small and cramped inside, so you tend to stay for just one or two rather than the whole evening and end up in the "Hawne Tavern" up the road which is less pretty inside, but much roomier.
Still, altogether a wonderful pub!
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Nice pub, winner of the 2007 local CAMRA pub of the year award. On the number 9 bus route, and close to the prevous year's winner the Hawne Tavern, both of which mean a trip to Halesowen is a Real Ale drinker's delight.
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Fantastic old style pub. Slanted floors and church pews. Between here and the hawne down the road you cant go wrong for real ale. hawne keep their beer slightly better while the waggon has a larger selection. The feel and decor of this place are major selling points aside from the beer.
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An ever changing beer festival in a bar.
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Best Pub in the World for Real Ales!
Colin - 12 Sep 2004 22:00 |
Brilliant selection of beers (14) plus two very good German beers on tap.
Caveman - 20 Nov 2003 14:13 |
Very friendly basic pub.14 ever changing real ales available,3ciders and 2 belgian beers.
no music or t.v.just great beer and conversation,and friendly staff,so come on in and let me sell you a pint!!!.
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