please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Closed for good, Chines Buffet
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Currently being refurbished, looks as though it is going to be another one of those dreadful, all the poor quality food you can eat for a fiver, chinese banquet places.
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Has gone down hill fast. Excellent prices for the beer and the staff always pleasant, but toilets a disgrace. Up for sale now and it`s hoped that someone gets hold of it and restores it to its former glory. 4/10
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It's a typical "local" boozer, but based in the City Centre.
Quite a number of screens dotted around the place for watching sport, but as it's in the basement, it's so hot in there that it, at times, becomes unbearable.
My last trip here a few months ago had me on some kind of IPA, which while well-kept, wasn't that cold. Two other ales were on, but weren't sampled. The toilets were horrendous - no toilet seat, no toilet paper, puddles on the floor (probably from the blocked trough urinal), no soap, and dodgy taps.
A couple of quiz machines fittered about makes it a decent pub, but it's nothing more than average.
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I like this pub, purely for the fact its one of the only basement bars that we have in Birmingham good to go in if you want to watch football or rugby plenty of screens around the bar, real ale wise doesn't seem to great but nevertheless i like to pop in this pub
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this used to be my pub i was the assistant when donna was hear this is a fantastic pub with the best regulars in town and shela the cook was a proper laugh have some good memories of my time there but it might finaly get some decent beer as marstons are selling the pub at the minute
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The first pub we tried in the centre and we liked it! Good beer, excellent service, tables and bar kept clean and tidy. Good food offers (not tried). I would visit again
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Visited at the weekend after hearing that this pub was on the up.Normally a basement bar on the main shopping street of a major city would be enough in itself to repel me, but thought I'd give it a go. Full of fake olde-worldiness and as described below, but it does seem to be making more of an effort- the 3 handpumps have indeed been increased to 6, although nothing out of the ordinary- all out of the Marstons/Jennings range. My Cumberland was fine and to be honest I didn't find it particularly grotty and the other customers seemed OK. It's not a must visit and probably never will be but it's an improving pub and if you've done the others in the area is a decent place whilst waiting for a train. Achieved infamy after the IRA bombing of 1974.
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Somewhat shabby cellar bar within the main pedestrianised area. Fake beams, worn carpet, slightly musty smell. Could have been used as a set for �Life On Mars?� Has 6 handpumps but only 4 were on. These were Brakspear Oxford Gold, Ringwood Seventy Eight, Marston�s Merrie Monk and Wychwood Rye Smile. I had a pint of the Merrie Monk, it wasn�t very good, not bad enough to be sent back, but it was getting close. I was here last Wednesday and I suspect that I had pretty much the last of the barrel that Archivist tried on the previous Saturday. Another negative was that there were 3 guys stood at the bar all a bit pissed and one of them just wouldn�t stop swearing despite a large number of females present. Having someone loudly shout �You F**king C**t� every couple of minutes is really not needed. I can think of lots of other places to stop off on my way to the station, so I don�t think I�ll be bothering with this one again.
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Underground pub, with fakey beams etc, accessed by a flight of stairs from New St. and useful for a quick stop off before the train. A visit will make you appreciate the horror of 1974.
Used to pop in a fair bit - even had a work leaving do here once, but they took the MILD out and i couldnt be bothered anymore. A first visit in a while saw a few real ales on, one of which was a stronger MILD, Merrie Monk, which was decent enough. I think it may reappear on the stop off list again.
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its true real ale cumberland, dirty tackle and pedigree on sale today and im told its gone so well they are increasing to six hand pulls very soon, also starting a thursday night weekly quiz and im told its free to enter
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Good place for sports. Food wasn't bad either, although there wasn't any cask ale, perhaps yard of extra smooth would be a more appropriate pub name! Although i've not been in for a while so havn't seen whether or not the rumours of cask coming to the yard are true.
The decor and atmosphere (it's underground!) won't suit everyone but I found it fairly comfortable. Convenient for New St. Station.
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things have changed and the yard of ale now sells real ale , cumberland ale, banks,pedigree,hobgoblin,and other jennings beers, food served all day and daily specials too, still showing sport including football and the six nations rugby.
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Dingy, underground pub. Very rude staff who tried to tell me it was 'against the law' to wear a baseball cap in Birmingham pubs.
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Suitable for a quick gassy Marstons (if my memory serves me?) with a sticky table and Sky Sports News.
There's plenty of better places in the city to go.
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As other posters state, you won't even find a millilitre of ale here. Other than that, actually not bad despite its general pokiness. The friendliness of the locals (rare in a city centre pub) helps here. Don't expect miracles, but for a quick swig in between visits to the two Waterstones' to check out the live Saturday afternoon game, absolutely fine
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An underground pub in the bustle of New Street near the train station. Don�t be fooled by the name, they don�t serve any ale never mind yards of it, it�s all keg. Nice looking bar though that concentrates quite heavily on food. They advertise live sports on Sky and there are about 6-8 TV screens dotted around so you should always be able to see one. They could probably do with having the ability to split coverage between two channels though, we went in to watch the Eng v West Indies cricket and every screen was showing Aus v SA tri-nations rugby. Not one to make a special visit for but handy for the train station.
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Situated in the basement of a rather dull modern shop and office block, it is easy to walk past. The interior is a decent enough attempt to recreate a Ye Olde Worlde pub using black gnarled beams and pillars that are either very good reproductions or salvaged from some other now demolished building of considerable age. They work well against the white walls and the modern brickwork also blends in to good effect. Despite the attempts at tradition, they fall a bit short of the mark when it comes to actual delivery. No Real Ales on offer and not even a token Yard of Ale glass on display. There are multiple screens for footie watching and various fruit / quiz machines are dotted about. I have certainly experienced far worse places and with its snuga and well planned layout, it is actually quite cosy. With a few proper beers this could be a fairly decent pub and given the apparent lack of competition in the immediate area, the place is certainly worth knowing about.
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Rather tatty city centre pub, somewhat claustrophobic and generally a bit dingy.
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Nice pub..no actual ales despite the name but there was some refreshing lager to drink instead. Very nice decor, very comfortable and a great service. Very relaxed feel.
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The Yard Of Ale has a new manager and is just about to be refurbished, well needed. I think it will be well recieved by existing and new customers in Birmingham. It is the best city centre pub in Birmingham and should be even better when it re opens. Well worth a visit to try out. Donna, the new manager, is from New Zealand and runs a quality pub.
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Underground, stuffy, tatty - avoid (Was previously Tavern in the Town blown up in 1974 by IRA)
Colin - 24 Jul 2004 16:08 |
