Station, Sutton Coldfieldback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
An excellent pub with well-kept ale and very tasty, quality food. Friendly and efficient service. Has a spacious beer garden. A must visit when in the area. 10/10.
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Very impressed with the quality of food. Holdens, timothy taylor and two more i cant remember on tap. Nice relaxed sunday afternoon drink. Nice bit out the back you can enjoy if weather suits. Staff seemed friendly.
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Still one of the best all round pubs in Sutton Coldfield - although some of the others have now improved since my last review. The Station remains under the same manager , with its 'No Chav' policy keeping it much more pleasant than some othe local establishments. Expect the pub to be very busy at the weekend but good for a quiet drink on a weekday afternoon. Good choice of well kept ales , maybe a little high on price. Food a bit expensive for what you get , good outside drinking area , but toilets still a little bit 1982 and not 2012. Live music and comedy in the upstairs room - a good place for a good night out.
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Really want to like this place as it has a massive beer garden with lots of gimmicks like a train set but ..... Although they have 3 real ales on at anyone time the Timothy Taylors Landlord just isnt in the same league of The Gate next door and the food isnt good value for money ...... I always go in for 1 and come out disappointed
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this pub could turn over 3 times whats its taking, the satff are as arrogant as the manager, you cant get served its an absolute nightmare!!! their excuse, the brewery wont pay for anymore staff and the are only allowed one per till, what an absolute load of crap, what minium wage??? theyre losing hundreds!!!
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Probably the best pub in the centre of Sutton. Three well kept cask ales on offer (Landlord, 6X & Black Sheep on last visit), large outdoor area, if a bit concrete.
Open till midnight at weekends.
On the downside, does get extremely busy and the landlord does have a certain 'reputation' locally, as alluded to by previous reviewers. Again, no football colours allowed (don't think the police have intervened yet, following the last post)!
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Having travelled to Birmingham for over 18 years to see friends and family, this was one of the pubs I have several photos of us sitting outside. So when the chance arose to bring my wife over for a much needed break, Birmingham was the destination.
we arrived to the hotel in the city on the glorius weekend of April 8th 2011 and arranged to catch up with some friends.
now my wife is an american and I have a disability which means I need to wear a patch over my eye most times, especially on sunny days.
we were to take in a football game that day and had were supposed to meet up with friends who lived nearby. as it was a sunny day we decided not to wear a jersey but to get some tshirts, all the while supporting the team.
when we arrived at the pub it looked like it had changed from the last 5 years I had been there. my wife ordered me a diet coke and herself a cider. not a problem. our friends arrived in and ordered 2 pints. again not a problem. the problem arose when my wife decided to get me a diet coke. my wife was refused service by some small ginger lady because " we were wearing colours " wtf! seriously are we in LA? anyway my wife was asking this lady why she had just served a guy in a villa jersey and the lady couldnt give her an answer.
we left our drinks and have vowed never to step foot in that pub again. oh and I am making a formal complaint about this to the police, brewery and the pub along with the tourist board. its decrimination.
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I went into the Station pub three times during a recent visit to the UK and saw it operate at both ends of the spectrum. On a rainy Monday evening, it offered a very quiet, homely and convivial place to sup your ale. And then on a Saturday night, it was packed to the rafters as many drinkers spilled out into the beer garden to listen to the two live DJs, despite it being a very chilly evening.
The Station is a very decent pub, but you'd be better off nearby at The Duke if you fancy a quiet pint on a Saturday.
The only downside to The Station - and I wasn't the only one to notice this - is that the young female barstaff were a little snotty and aloof. Not being an experienced UK drinker, I asked them for bottled lager recommendations, and they shot me a look as if I'd asked them to come and have sex with me in the car-park.
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I like this place, however the last 2 occasions the leffe and Erdinger were both off so i had to have Stella :( the last time the barman looked at me as if i was stupid for asking for Leffe despite their still being a pump and no glass over it . toilets are nasty still.
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Visited this pub on many occasions, beer is always good if a little pricey.
On my last visit which was a Bank Holiday Sunday, the atmosphere was awesome, the beer garden was full and the music was fantastic.
One point to note, and i don't know how the manager and staff do it, there is never any door staff herer yet they seem to keep the idiots away. Well done
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This was the final pub on my Sutton crawl on 4 April 2009. Unfortunately, I chose to drink a bottle of wine (I shared two with a mate). I say unfortunately because mixing it with the quatities of beer I'd had earlier that day was a fatal error and my time in the Station on this occasion remains a blur.
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This will be the third post I've left about this pub. I've now been coming here once a week for about a year. In previous comments I had a few quibbles but now I find it hard to knock this place. The ales are fantastic why this place isn't mentioned in the Good Beer Guide or fequented by CAMRA memebers I don't know. Every week there are different ales on sale with Landlord as the house. Last week I had a lovely pint of Ginger Tosser (I forget the brewery) great name and a great beer but a very unusal smell. I've never had a bad pint here. Food is also fantastic, a simple bowl of chips was soon ordered by everyone on our table after just one being ordered orignally. But they don't have any desserts which is unusal and unexplainable. The staff are great, the ones who were once obnoxious and blunt are now much more relaxed and friendly. Maybe its because they've got to know me but I have noticed a difference in their attitude with all customers. There are a few problems still for example on weekend nights the place is packed out and both bars can end up being about 3 deep yet there never seems to be enough staff on to handle the demand. And with the huge amounts of people comes a huge amount of heat and I'm nearly 100% sure The Station does not have air conditioning which is crazy!! If they do they don't use it and the smell from lots of sweaty people can be quite something. The toilets simply arn't big enough either and as previously mentioned can amit a rather nasty smell if positioned near to them. The Landlord/manager is still about but not as much as usual (which ain't a bad thing) he does get alot of stick on here but it is justifiable. On one visit I was late arriving and my friends pointed this out and he over heard it and bluntly refused me service until I explained why I was late. Now I can take a joke as well as the next person but he wasn't joking and it took a great deal of unnecessary effort to get served, so much so I nearly walked out, there was simply no need. To finish on a positive this place is great in many ways and like many people this is becoming my favourite pub in Sutton Coldfield.
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I thought this was a fairly pleasant pub and is probably great if you're catching a train - we were driving and got stung for a parking ticket in the car park opposite. The pub was lively and fairly crowded - standing room only. The biggest negative was the toilets - the smell coming from them was disgusting. Nevertheless, this was probably the best pub we visited in Sutton Coldfield.
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The Station is one of the last few proper pubs in Sutton Coldfield . It normally has 3 or 4 well kept ales on tap inc. TT Landlord priced slightly over the odds at around �2.50 a pint . The food is good pub fayre (so Im told) and the menu looks well priced - the pub gets very busy at weekends and getting served does become an issue , however this has always been the same for at least the last 25 years !! A good atmosphere , music not to loud , no Sky TV , room upstairs for live music , definately recommended - probably the best Sutton can offer.
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Two recent Sunday lunchtime sessions, and both fairly succesful. We enjoyed the food, the ambience, the service was adequate - there was nothing excessive in the way of personailty or individuality on display from the staff, and more importantly the ales were in excellent condition. There's a nice little gimmick at the rear of the pub, if you think hard enough you should be able to guess what this feature is. Quite possibly if I used this pub more frequently the little niggles and irritations would start to surface, but at least there seems to be a genuine attempt to turn the Station into a lively interesting quality place...live music's on offer as well. Let's face it the Station doesnt have much in the way of rivals in the Sutton area does it?
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Terrible service when busy, so the place could make a lot more money if they could only improve the service. It annoys me when people buy two drinks and pay by card! I've given up and moved on when this has happened. This pub used to be far busier (1980's) yet the service was quicker. Bring back Nick Oliver!
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Decent boozer that I've used on and off for years, mostly decent people in their 20's 30's and 40's, shame about the smarmy fool that runs the place.
6 out of 10, it would be an 8 but for the gaffer.
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The real ales, when I went in, were really nice. But the bar staff, although friendly, have no idea about the ales. The food is really nice, but a bit pricey.
I liked the quirkyness of the pub and will visit it again, but I'll just try the ales out rather than asking for advice.
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General
This pub has been my local now for the best part of ten years and seen it go through a number of changes some which I like and some which I don�t. The d�cor whether to your taste or not is very quirky and makes the place seem to have more personality than some of the generic chain pubs. The bar sizes when busy only just cope and the pub can get incredibly busy. If you start visiting regularly some of the staff will remember you and it makes the place feel more like home! One thing that sets this pub way above everything else in Sutton is the no chav's rule, ok some of the Snobby Sutton types (people who go to Type 3 and LOOOOVE themselves) might not be your cup of tea but they generally keep themselves to themselves.
Space
The table arrangements are pretty good for a drink during the week, however after 7.30pm don�t expect a table Friday or Saturday unless you want to go outside. The extensive beer garden is the only place to be in the summer, with loads of table and places to stand the new outside bar should ensure that pressure is taken off the inside bars and make service better. The addition of the cocktail bar upstairs means if you are over 25 and smartly dressed you can get served quickly (however entrance is at the decision of the landlord) this is great because the pub can get really busy so its good to chill out (even though it looks a little like a bordello) without loads of noise or any annoying Sutton types.
Variety of drinks
They stock a lot of drinks, so I will try to summarise it for you guys,
- Lager wise there is Carling (not Cold), Amstell and Stella, lager is lager it will give you a headache! There are also a wide range of bottled lagers from around the world, please try Quinns its about 8.5% and will put you on your backside, but it is very nice.
- Wheat beers they have, Frulli (strawberry beer - good summer drink), Leffe and Erderinger which is fairly unique to Sutton so if you fancy something different then try one but be warned they are not cheap�.
- The real ales can be a bit hit and miss depending on what they are and who has been keeping them, ask for either Jason or Simon to find out which is any good no one else is likely to have an idea, Tim Taylors is the house beer plus up to three guests.
- They have Guinness, but no red Guinness which is a shame avoid at all costs from the upstairs bar (be warned the variety of beers is limited in the cocktail bar and I would strongly advise bottled beers and cocktails rather than the draught.)
- The wines I personally would avoid, the white and rose are never chilled sufficiently and the reds are open too long and taste old. To be fair I like good wine, if you are on a bit of a session you probably wouldn�t notice. The house white is only �8.95 which is reasonable for a pub but it isn't brilliant.
- Spirits are priced no dearer than anywhere else with a choice of gins and vodkas, and the cocktails can make a welcome change.
Price
Cocktails are expensive for what you get, the house wines by the bottle are reasonable but avoid buying by the glass unless you know when the wine has been opened, Carling and Stella are priced reasonable compared to the rest of Sutton but for me Amstell (4% same as Carling) is over priced and not worth the extra money. The wheat beers seem pricey but it�s the same anywhere else for them, the casts are very well priced and good value when they have been kept properly.
Staff
Up until a year ago the staff used to be excellent, as they could manage large volumes of customers on busy nights they looked like they were having a good time and the majority of the time served people in turn and in a friendly manner, a number however have left making service on a Friday and Saturday nights slow to very slow. A number of the new staff are slow, surly and rude which seems to be the complete opposite to the personality/atmosphere the landlord has tried to create at the pub. The assistant manager is friendly, attentive and willing to please, the land lord is fair with punts if a little quirky and could maybe do with having more control over the bar. To conclude it�s a bit of a mixed bag some staff are really good others are woeful and I hope some of the old staff return by the summer!
Food
The food is ok, I believe its overpriced for what you get and has gradually declined over the last 5 years. With your cutlery they used to bring bread and oils which was lovely and set the place apart from any other pub food in Sutton, this has now disappeared to be replaced by your sauces and cutlery arriving in buckets. Without wanting to put down the place the prices suggest something amazing when in fact its pretty ordinary. The Chip butties are nice though and a bit of a feature, the Moroccan chicken sandwiches are no longer spicy and I would like to see more specials showcase their chefs talents and his roots.
Events
What makes this pub stand out from the others is its events it is unrivalled for comedy and puts on some decent music as well. The all day blues and jazz festival in the summer with BBQ is a laugh if you are looking to have a bit of a summer time session. The quiz night isnt for your average quiz goer it is aimed at a younger crowd and resembles more shooting stars than mastermind, it is very funny though if you like that sort of thing. They have acoustic nights which anyone can join in on and are usually good, but it can depends who turns up. If you have gone on a date or a quiet drink I would maybe suggest avoiding.
Conclusions
Pros
1. The only place to drink during the summer,
2. No chavs
3. The comedy is always good,
4. try the guest ales,
5. Try the quiz,
6. Good choice of beer
Cons
1. Avoid the wine,
2. Toilets are awful
3. Try the food, but I warn you not to get too excited.
4. Staff can be a bit hit and miss
The pub isn't quiet sure what it is, areas are quite quirky others a bit homely and the toilets are straight out of a spit and saw dust pub, but it means it caters for a wide range of people making for a good atmosphere.
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I've already commented on this pub but I've been going in alot more recently and would like to add a few points.
Firstly the beer quality is as good as ever, fact! I've been trying the different guest ales they have each week and they're always spot on. The clientele are abit up their own but you just got to ignore them, simple! The pub still looks as good and is as full of character as ever.
The few things I would say that let this place down are the staff and the price of the drinks which are to be fair, ridiculous. You could argue that the beer is good enough to justify it or that it keeps the chavs away but I disagree. I won't quote prices but things like spirits and soft drinks such as the generic brands don't need to cost nearly double what they do else where. Now the staff, some of them are really friendly and quick to serve you. But the rest 90% of the time are very obnoxious and just as much up their own as the clientele. And its true you will find you self being served out of turn alot if there are friends of the bar staff in drinking. The landlord/manager doesn't really help the situation either and can often be seen floating round the pub being just as obnoxious as the staff, but he is brilliant on quiz nights it has to be said!!
Ok, there it is. At the end of it if you just go in here enjoy the excellent beer and the company of friends the faults can be over looked.
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Went in there with a few of the girls recently..dont know what to make of the place..wasnt that busy so the landlord..keith I think..was very very attentive..he gave us the creeps..and we quickly left..he has a shocking reputation apparently and most people we hear of quickly grow out of the place and move onto to classier more adult pubs..
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Pub has a good reputation- much depends on your age of course and what you really want on a night out.Many people are pretentious in there and Ive not heard so much false bragging (about wealth) for quite a while.Beer is very well kept but they have a horrible habit of serving their favourites rather than in turn.You get the feeling walking in that youve gatecrashed a Masons meeting but most punters are OK.
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YAY!!!!! This place is the best! You never get under age drinkers and the clientele is definitely NOT chav. In fact I have often seen chavs try to stay in here but after one drink they make some crap excuse and leave. Regular live bands, comedy acts and you can play a number of board games! Sunday night is Scrabble night. Well its not its just that there are a couple of groups who 'fight' over the Scrabble. Drinks are not cheap but are competitive with the other pubsStaff are VERY friendly, they are definitely just normal people and tend to be ex-regulars. Has an excellent beer garden for the summers and my friends and family always choose this place for food. All home cooked!
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This place has been here for years. My dad who is 63 used to drink here when he was my age (20). Its very rustic (lack of a better word) the staff wear their own cloths but amazingly don't look scruffy, the place is very clean but basic in looks.
They have a model train which goes round the edge of the ceiling, very unique. Not as much seating as needed even when its not busy you could find yourself having to stand. But the outside area is the real selling point for the Station, its big yet intimate. The beer is in good condition and they sell Fruli (a Belgian strawberry lager) on draft which is sooooo rare, they also have a modest selection of ales. Food is excellent and reasonably priced but in my opinion not really like pub food.
The Station also hosts many live events such as bands and a few famous comedians who's names I can't remember. This place caters for everyone yet I don't see many families in here (which some people will be glad of). Definatly give this place a go next time your in Sutton Coldfield you won't be disapointed.
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The best quiz night in sutton. Monday nights, the gaffer has a beer and gets abused by the punters and staff. Come on down its a good laugh. But gets very busy on the weekend.
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Went in one Friday this summer, it took 20 minutes to get served.
The next time was much better! The beer is good, Hook Norton and another guest. I will be going back.
moose - 17 Nov 2004 16:59 |
Manny and Lisa ran a great pub my favorite local.
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i have being going there for over 10 years. and it is still an cool friendly pub. and it is right next to the train satation
jim - 10 Oct 2004 21:39 |
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