Trip to the Black Country (February 26^th 2005)    

After the success of the Manchester trip, Keith organised a really interesting trip to the brew pubs of the Black Country. About twenty of us gathered on Humberstone Gate, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Bristol MW 1961 bus, which was a lot faster than I had expected. In no time at all we were at the Bartons Arms in Birmingham  (not in the Black Country). This has to be one of the most beautiful pubs in Britain, full of tiles, stained glass, and plastered ceilings. There was a good choice of beers, including three dark beers. I had the Cotleigh Peregrine Porter, which was very good.

    The Bartons Arms, Birmingham

The next pub was the legendary Beacon inn, The Sarah Hughes Brewery Tap. This was another lovely pub, very traditional, with an interesting bar. The home brewed Sarah Hughes beers were on good form, the 6.5% Dark Ruby costing only £2.00 a pint. Pale Amber, Sedgley Surprise and Snowflake Winter Warmer were also on and not a sparkler or swan neck in sight.

      The Beacon Inn, Sedgeley

Next came the modern Wagon and Horses in Tipton, offering the pub-brewed Toll End P.A. and Black Bridge Bitter. Both were sweetish with a decent bitter finish. There were five guests and a real cider. The brewer was very friendly and showed us the brewery, which used to be the ladie’s toilets!

Then on to the Old Bull’s Head at Lower Gornal, which was on a hill! This is home to the Black Country Brewery. Again the brewer was very friendly and showed some people the brewery. The Pig On The Wall mild was a little disappointing but others quite enjoyed the Fireside Bitter and the B.F.G.

The next pub we visited was the classic Old Swan at Netherton, with it’s beautiful tiled ceiling and cosy rooms. On offer were the home-brewed Old Swan Original; quite bitter for a Black Country beer and only £1.50 a pint. The malty Dark Swan mild was nice. Others tried the Entire and Bumble hole; reactions were good to all beers. This pub also had real cider.

An unplanned visit to the Park Inn, the Holdens brewery tap at  Woodsetton, came next. There was the full range of Holdens beers ; the mild was very good and only £1.40 a pint. Again we encountered friendly bar staff that took the sparkler off on request. That was our final Black Country pub but the trip wasn’t over. Our final port of call was the Lloyds at Nuneaton. The large and varied range of beers impressed us, which was about 15. Lloyds also has a brewery called Fantasy. I was alittle disappointed with their own Wobbin’ Goblin but the Hidden Brewery’s beers Hidden Depths and Old Sarum were very good. I also had the Phoenix Honey Bee porter and the Hambleton Nightmare. Some beers were straight  out of the barrel and this was a friendly pub too.

    Bristol MW bus with trippers

Many thanks to Keith Satterly for his excellent organisation and to Martin Southam the driver of the vintage Bristol MW Bus. It seems as if many people could not make the trip. They missed a really good one. Hopefully the next trip will be full.

This page last updated: June 3, 2008

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