A Fine Day Out in Birmingham

As a last hurrah of the Easter holidays, Midlands pub specialist Life After Football organised an excursion to a pub or two in central Birmingham. 

Taking in the elegant Barton Arms (above), this seemed like a fine day out and a grand reason for me to arrange a day off work and hop aboard a northbound train.

I should point out that attendees on the day included Paul Baily and Retired Martin, as well as Life After Football himself.  All of whom probably remember more than I do and have written/will write great blog posts about it.

I'm just here to provide the supplementary pictures and spelling mistakes.

Here's the route we ended up taking...

The meeting place was the London & North Western, a recently opened Wetherspoon's located on the concourse of New Street Station.

Despite arriving in the city centre with enough time to grab a cup of coffee and browse in the bookstore, I was still late getting to Spoons.  Turns out I haven't mastered the multiple entrances to New Street after all.

Just time for me to have a swift Exmoor 'Southern Brown Ale' before we set off for the Post Office Vaults.

Post Office Vaults (84 New Street, Birmingham, B2 4BA - web)
This subterranean bar is a next door neighbour to Birmingham post office and many years ago was a Mitchells & Butlers pub named The Royal Mail.  It's had several incarnations since, opening in its current guise as a real ale hotspot in 2011.

You're pretty much guaranteed to find some good milds in the West Midlands and we would get the chance to try several throughout the day.  Hobsons 'The Champion', a 3.2% nutty mild, is a regular fixture in the Post Office Vaults and made for a fabulous lunchtime pint.

This was a bar that used to be packed to the rafters whenever I visited years ago, but it's been quiet the last couple of times I've called in.  At least we managed to find them one more customer, as Paul Bailey joined us having made the longest journey of us all from sunny Kent.

Stafford Paul counts out the coins to buy t'other Paul a pint of mild

It was a 10-minute walk past the cathedral and onto Steelhouse Lane, a street which features the Birmingham Children's Hospital, Magistrate's Court, and one-time police station and lock-up (now an interesting looking museum which I must get to one day).
Our destination was the Queen's Head...

Queen's Head (28 Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham, B4 6BJ - web)
It seems this pub has had a few different names and been painted a few different colours over the years.
I went searching for a bit of info on the pub and found this on a Birmingham history forum...
"Remember the lock ins and the juke box...I know many of the staff from around the law courts and the general hospital were regulars there...Anyone remember the story of the woman buried in the wall?"
A woman buried in the wall - now you've got my attention!

 

After spending 12 years as the Jekyll and Hyde, it was refurbished and reopened with its original name by the resurrected Davenports Brewery in 2022.  They've made it all very smart and shiny with lots of tiles and some nice old brewery adverts in frames on the wall.  

Davenport's ales on the bar were 'Original', 'Gold', 'IPA', and 'Mild' - all with fantastic retro pump clips. I went for a second mild in a row - a smooth dark and easy-to-drink beer.

The Queens Head provided the return of Mild smut in the Gents WC... 

Moving on, we set out on our longest walk of the day - 1.2 miles northward on the A34 - not a contender for one of Birmingham's most picturesque walks.
But the pub at the end of it is very picturesque.

Making our way in, there's a vestibule with mosaic floor bearing the pub name and two doors both leading to the same place.  Many of the dividers which would have created many more separate areas were removed at the end of the sixties.

Barton Arms (144 High Street, Newtown, B6 4UP - web)
Two hand pumps on the bar dispensed Oakham 'Citra', reportedly on very good form, and - my pick -  a Titanic 'Cherry Porter'.  

Life After Football speculated that when Mitchells & Butlers built this as a flagship pub in 1901 it would have been in the heart of Ansell's Brewery territory - a grand statement to the rivals.  He tried his best to act as informative tour guide for the day...
"Martin, are you interested in a bit of history?".
"Not if it's more than 10-minutes ago, no."

So, whilst Martin is busy signing the visitor book on our behalf, I'll get distracted by a bit of history.

Architects James and Lister Lea were responsible for building the pub in 1901.  Their work can be seen on several other pubs in the city, including the Woodman, The Anchor and the White Swan.
But this is the real gem, with multiple rooms over two floors and intricate features throughout, from etched glass to snob screens and elaborate staircases.

It was popular with performers from the (now demolished) Aston Hippodrome, most famously Laurel & Hardy who rested here between performances during their final UK tour in 1954.
Somewhere upstairs (out-of-bounds on our visit) are two rooms, one of which was once a billiards room where 15-time world snooker champion Joe Davis used to practice.

The pub was threatened with demolition in 1969, then closed between 2000 and 2003 after failing to attract enough custom.  The back two rooms are now set up for dining with Thai cuisine on offer, hopefully giving a few more folk a reason to make the trip here.
I was blown away by this majestic pub.

How on earth could Life After Football follow that up on the day's itinerary?

Life After Football's Big Brand Lager and Shisha Diversion:

You'll be surprised to hear this one's not on the Heritage Pub List

Big Smoke Steakhouse & Bar (97 High Street, Newtown, B6 4HG)
Well, this was somewhere a little different.  The two Paul's made the decision to swerve this stop, staying a little longer in the Barton's, popping their heads in on the way past and frowning at us, then getting to the Bull before the heavy rain started.  Hmmm..who made the right choice?
With a stylishly red-lit bar, the Big Smoke consisted of one simple room and a shisha yard out back. 

I made a poor decision of picking one of the mass-produced lagers from the taps, whilst thinking Martin had been exceptionally wise with his order for an espresso.  Until his interest was piqued by small dumpy bottles of Jamaican 16.5% wine.

We exited the Smoke House to discover it had started to rain heavily.
And proceeded to get quite wet on the 10-minute walk to the Bull.

This cracking pub is a revisit for me, so all I'll do here is commend a marvelous half pint of Church End Brewery 'Grave Digger's Ale' and bemoan my failure to take a quality pub cat picture.

 

"Are you alright?", the landlady asked me, which suggested that my tipsy enthusiasm for cat photography was making me look suspicious and that I shouldn't have helped Martin finish the Jamaican cough medicine wine.

We moved on to the Hen & Chickens, a desi pub on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter.

Hen & Chickens (27 Constitution Hill, Hockley, B19 3LE)
A grand street-corner boozer with a cask and curry sign above the door, the Hen & Chickens was the busiest place of the day: drinkers propping up the bar and groups having mouth-watering platters of food delivered to their tables.

The sole cask on the offer was a Wadworth 'Horizon' - not really a beer I'd come all the way to Birmingham to drink, but on reasonable form.
It was nice to have our numbers bolstered by Leon at this point, who'd finished his days work and caught up with us.

Time was fast running out and the rain was becoming wetter and more persistent.
No way we were making it around Life After Football's suggested 10 pubs, so the last point of call for the day appeared to be the Rock and Roll Brewhouse.

Rock and Roll Brewhouse (19 Hall Street, Hockley, B18 6BS)
This is another revisit for me as I included it in a short Jewellery Quarter tour in 2022.  But it was a delight to return, with the vibe quite different on a Friday evening with moody lighting and a decent number of punters.
There's some disgraceful behavior in the picture below that would never be allowed in a Sam Smith's house...people glued to their phones, and pesky pub photographers...

Three beers brewed onsite were available on the bar, with my pick being the enjoyable 'Instant Calmer' pale ale - extra points for the 7" vinyl pump clip...

We headed back into the evening gloom and rain to make our way back to train stations for homeward-bound journeys.

At which point I foolishly asked for directions to the Good Intent and whizzed off in a different direction without saying polite goodbyes. 
Sorry!  I'm only socially inept at the end of an excursion around eight pubs!

Prop Up the Bar's Unnecessary Supplementary Pub:

The Good Intent (32-33 Great Western Arcade, Birmingham, BH2 5HU)
I was keen to get to the only central Birmingham beer guide pub that I hadn't previosuly visited.
Close to Snow Hill station, this is a converted shop unit in the smart Great Western Arcade.
Run by Craddock's Brewery, they have an admirable 'not for profit' model, with donations being made to local charities and good causes - hence the pub name.

Six hand pumps on the bar dispensed local ales from Craddock's, Holdens and Green Duck.  A great choice from which I picked Craddock's 'Crazy Sheep', an easy-to-drink pale ale.

Handy giant clock on the wall.  Cripes, it's time to drink up and catch my own train home.

It was brilliant to see everyone who attended this day out, and a big thanks goes to Life After Football for putting the itinerary together and not getting us too lost in the wild streets north of the city centre.
Cheers! 🍻

It's A Banker - Stockton on Tees

More glorious sunshine and blue skies greeted me on Monday morning, when I made the jounrney from my Darlington base to Thornaby station. From there it was a short walk through modern student accommodation and offices, before crossing the Tees on a footbridge.

I was on my way to Stockton.
Uh-oh...on first glance it looked like the town was being demolished...

Significant building works

Stockton-on-Tees is the kind of place that raises a furrowed brow from my mum who tried to bring me up to go on holiday to national parks, walking the fells and visiting country houses.
Why on earth would you want to go to Stockton-on-Tees?!

To see the plinth in the market square.

And the hippopotamus bursting out the side of a house...

And to be able to partake in a pint like this...

The Sun (2 Knowles Street, TS18 6SU - web)
"Bass, please."
"Banker?"
I'm glad that bloggers and Bass aficionados have previously promoted the banked Bass at the Sun, otherwise I'd have had no idea what the fella at the bar meant. 
Or I'd have misheard.

Bass is the sole cask on offer at the Sun and once sold so quickly that half pints were poured at quieter times and 'banked' in the fridge, ready to be quickly topped up, creating the frothy heads.

The Sun Inn looks every bit the proper boozer: open early, hanging baskets and planters braving the chilly April nights, and posters advertising karaoke, disco, and £2.30 pints of John Smith's Smoothflow.
For pre-noon drinking, there was a fair number of regulars settled in their favourite seats, attention divided between horse racing on numerous TVs and wondering why the weird chap a few tables down was taking pictures of his Bass with a big grin on his face.

There's a chap wondering why I'm photographing my pint.
Whilst I'm wondering why he's got a bottle of Fairy detergent on his table.

There is a bit of a problem visiting on a Monday and that's that many micropubs have an aversion to opening at the beginning of the week.
Of the seven current Good Beer Guide entries, three were shut on a Monday.  A fourth, The Wasps Nest, usually opens but had decided to go on holiday when I was there.

Best head to the small shopping arcade to one that was open.
And make a pigs ear of the picture...

Tipsy Turtle (5 Regency West Mall, West Row, TS18 1EF - web)
It was far too quiet, perhaps justifying those that took the day off.
Just two blokes sat in the window seat, which is why I sat quietly in the corner, took no pictures and sipped my Campervan 'Nomad Pale'.

I'm sure I'd have enjoyed this a lot more at a busier time.  Alongside the three cask ales was a good selection of draft German and Belgian beers and some highly tempting, high-ABV, colourful cans in the fridge.

Checking the time, I drank up and headed back to the market square plinth which promised to do something at 1pm.  It kicks into life a minute or so late, just to give me time to think I could be loitering for no reason.  Then the top slowly opened and a steampunk contraption rose slowly in commemoration of the George Stephenson's first railway which ran from Stockton to Darlington.

It moves, hoots loudly, blows steam smoke rings and is absolutely fantastic.

When the Flyer sunk back into the plinth for another day, the dozen or so folk who'd been watching it drifted off in different directions.  In my case, down the road to the Wetherspoon's for a bite to eat.

The Thomas Sheraton (4 Bridge Road, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 3BW - web)
The town 'Spoons has been a fixture in the Good Beer Guide for fifteen years, holding back the rise of the side-street micros to keep its place.

Thomas Sheraton was a famed 18th century furniture maker who was born in the town and published 'The Cabinet Maker, Upholsterer and General Artist's Encyclopaedia' in 1805.   I suspect he never envisaged having a pub named after him a couple of hundred years in the future.

It's an impressive grade II listed building which used to the county court house.  There's lots of nooks and crannies downstairs, a mezzanine level with rooftop courtyard, and a great coloured glass skylight.

I ordered some food and a pint of Titanic 'E.B.A' brown ale, before moving on in the search of my final micropub of the afternoon.

This was located somewhere down this colourful alley (or is it a ginnel?)

Golden Smog (1 Hambledon Yard, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1DS)
The Golden Smog was the first of the town's micros, opened in August 2014.
It's a narrow single room with the bar at the far end, pump clips adorning the ceiling and a fine collection of German steins on a high shelf. 

From the five real ales I picked the Harrogate ‘Nid Mild’ and took it to the last remaining table.  Small tables, benches and proper pub stools lined each wall, with patrons facing the centre of the room and chatting to one another in compliance with Herne Bay micropub rules.

I don't know what I missed with all the closed places on a Monday, but I'm glad the Golden Smog was open and will make a beeline for a return visit next time I'm in this neck of the woods.
A lovely crowd of folk drinking everything from Sam Smith's in a bottle to Belgian ales served in their proper glassware.  

Stockton-on-Tees had provided me with a great afternoon out and should be on the bucket-list of anyone who likes Bass, micropubs, and brilliant steampunk sculptures.
And I got a great value haircut.
Cheers!🍺

Durham Pub Crawl

Sunday morning: a dramatic change in the weather promised the first real blue sky pictures on the blog for 2023 (I've only had to wait until April!) 
Full of enthusiasm and a Premier Inn breakfast I headed to Darlington station to catch the LNER train for the 17 minute trip to Durham.
A good early arrival gave me plenty of time to explore, pop into the cathedral, stroll along the banks of the River Wear, and visit the historic Cosin's library. 

How long would it be before I expanded the sightseeing itinerary to include a pub?
That'd be 11:27.

The Half Moon Inn (86 New Elvet, Durham, DH1 3AQ - web)
The Half Moon is an early opener with big glass windows allowing the casual by-passer to peer in and spot the Bass pump clip.
It's a fine, spacious, traditional pub, with polished dark wood surfaces and red leather bench running the length of the front window.  The crescent shaped room to the rear gets a mention in the heritage pub guide, but I figured it best to sit with my fellow early drinkers in the brighter front section.
Anyone wanting a cask beer that isn't Bass had the alternative choice of Landlord, Doom Bar and Wainwright.

To be honest, I think it was a pretty average pint of Bass, probably the first of day looking at the fizzy bubbles in Carling glasses on neighbouring tables.  But I enjoyed it, sat quietly with the sunshine beaming in the windows and the tail end of an early F1 race on the TV.

Just a few minutes walk along Old Elvet is the great-looking Dun Cow Inn, where I headed next.  This is a Grade II listed building with parts dating back to the 15th century and stories of several resident ghosts.

Dun Cow (37 Old Elvet, Durham, DH1 3HN)
A passageway leads along the side of the pub, with a sliding door providing entry to the snug at the front, an entry to the lounge further along and a small patio and outdoor WCs at the end.
I slid open the door to the snug and joined the other 4 customers in the small room, grabbing myself the cushioned bench seating in the window alcove.  
Castle Eden 'Blonde' or 'Best', plus a Timothy Taylor 'Landlord' were the options on cask, so I parted with £4.20 for a pint of the best.

I figured the Castle Eden was quite an interesting find - harking back to 1826 they were once a large NE brewer, eventually brought out by Whitbread in the sixties.  The original brewery was shut in 2002 and production of the beers moved to Camerons until they decided to cease brewing the ales in 2013.  Castle Eden has since been resurrected in 2015 as a microbrwery in the town of Seaham.
I'm  a sucker for the revival of old beers, so won't spoil it by mentioning that the beer was very average.
That chap in the corner seems to have an interesting dress sense.
Let's follow him up the road to the Victoria and get a closer look at those trousers...

Don't look too closely - they're very rude and give a clear message to 
wierdo pub bloggers taking surreptitious pictures behind your back! 

The Victoria Inn (86 Hallgarth Street, Durham, DH1 3AS)
Featuring on the National Pub Heritage list, the Victoria was built in 1899.  It's been run by the same family for over 40 years who've managed to retain its original historic design.
The crowd of punters is gathered in the narrow front bar where slices of pie, chunks of cheese and a bowl of crisps are sitting on the counter for all to help themselves.

Five cask ales were on offer, two from Newcastle's Big Lamp Brewery, Harviestoun 'Bitter & Twisted', Durham 'Artemis' pale ale, and - my pick - Blockyard's very tasty 'Space Oddity' stout.

There are two more rooms in the pub - both with marvelous fireplaces, lots of pictures, porcelain ornaments, and proper pub furniture.
An intriguing feature is the Family Department, a small wooden screen partitioned section which can be seen at the end of the bar.  This harks back to the days when women and children would fetch the families ale supplies and would do so from this off-sales counter without having to see or be seen by drinkers in the rest of the pub.

If only there weren't so many pubs that looked worth visiting in Durham, I could quite happily have settled in the Victoria for the rest of the afternoon.  A wonderful pub.
Instead, I trekked over the river twice, through the centre, and uphill on the west side of the city.  I made a fleeting visit for a half of Consett 'Red Dust' in the Old Elm Tree (12 Crossgate, Durham, DH1 4PS), currently Durham CAMRA 2023 city pub of the year.

Then I headed across the road and a few steps down the hill to a new GBG entry which was doing a roaring Sunday afternoon trade...

The Holy GrALE (57 Crossgate, Durham, DH1 4PR)
Previously a board-games cafe called Dark Matter, the Holy GrALE has been dishing outj craft beers since 2019 when it was opened by a former landlord of the Old Elm Tree pub.
It's a simple rectangular room, stairs leading down to a basement, bar and fridges dominating the back of the room.

What a difference a crowd of people make.  There was a buzz about the place with almost all the tables taken and a hubbub of conversation from a wide variety of Durham locals and their four legged companions.

Just the one, very reasonably priced, cask ale was available when I visited, alongside an impressive keg list offering everything from your Dortmunder Union to Vault City sours.
And a 'Huay Chivo' 11.3% chocolate and chilli imperial porter by Tartarus - yep, that'll do nicely!  

I arrived feeling pretty famished by this point and the buffet laid out on a long, high central table saved the day.

The final pubs on my list were handily close to the train station (and there's a pub on the platform just in case there's a long wait for the next train).
Firstly, the Bridge Hotel...

The Bridge Hotel (40 North Road, Durham, DH1 4SE - web)
The building which houses the current hotel was constructed in the 1850's as lodgings for workers constructing the 100ft high granite railway viaduct which it sits in the shadow of.  In 1864 it was established as a pub and named after the bridge that the original residents had helped build.
It's obviously had a fairly recent refurb: smartly painted, with chequered carpet and matching tub chairs.  On the bar was a choice of two cask ales - Ossett 'Yorkshire Blonde' or Greene King 'Future Brewers Spring Break'.

Sunday lunch service had just passed it's peak, with the odd gravy boat still being delivered to a table, whilst West Ham and Southampton battled it out on the TV to see who could keep Forest company near the bottom of the Premier League.

Drinking up at the end of the first half I headed across the road to the Station House, looking very photogenic with the bridge and blue sky behind it...

The Station House (Bridge Road, Durham, DH1 4SE - web)
This pub recently made it to the last four in the voting for CAMRA's 2022 Pub of the Year (won by the Tamworth Tap, which I really must visit soon, whilst other runners up were the Horse and Jockey in Stapleford and the King's Head in Norwich).

The Station House consists of one small room with long high benches, a table by the window, and a little extra seating tucked away down a couple of steps to one side.  There's no bar - just a hatch through which to order, with the beer barrels on view behind a glass screen.
Pump clips were stuck to the sides of the hatch: 3 beers, 3 ciders, 4 craft kegs.
A Verdant 'Burnt Porter' for me, served on top form and thoroughly enjoyable.

No TV screen, no music, no distractions, unless you count the four chaps sitting basked in light by the window and singing an impromptu rendition of 'Here Comes the Sun'.

This had been my first visit to Durham since my parents brought me here as a youngster (and didn't send me into the family department of the Victoria for ale supplies, to the best of my recollection).
It struck me as one of those cities where every pub looks to be worth poking your head into, so I must make it back sometime soon and do just that.