I arrived at Kidderminster station at midday, a smooth journey on the pricier route via Birmingham, as I steadfasty refused to sit on a bus replacement service between Morton-in-Marsh and Worcester for an hour and fifty minutes.
Midday. Thirty-five minutes until the No.3 to Stourport. A quick visit to the steam railway station pub, I think.
This welcoming pub is housed in part of the Severn Valley Heritage railway terminus. It's not quite as historic as it looks, built in 1985 to recreate refreshment rooms that once stood at Ross-on-Wye station.
The main room of the King and Castle is a bright, airy space with perching tables down the middle and red cushioned bench seating serving the tables along each side. Black and white tiled flooring by the bar and an impressive carpet stretching the length of the room emblazoned with the GWR logo.
Enough choice of ales to make them CAMRA award winners in the not-so-distant past - I only resisted the Bathams on the assumption I'd encounter it again later in the day.
The riverside town deserves a post of its own so...
⏭
Fast-forward to a 4.30pm return, the bus depositing me in central Kidderminster.
No Bass in the Seven Stars.
So I figured I'd try somewhere I hadn't been before and strode into The Swan, located opposite the town hall - temporarily closed while it undergoes a 'major transformation'.
I'd read that the Swan was a Daveport's pub so was expecting the Gold or IPA with their retro pump clips. But instead I found a well-known south-west duo of Butcombe 'Original' and St Austell 'Tribute' on the bar. A 'Tribute' for me - on decent form, although it was replaced by 'Butty Bach' whilst I was there. Which was odd, as I didn't recall anyone else ordering cask and it being declared as finished or past its best.
I have a bit of an issue with the beer board...
I'd locate the Carling as coming from Burton unless the Swan are getting their supplies shipped over from Ontario.
This is a fine town centre boozer with tall tables and standing room around the front by the bar and a dining area stretching further back. Sports memorabilia, blokes in tartan beanie hats, Trent Rockets v Manchester Originals in the Womens 100 on TV.
Moving on from the Swan, I made a fairly long trek through the underpass, up past the station, then into the side streets to find a short-cut to the town's 2025 Good Beer Guide pub that I hadn't previously been to.
The Chester Tavern (211 Chester Rd N, Kidderminster DY10 1TN)
This cracking mid-terrace pub, with its striking flat-roofed extension jutting out the front, was re-opened in August 2022. Dating back to 1855, it closed in 2019, fell into disrepair, and was looking set to become flats.
It now looks great - a modern refit which still retains plenty of older features and has gone for a proper pub carpet, dumpy stools and cushioned bench seating in the window bays.
The chap who brought the Chester back to life has now converted a church into a bar in the town which will have to go on the 'to-do' list for my next visit.
Cask ales were Arbor 'Everyday', Wye Valley 'HPA', Bewdley 'Red Hills', and a Brass Castle 'Bright'. The 'Bright' for me - an easy-drinking pale ale with Citra and Chinook hops.
I'd like to have hung around and tried some of the good-lookin' crafty keg options.
Heck, I'd like to have hung around a few weeks to watch ex-Stiff Little Finger Henry Cluney playing at the Chester.
A fine pub that I did enjoy and would happily recommend.
The Harriers Arms (Harriers FC, Hoo Rd, Kidderminster DY10 1NB)
Not a bad option for a pre-match pint, eh?
A bustling social club doing a fine trade. Pool table covered and pushed to one side. Cricket on the TV screens. Red-cushioned banquet seating bays. And quality cask...
There was a Wye Valley beer alongside the Bathams Bitter - no contest on this occasion.
Served in a plastic pot because I foolishly said I was taking it outside, then spent about a minute standing in the yard before coming back in.
Waiting for a seat to become available I perched on a beer barrel alongside adverts for future events.
Why fill your squad with a host of international players whose names you can't pronouce properly when there's the extra marketing potential of signing players with happily rhyming names...
C'mon Forest...
Savoloy with Bryan Roy?
Jambalaya with Daniel Ayala?
Mac and Cheese with Dorus de Vries?
Aggborough is a proper football league ground, head and shoulders above most of the grounds at this sixth tier level. Whilst many venues in the National League north and south ferry you in through one set of turnstiles and allow you to wander around all four sides, you're stuck in your designated stand here.
Oxford City brought a grand total of 38 supporters for a Tuesday evening match, although I'm suspicious that the 11 lads lined up along the railings on the terrace were one of the youth teams, ushered onto the bus to bolster the away support.
City scored first on 36 minutes, impressing in the first half with several decent chances and a free kick from midfielder Josh Ashby hitting the bar. Kidderminster clicked up a gear in the second half, eventually volleying in an equaliser in the 81st minute.
The game came to a close - honours even - under dark skies. I traipsed off the terrace and back through the residential streets towards the station.
The Weavers micro pub was a beacon of light and chatter tempting me in...
The Weavers Real Ale House (98 Comberton Hill, Kidderminster DY10 1QH)
It was buzzing. A vastly different experience to when I was last here in 2021 with strange plastic dividers in the pandemic era.
There was an orderly queue to the bar where 9 hand pumps served up ales from locals Fownd, Hobsons, Bewdley, Froth Blowers, the slightly-less local Wye Valley, and the longest travelled Ben's Brewery 'Bazaar' from Chorley.
A Fownd 'King Korvak's Champion Porter' for me. Gorgeous.
Against the odds I scored a tiny table in the corner, pondered what card game was going on to one side of me, then why the group in front had half a dozen pumpkins on their table.
"I'm drowning me sorrows", said one fella, such is the effect of dropping two point sto Oxford City. Especially seeing as the City goal was - they insisted - "a yard offside".
A decent point away from home for Ross Jenkins' team.
Good luck to Kidderminster for the season ahead - they're a club that deserve to be playing at a higher level, from a town that makes for a very decent pub crawl.
This is a fine town centre boozer with tall tables and standing room around the front by the bar and a dining area stretching further back. Sports memorabilia, blokes in tartan beanie hats, Trent Rockets v Manchester Originals in the Womens 100 on TV.
This cracking mid-terrace pub, with its striking flat-roofed extension jutting out the front, was re-opened in August 2022. Dating back to 1855, it closed in 2019, fell into disrepair, and was looking set to become flats.
It now looks great - a modern refit which still retains plenty of older features and has gone for a proper pub carpet, dumpy stools and cushioned bench seating in the window bays.
Cask ales were Arbor 'Everyday', Wye Valley 'HPA', Bewdley 'Red Hills', and a Brass Castle 'Bright'. The 'Bright' for me - an easy-drinking pale ale with Citra and Chinook hops.
I'd like to have hung around and tried some of the good-lookin' crafty keg options.
Heck, I'd like to have hung around a few weeks to watch ex-Stiff Little Finger Henry Cluney playing at the Chester.
A fine pub that I did enjoy and would happily recommend.
But on this occasion I was on a mission to get to the football ground with enough time to spare for one last pre-match beer.
Not a bad option for a pre-match pint, eh?
A bustling social club doing a fine trade. Pool table covered and pushed to one side. Cricket on the TV screens. Red-cushioned banquet seating bays. And quality cask...
Served in a plastic pot because I foolishly said I was taking it outside, then spent about a minute standing in the yard before coming back in.
Why fill your squad with a host of international players whose names you can't pronouce properly when there's the extra marketing potential of signing players with happily rhyming names...
Savoloy with Bryan Roy?
Jambalaya with Daniel Ayala?
Mac and Cheese with Dorus de Vries?
Aggborough is a proper football league ground, head and shoulders above most of the grounds at this sixth tier level. Whilst many venues in the National League north and south ferry you in through one set of turnstiles and allow you to wander around all four sides, you're stuck in your designated stand here.
Oxford City brought a grand total of 38 supporters for a Tuesday evening match, although I'm suspicious that the 11 lads lined up along the railings on the terrace were one of the youth teams, ushered onto the bus to bolster the away support.
The game came to a close - honours even - under dark skies. I traipsed off the terrace and back through the residential streets towards the station.
The Weavers micro pub was a beacon of light and chatter tempting me in...
It was buzzing. A vastly different experience to when I was last here in 2021 with strange plastic dividers in the pandemic era.
There was an orderly queue to the bar where 9 hand pumps served up ales from locals Fownd, Hobsons, Bewdley, Froth Blowers, the slightly-less local Wye Valley, and the longest travelled Ben's Brewery 'Bazaar' from Chorley.
A Fownd 'King Korvak's Champion Porter' for me. Gorgeous.
Against the odds I scored a tiny table in the corner, pondered what card game was going on to one side of me, then why the group in front had half a dozen pumpkins on their table.
A decent point away from home for Ross Jenkins' team.
Good luck to Kidderminster for the season ahead - they're a club that deserve to be playing at a higher level, from a town that makes for a very decent pub crawl.
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