West Brom Wanderings

I picked the most dull, grey and miserable day to make a trip to the West Midlands. 
Then picked a some dull, grey and miserable bits of the urban sprawl to visit.

My first point of call would be Perry Barr.  
I've never been able to muster the enthusiasm at the end of a day to make the short hop from Birmingham New Street to Perry Barr 'Spoons.  So, I decided to do it first on this occasion to claim this beer guide tick.
A 20-minute bus ride took me up the A34, past the sadly shuttered Barton Arms, and onto the One Stop Shopping centre. 
On the front of this is The Arthur Robertson - not one of the chain's most photogenic locations.

The Arthur Robertson (51-53 One Stop Retail Park, Walsall Road, Perry Barr, B42 1AA)
But step inside and the Arthur Robertson has a bit of character and a decent number of pre-noon punters.  Probably helped by the fact that there are a fair few closed pubs in the vicinity, the nearest pint of cask ale being 0.7 miles away in pubs that don't seem particularly enticing.

This 'Spoons is named after local athletics club Birchfield Harriers' first Olympian and medal winner.
It's populated by non-athletic-looking folk (myself included), spread over several areas divided by large bookshelves and partition walls adorned with old pictures.
Here's the cask range...

Service without a smile and a bit of a disparaging look when I tried to order the Froth Blowers which had finished. Turn the pump clip around!
I settled on a Fixed Wheel 'The Art of Van', an oddly named 4.4% super fruity and chewy IPA.

Then checked out the fairly trad carpet...

...and the Aston Villa display, complete with digital countdown...

Possibly counting down the number of days until it became unrealistic to talk about Villa as 2025/26 title contenders.

As mentioned before, Perry Barr is short on cask ale and general pubbage.
It's even more barren heading westward as I was - 3.3 miles through Hounslow with not even a drop of Doom Bar to drink.
I wasn't stopping at the first available pub, instead taking a roundabout route into the northern West Brom 'burbs to the Red Lion...

The Red Lion (190 All Saints Way, West Bromwich, B71 1RH)
This is prime desi pub territory, where the old sprawling roadside hostelries have been repurposed as eating spots with public bars and cricket on TV.
The drinker's room is the small front bar, although most of the traditional features have been zapped out of it in a smart refurb. 
I stuck in the back dining room, an extension leading to a large covered patio area.  Booth seating around the sides, 20-20 from Colombo on giant HD screens which you're never more than a couple of meters away from.

Thumbs-up for the Red Lion - not just for the superb model lions in front, but also for serving real ale: Sharps 'Twin Coast' or Wye Valley 'Butty Bach'.  A West Midlands fave Butty Bach for me, presented in good condition.  Accompanied by a paneer Balti that didn't look much portion-wise but successfully filled me up.

Time to walk off some of those calories with a fairly long trek down Heath Lane - a straight line on one road which changed names several times as it weaved through different eras of housing estates, before becoming Witton Lane, home to my next pub.

Three Horseshoes (86 Witton Lane, West Bromwich, B71 2AQ)
This was the obligatory Black Country Ales pub on a West Midlands day out.  They took over and refurbished the Horseshoes in 2016, lining the bar with hand pumps, upholstering the seating with tartan, and hanging old pictures of the local area on busily beige wallpapered walls.

Too many ale choices for me to contemplate when the bar staff were poised to pour my pint as soon as I arrived at the bar.  So I selected the Bosun's Brew Co 'Castaway', thinking it was a new brewery for me, before Untappd smugly confirmed I'd had the exact same beer before.  I'll never succeed as a beer ticker.

The 20-20 cricket continued on the TV, accompanied with the 8 minutes 57 seconds of November Rain as I sat down and sipped a perfectly enjoyable pint.

On the walk to the Three Horseshoes I'd passed a large grey estate pub which I figured was worth poking my head into.
Picture hampered by clouds as grey as the building and too many parked cars.

The Gough Arms (Jowetts Lane, West Bromwich, B71 2QR)
Crikey...they made pubs big once, didn't they?
This is a sprawling open-plan place with various distinct areas - the loungy bit, the pool table to one side, a big horseshoe bar looping around to face both front and back spaces.  I ordered the sole cask, a quite acceptable pint of Banks's 'Amber' at a very respectable price.

There was some community stuff underway in a raised area up involving piles of clothes and fabrics followed by fish and chip lunches for a group of older ladies, one of whom scowled at me an awful lot.
This looks to be a great community pub, advertising meal deals, bingo, music, and indoor car boot sales.  Long may it last.

Leaving the Gough Arms, there was some big back-tracking on myself to reach the Royal Oak - close to my lunchtime curry in the Red Lion, but not open at the time I'd been nearby.  I hopped aboard a random eastbound bus which saved some of the walk, then made the final trek into the side streets just as the rain started.

The Royal Oak (14 Newton St, West Bromwich, B71 3RQ)
Stepping in, there wasn't a soul in sight: the TV's on, the lights off.
It took an age for the someone to arrive and serve me a pint of 'HPA' (other options being 'Butty Bach' and 'Proper Job').

It's a lovely little two-roomed pub, made cosy with the bench seating around the sides of the rooms and proper pub furniture.  Nice cushioned bar too...

If the lights had been off prior to my arrival to save on electrics, the TVs in each bar could have been unplugged too.  A replay of Birmingham Ladies vs Crystal Palace with no-one to watch it really was pub telly for the sake of it.
A local arrived shortly after I'd sat down, so I didn't remain entirely by myself.
And despite it possibly being the first pint served on the day, the Wye Valley 'HPA' was great.

Out into the increasing gloom and drizzle, and quickly onto bus number 74 to the centre of West Bromwich.
I feel a little bit guilty that I wasn't intrepid enough to explore the busy hub of West Brom itself.  But the chaos of school home-time at the bus station and the dreich day made me just want to move on and claim my last Good Beer Guide tick in the area, a couple of miles up the road.

The Rising Sun (116 Horseley Road, Tipton, DY4 7NH)
Back in 1999 this was crowned CAMRA National Pub of the Year, although I suspect it's changed a bit since then.  The Victorian hostelry was taken on by Black Country Ales in 2013, so provided the common sight of lots of hand pumps and a deli counter full of cobs.
For a change (on my pub visits), it was full of customers - not a seat to be had in the busy main bar.  So I've failed miserably to get a decent pic outside or in.
It's not really somewhere I'm likely to be passing any time soon for a return visit to put that right. 
No, not even for the seance night...

But I was pleased to tick off another BCA pub, content with my cheese and onion cob (posh packaging!) and pint of Small World 'Winter Bank'.

It took much longer than expected to travel back to West Brom on the slow-moving traffic-clogged Black Country New Road.  Having had enough of buses, I jumped on the tram back to Brum.  All of which wore me out and indicated it was time to head home.
Although perhaps there was still time for this...

 

Cheers! 🍻

Camden Market to Highbury Garage...the long way round

Wednesday in the capital. Gig tickets for the Garage in the evening. An afternoon to pass before the doors opened at 7.
How about a northern loop from Camden Town to Archway and back down Pentonville Road.
5.3 miles, according to Google, just under 2-hours walking.
An ambitious 8 pubs marked on the map.  Yep that sounds foolhardy enough for me.

My first port of call was a brewery tap located in the wedge on the eastern fringe of Camden Market between the railway lines and Regents Canal.  I remember this as being the most ramshackle bit of the market with gravel paths and proper stalls.  Refurbished after the 2008 fire, it's now more shopping centre than market, with shiny three storey buildings, bowling lanes, bubble tea and bagels.

3 Locks Brewery Tap (Unit S14, Water Lane, Camden Town, London, NW1 8NZ)
The 3 Locks Brewery opened at the end of 2022 .  The taproom has squeezed two floors into a railway arch providing views from the upper deck over the waterways.
As there wasn't a soul sat inside, I took my (very good) Schwarzbier to the outdoor tables.

The beer list contained 9 of their own ales ranging from pils to stout to sour.  Each priced rather heftily from £5 to £6.50 for two thirds.  Yes, my maths isn't so rusty that I can't work out how much a pint that is.  Cripes!
That didn't stop me returning for another, sticking to the dark side, this time the delicious sweet 'Indulgence' chocolate stout.

A lovely place - and part of me wanted to try more of the beers - but I also wanted to complete the planed route I'd made earlier.
Starting with a very short walk...just 5-minutes up the canal to the Wetherspoon's Ice Wharf to check the festival beers and grab a quick half.

Here's the essential Camden Locks photo...

Spoons quickly visited, I headed through quieter residential streets beyond the the touristic hub of Camden; the chaos returning once I reached the shops and eateries of Kentish Town. Beyond the station I ventured into the avenues of Georgian terraces looking for the Pineapple.

The Pineapple (51 Leverton Street, Kentish Town, NW5 2NX)
This is a rather famous pub thanks to a high profile campaign to save it from closure a few years ago.  It dates back to 1868, has a pub heritage listing for a trad layout and splendid bar back, and boasts a couple of marvellous original Bass mirrors (as opposed to ones churned out on a Wrexham industrial estate, I guess).

Just the wrong number of people present towards the end of the lunchtime Thai food service for me to get a decent picture of either of the side rooms or - frankly - any decent picture at all...

Cask ales on offer were Elephant School 'Bumbleduck', Adnams 'Ghost Ship', Grey Trees 'Pale', their own badged Pineapple Ale, and a Portobello 'Home Turf'.
A quick 'Home Turf' for me, realising in horror that I'd ordered the Six Nations-themed option.

Leaving the Pineapple I swung round onto Highgate Road, strolled past the Forum (venue for many an early 00's PropUptheBar gig...Public Enemy, White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age...all at sensible prices without the need to be prepped online at a set time to secure a ticket.
I continued past the camel...

Until I reached - undoubtedly - one of London's finest pubs...

Southampton Arms (139 Highgate Road, Kentish Town, NW5 1LE)

'Ale Cider Meat' it declares on the side. And it's fair to say it does what it says on the tin.  Sausage rolls and pork pies in the deli counter at the end of the bar.  Sixteen beers to pick from - eight cask and eight keg, covering most tastes. Six ciders hand pulls behind the counter.

The question was: did I really need to traipse around anywhere else for the rest of the afternoon?
I ordered a pint of the Heritage Brewing Co. 'Charrington's Oatmeal Stout', because I'm always a sucker for those recreated old recipes from long-gone brewers.

The Southampton Arms is as no-nonsense as you can get.  One simple room with wooden floors, seating on pews, handled mugs, piano, dog.

Steely Dan's Greatest Hits played on the record player behind the bar, entertaining a varied bunch of afternoon customers just getting into double figures.  I stuck around for a second beer, picking one from Howling Hops (who now run the pub) - a super dark mild.
The gents are outside in the back yard and contain a scruffy collection of football stickers on the cisterns, very Clapham FC dominant, although my eye was drawn to the one promoting the St Pauli supporters outpost...

Talking of St Albans...

Duke of St Albans (Highgate Road, London, Kentish Town, NW5 1QX)
This 2026 Good Beer Guide entry was under 10-minutes walk up the road from the Southampton Arms, standing next to a mini-roundabout, with seating in front of it and a fine collection of hanging baskets that'll look great when the weather warms up and the flowers bloom.
There were four casks to pick from on my visit, the Anspach & Hobday 'Danelaw Brown Ale' taking my fancy, probably based on pump clip appreciation.

The pub dates back to around 1859.  It closed in 2008 and transformed firstly into a Greek restaurant, then into a wine bar at a time when this part of the city had a bit of a shortage of cask ale outlets.  The Duke of St Albans has been given a new lease of life with a 2024 refurb by the same folks who run Saint Monday Brewery (at the old London Fields site - a brewery tap for a future trip).
The Saint Monday ales are available on keg here, along with a hefty selection advertised on big beer boards.

Finishing the excellent brown ale, I headed eastward toward Archway station, the next closest Beer Guide pub not far away.  Another one that's gone for the dark grey ground floor frontage which proved challenging for my camera.

St John's Tavern (91 Junction Road, Upper Holloway, N19 5QU)
We're in familiar territory here to the previous pub: a Victorian era building that has had a 2025 makeover after new owners took over.
They reportedly spent £1 million on the refurbishment - let's see that a million quid gets you...

The second pub in a row with metal posts holding the ceiling up, stripped-back wooden floorboards, open-plan design, and menus, wine list and candle on the table.
The cask selection here was Big Smoke 'Cosmic Dawn', Siren 'Tempo' or 'Memento'.
The St John's is very foody with some alarming expensive options (Lamb shoulder with braised lentils, Molyneux farm kale at £56 - I think I'll hold out for the Islington 'Spoons).

Background music came from CCFX (who?) then Franz Ferdinand and some more recognisable tracks.  I was comfy enough, but the Big Smoke pale ale was very ordinary and I was keen to move on to pastures new.

Landseer Arms (37 Landseer Road, Upper Holloway, N19 4JU)
Bit of JD Wetherspoon history here, as this pub was once JJ Moons, one of the first 10 in the chain.
The building dates back to 1870 when it was originally the Stanley Arms.

There wasn't really much pub variety across this and the previous two picks.  Another food-led venue that seemed equally welcoming to drinks-only custom; the evening's menu being immaculately written on a chalk board whilst I sipped my New River 'Twin Spring'.

Strewth.  Some would say I got a bit carried away.
Whatever happened to putting a sensible number of pubs into each post.

A long walk through Arsenal territory down Holloway Road eventually took me to The Lamb, a recent beer guide regular whose 4pm opening time had foiled me last time I was in the area.

The Lamb (54 Holloway Road, Holloway, N7 8JL)
This was originally the Highbury Brewery tap and has since been the Flounder and Firkin in a history of many identities.  Highbury Brewery is long gone, closed shortly after Taylor Walker & Co. took them over in 1912, although the pub continued to operate as a tap without a brewery.

The decreasing quality of pictures is indicative that I had surpassed optimum beer consumption for the day.
Oddness...

Blurriness...

Quirkiness...

Iggy makes for top signage to the gents WC, to be fair.

My beer - glowing by candle light in the picture above - was a 360° Brewery 'Sussex Blonde',  remarkably just £3 a pint for cask on Wednesday.
£3 a pint in London!

I declared that was quite enough beer for the day.  A short stroll down the road took me the White Lion Wetherspoon's for one of their new 'gourmet' jacket potatoes with soft drink.
Then across the road to the Garage for three relatively new bands, Cork's accordion-enhanced indie rock band Cardinals being the headline act.

They were very good and finished at a very respectable 22:10, ideal for this old soul with a gruelling bus ride up the M40 ahead after perhaps visiting a pub or two too many.