The Beacon Hotel, Sedgley

And Further Black Country Pub Explorations.

Heritage pubs... lopsided pubs... classic pubs...
...all in a day's exploration in the Black Country, where I focused on Sedgley, Lower and Upper Gornal.

Probably not many pub crawls of traditional boozers in this region start at Wetherspoon's.
But they're conveniently open before 12-noon, whereas my other chosen pubs weren't.

The Clifton (Bull Ring, Sedgley, DY3 1RX - web)
This put a smile on my face as soon as I saw it - a grand 1930's 'super cinema', which would have once seated 1,000 movie fanatics.  The Clifton's time as a cinema came to an end in 1978 and it was eventually refurbished and opened as a 'Spoons in 1998.  

It's surprisingly busy early-doors with little choice of tables to pick from.  Not a great deal of real ale drinking going on here, with Coors Light seeming to be the breakfast tipple of choice in The Clifton.
I opted for a Castle Rock 'Heart of Glass' and settled down to read the newspaper and wait for opening time at the pub that had brought me to Sedgely.

 The Beacon Hotel, Sedgely, with a lovely bit of sunshine and blue sky.

Beacon Hotel (129 Bilston Street, Sedgley, DY3 1JE - web)

Sarah Hughes purchased the Beacon Hotel in 1920, converting it to pretty much the design that you see today, as well as beginning brewing 'Dark Ruby Mild' in the Victorian tower brewery attached to the pub.

In more recent years, a simple, unobtrusive fourth room has been created to the rear and a conservatory added to the side leading to the brewery.

After Sarah Hughes' death in the 50's, the brewery lay idle until her grandson, John Hughes, struck on the idea of getting it back up and running in 1987.

In the red-tiled corridor that runs through the pub, I ducked my head to get served at the small hatch by the staircase.
There are no fancy beer fonts lining the bar here - the hand pumps are hidden away, dispensing three Sarah Hughes beers and one guest ale.
I'm not even sure if there was a lager on tap?  Everyone seemed to be happily quaffing real ale from dimpled pint mugs.

Despite its legendary status, I avoided the 6% ABV 'Dark Ruby Mild' and took the opportunity to try the other two Sarah Hughes beers.  My first pint, the 5% ABV pale 'Surprise', was pretty marvellous.

The central, glazed bar, with hatches looking out onto the smoke room and snug and corridor, seems to be unique, according the Heritage Pubs write-up.

The Smoke Room, with hatch to the servery in the corner.

I settled in the cosy snug next to the piano nursing my beer and cheese & onion cob (£4.50 for both - value-for-money), before grabbing the 'Amber' ale and exploring the rest of the rooms like the tourist I was today.

Tap room at the Beacon Hotel

Leaving Sedgley, I hopped aboard a bus southbound.  Not the right one, mind.
A 'used-up-all-my-mobile-data' issue left me reliant on trying to follow a crap map on a scrap of paper, but remarkably, I did find my way, seemingly walking into the middle-of-nowhere, to find this pub-world oddity...

The Crooked House (Coppice Mill, Himley, DY3 4DA - web)
This building was originally a farmhouse, built in 1765, the left-side of which began to sink due to subsidence caused by all the mining in the vicinity.

Crooked.

It become a pub for local miners and farmers in 1835, originally named the Sidden Arms, 'sidden' being local dialect for crooked. Later renamed the Glynne Arms after the family whose land it lay on, old black & white photo's of people posing by the pub show its lopsidedness was already proving an attraction many years ago.

The building was condemned as unsafe in the 1940s, which is when Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries took over and added the three large buttresses to the left side to stabilise it.

Possibly difficult to navigate after a few too many ales.

"Yo am in the right place for a bostin time!" says their website.  
Well.... probably not on a Saturday lunchtime, alongside a group of pensioners tucking into sandwiches, and families having a go at the pub-trick of rolling a marble uphill.
Four hand pumps adorned the bar, but only one was in action, serving the Marston's house beer 'Crooked Tipple'. A pretty unexciting pint.
Not great for beer enthusiasts then, and not 'bostin' this afternoon, but a pub I was really pleased to have made it to.

I made a long trek back up through Lower Gornal to where my next pub awaited...

The Fountain (8 Temple Street, Lower Gornal, DY3 2PE - web)
The Fountain sits at the end of a row of 19th century dwellings and makes a return to the 2020 Good Beer Guide after a sudden closure threatened it's existence in early 2018.

Threatening clouds.

Big range of beers: no barman.  I guess he was holding the fort single-handed, but after a couple of minutes I was beginning to feel conspicuous standing alone at the bar, trying to look patient.

When the barman did appear, I picked the Backyard Brewhouse 'Virginia Fall'.  Which was a massive let-down and should really have been returned as gone past its best.

Lots of choice.  Will I pick the right one?  No.

Did I take it back - no of course not, fool that I am...
So, two disappointing beers - this could perhaps be remedied by going a few steps back down the hill to where I'd spied a 'Beer Festival' banner.

Old Bulls Head (1 Redhall Road, Lower Gornal, DY3 2NU - web)

The quite fantastic Old Bulls Head Inn complete with 'Beer Festival' banner.

There was a pretty fine selection of ales along the bar, supplemented with another rack of barrels on a beer festival bar to the side of the room.
Salopian Brewery 'Neewollah', with a fantastic pump clip, was my pick and it turned out to be a glorious beer.
Black Country Ales brought this pub in 1999, with what was described as a "2 storey outhouse to the rear".  Once they got the keys and got behind the boarded-up doors of the outhouse they found three wooden fermenting vessels and other old brewing equipment, which must have been a pretty great discovery.  With some renovation and new kit, brewing recommenced here in 2004.

This was a pub I was comfy in: great beer, football scores on the TV, and a running commentary on how 'The Albion' were doing from the chaps at the next table.  I hung around long enough to have a second beer - from Bewdley Brewery this time - before  deciding to tackle the walk up the hill to the next point of call.

Britannia Inn (109 Kent Street, Upper Gornal, DY3 1UX - web)

The Britannia is classed as a Historic Pub of National Importance, due to it's wood-panelled back room.  Unusually, this contains shelving and hand-pumps along one wall, without a bar counter.
This was originally the heart of the pub, whilst the front room, where the bar is now, was previously a butcher's shop.  This was only changed in 1997 when Batham's took over the Britannia.

And for all that talk of the splendid back room, no picture, because I plonked myself on the first stool in the front room where I could keep watching the football scores on TV as full-time approached.
Batham's 4.3% 'Best Bitter' was the only cask ale available on this visit.  T'was a time I'd have bemoaned a beer guide pub with just one beer, but this traditional best bitter was exactly what I wanted here and was served in fine condition.

Jolly Crispin (25 Clarence Street, Upper Gornal, DY3 1UL)

I apologise in advance to the Jolly Crispin.
It was the seventh pub of the day,  at which point my memories tend towards "I went to the Jolly Crispin.  It was nice".

The Jolly Crispin.  It was nice.

The Crispin is a bit of a favourite on the ale-trail in these parts, being a brewery tap for the Fownes Brewery as well as having a great choice of other ales.  But I picked an 'Impressment APA' by S43 Brewery, that I didn't especially enjoy.
And sat in a corner, looking like a man defeated and ready to go home.  

Too many enormous cheese & onion cobs throughout the day, I reckon.

This part of the West Midlands has a wealth of hidden gems, charming traditional boozers and modern brewery taps.  I can't wait to get back here soon!