A grand day out in Brum

Last Friday’s meetup in Birmingham, with a handful of "hard-core" members of the Beer & Pubs Forum, represented my first proper pub-crawl/drinking tour of Brum, and it also proved the perfect introduction. I had, of course, been to Britain’s second city a number of times, but those visits were primarily for business reasons, courses (again work-related), or for the purpose of changing trains – most recently, B&P Forum trips to Shifnal and Burton. I intend to provide a more in-depth report, in due course, but for the moment, here is a brief synopsis.

I travelled to Birmingham, by train, making use of Chiltern Rail’s service from London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street station. The route is slower than that operated by Avanti West Coast, but given the latter company’s recent track record, plus the limited availability of Advanced tickets, travelling by Chiltern Rail is a much more pleasant experience.  As this particular route passes through the Chiltern Hills, and calls at towns such as High Wycombe, Banbury and Leamington Spa, the scenery too is an improvement on the more direct line from Euston. There was also some rather posh-looking new, rolling stock, om the outward journey, at least.

I booked my return ticket, via the MyTrainTicket website, using Advanced Single tickets for the outward and return legs of the journey. Taking advantage of the discount afforded by my Senior Rail Card, the cost of the return journey was £21.40! There was an additional booking fee of £1.50 but given the cost of my cut price return ticket from Tonbridge, the booking fee was small beer – if you’ll pardon the pun. I used the same website, a fortnight previously, for my return trip to Norwich, and I can highly recommend this user-friendly site.

Five hardy souls, including yours truly, participated on the trip, although we were joined by a sixth member, at the penultimate pub. The itinerary was organised by local legend LAF – Life After Football, a man whose knowledge of good, basic, and down to earth Midland boozers, is second to none. Also present was Stafford Paul, another pub man, and someone who is a connoisseur of unspoilt, traditional pubs, going back over several decades. 

Pub-ticking legend, and recent Good Beer Guide completist, Retired Martin, needs no further introduction, apart from saying he has probably visited more UK pubs than the rest of us put together. Nick C. was the other member of the group, although we were joined later in the day by Leon. We met up, as arranged, at the Post Office Vaults, an underground bar, as its name suggests, and one where I found the unassuming entrance door to this subterranean bar, quite by accident.

I will go through the pubs in greater detail in a subsequent post, so in this brief introduction I shall pick out a few highlights, as well as making the odd generalisation.  The first point to grasp is that unlike in the south east, mild ale was widely available in Birmingham, and in the majority of cases it was cask mild as well! I had some superb examples of the style from Hobson’s, Davenport’s, and Church End.

We visited two fine, but contrasting examples of traditional pubs, ranging from the comfortable, cosy, and homely Bull, a multi-roomed pub, sited on a street corner, to a massive pub, built to impress. This was the legendary Barton’s Arms, which is one of the finest examples of Victorian pub architecture and one of the most beautiful pub interiors in the country. The latter was the only pub of the six visited, that I’d been to before, and it didn’t disappoint.

There was an interesting choice of food too, with the aforementioned Barton’s offering a selection of tasty, well-presented, and good value Thai cuisine. Keeping with the Asian theme, the Hen & Chickens, in Birmingham’s famous Jewellery Quarter, offers some of the best Indian desi food and mixed grills in the city. Most of the group ate at the Barton’s, but possibly because he had insider information LAF saved his hunger for the Hen & Chickens, where his chicken Balti meal, served up with plenty of hot naan bread, had us all drooling, despite having already eaten.

The final pub on the tour was definitely the most quirky, but none the worst for that. With its bar situated on the first floor, above the brewery, the Rock & Roll Brewhouse offered three cask ales all brewed on site. On an increasingly damp Friday afternoon, this comfortable taproom situated just below the roof girders, offered the perfect escape from the heavy rain outside.

Apart from the Barton’s, which is situated to the north east of central Birmingham, in the district of Aston, the Rock & Roll Brewhouse was the furthest pub from the city centre, and this was reflected by the walk back to the station. Acting as our guide Retired Martin led us through a rather wet Jewellery Quarter. This was the only low point of the entire day, but special thanks are due to Martin and Stafford Paul for keeping me company on the way back into central Birmingham, and directing me to the two main railway stations. Thanks also to LAF for arranging the itinerary, keeping us roughly on track and for spoiling us with some superb examples of Birmingham's finest pubs. 

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