Station to Station and not much in between before Walsall

Last updated : 29 August 2008 By Shrimpers24
Also there's not a lot of drinking time, an hour tops, if coming in by train. So I've stuck to the stations with one in Walsall itself for drivers as well as a mention of the club bar but there's always such a wait to get a pint there I'd stick to town.

So more a pub hop than a crawl and not always my usual high end choices but needs must ect.

The Old Contemptibles; 176, Edmund St, Birmingham, at the end of the yellow arrow. Good old boozer, sensitively restored and modernised. Barstaff are decent and there's a good selection of beers.

There is a Wetherspoons, the Square Peg, which is next to, yes, the Bull Ring, to your right of Snow Hill on the map, but even such a supporter of the chain as I can be was put off by these quotes.

Very large pub in City Centre. Was the longest bar in Europe, but as someone else reports that is no longer the case. Typical 'Spoons pub, but with even more of the human flotsam and jetsam that frequents these places.

Takes ages to get served on account of insufficient staffing levels for a pub of this size. But that's corporate pub running for you. Had food once, it was the usual fayre.

I have been in here around 15 times since it has opened and at least half of the opccasions have seen a fight sometimes kick off in here. Albion and Villa fans/hoolies had an 'off' in here once or twice, Blues fans use it before home games, so AVOID on a Saturday - well just AVOID fullstop really.
Possibly the worst pub I have ever been in! Full of scum. Saw a bloke washing his hair in the toilets sink and got approached by a 60 year old prostitute! Makes you never want to go to a pub again.

Oh dear!!! Go to the Old Contemptibles in the other direction!
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newsearch.srf?x=406750&y=287250&z=1&ar=Y&isp=200&ism=500&ax=406879&ay=287207http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newsearch.srf?x=407250&y=287250&z=1&ar=Y&isp=200&ism=500&ax=406879&ay=287207
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newsearch.srf?x=406750&y=286750&z=1&ar=Y&isp=200&ism=500&ax=406879&ay=287207http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newsearch.srf?x=407250&y=286750&z=1&ar=Y&isp=200&ism=500&ax=406879&ay=287207

Work your way down thru Colmore Row and find the Shakespeare Inn Lower Temple Street, just above New Street on the map above. New Street station is at the end of the black arrow to your right of Hill Street. Sadly not one of the Head of Steam chain that I enjoyed drinking in before the Huddersfield and Tranmere games last season, oh please start opening further south. However, the Shakespeare has some more promising comments:

Whilst not the place you'd choose for the epicentre of your crawl, (there's not a whole lot actually going on inside), prob. the top place in town for a lunchtime glass 'n' grub combo, as both are of a fine standard.

Convenient for the stations, the beers are always good & the prices great for city centre. Food is usually good quality & of course it has been a no smoking pub for years before the ban.
Not a bad place.

3 real ales on when we visited, nothing unusual though.


For drivers there is the Bell Inn: If you are coming in off Junction 7 of the M6 on the A34 you'll go past this pub; in fact it's on the corner where you turn into Walstead Road. The stadium is just over two miles further on. Banks's outlet, Cask Marque accredited, which is worth something though not necessarily a lot.

For those who don't want to mess around in Brum, and I can't blame you, go straight to the Club Bar at the ground: The Saddlers Club generally allows away fans admission before and after games, with an entrance charge of £1.00. It's a good club house dating from 1998, part of the very impressive Bonser Suite facilities, with a wide range of keg, though oddly no Banks's beers given they are the team sponsors. However with so few alternatives near the stadium it soon fills up, at which point they stop new entrants, so get there as early pre-match as you can, later arrivals sometimes don't!

However you decide to spend your day, have a good one.