2015 - Day Out 10: Cradley Heath and Old Hill

Date: Saturday 10 October 2015

It is time to meet up with Mr WME and do a local trip around the West Midlands, specifically Cradley Heath and Old Hill.

I have a lie in this morning as I don't have to meet up with Mr WME until 11am, so just before 10am, I walk up to Wollaston and catch a National Express West Midlands service X96 to Stourbridge Interchange where upon arrival, I interchange from bus to rail and after buying my return rail ticket to Cradley Heath I board the Stourbridge Shuttle (I still like to refer to it as the Stourbridge Dodger) and luckily there is only three minutes before I get to Stourbridge Junction as the Shuttle is full and also rather bouncy today on the rails. Arrival at Stourbridge Junction and as I make my way across from platform 1 to platform 2 the train towards Birmingham arrives, so I jump straight onto the train and take a seat for my short journey to Cradley Heath. Upon arrival, it will be my second interchange visit of the day as the newly opened Cradley Heath Bus Station as now been integrated into the railway station and now called "Cradley Heath Interchange", see picture left.

Just before I arrive at Cradley Heath, I get a text off Mr WME to say he is in Cradley Heath, so upon alighting the train, I make my way to the bus station part and have a look around whilst also trying to locate Mr WME. The layout is virtually the same as when it used to be the old bus station, apart from a new island with a couple of stands added for Birmingham-bound services. The old bus shelters have now been made all undercover with electronic doors which open when a bus arrives and a new waiting area between the bus station and the railway station. A little improvement has been made for passengers waiting experience, but money could have been spent elsewhere such as Merry Hill to provide a better area for passenger transport.

Mr WME does eventually appear, he was up the road taking a few photographs, so now we have met it is time to start our day. First port of call is to have a walk up to Cradley Heath High Street so that Mr WME can get some money out of his bank for the day ahead. We get to Cradley Heath High Street which is closed due to gas main works and are on the search for a "Barclays", but with none in sight, "HSBC" comes to the rescue with Mr WME able to get the rounds for the day. We take a walk down the side of the HSBC and onto Corngreaves Road, where after a shot walk, we arrive at our first pit stop of the day, "The Plough and Harrow", which is now owned by the Worcestershire Brewing Company and the first pub of the day that I have passed loads of time and never set foot in. We enter and it looks like it has recently been refurbished. As we get to the bar, I notice a few of the famous "Mario Lanza" Beermats and the barman informs us that he thinks the original person who did these has died and that it is now his son that is doing the sneaky placement of the beermats.

After finishing our drinks in The Plough and Harrow, we have a short walk, less than five minutes to next port of call, another place where I have been past a load of times and have never set foot in, or so we thought. We make our way up Surfeit Hill Road and notice that our next public house, "The Bull Terrier" is now a convenience store, so we make our way towards Old Hill, but luckily, a National Express West Midlands service 53 bus is pulling up at the stop, so we board that, saving us a walk up to Old Hill. As the bus pulls into Halesowen Road, we alight and have a walk down the main Old Hill High Street, where Mr WME gets his bearings for his next pub. We walk back into an area I know and tell him that there is no pub up this way and that it has been knocked down. Perhaps I don't know the area as well as I thought and we turn down a road called Mossvale Close and there is a pub I didn't know existed. We make our way into "The Riddins Tavern". A pint of Bank's Bitter is ordered and at £1.99 a pint, who can complain. Luckily, the Russian Grand Prix Qualifying is being shown, so a seat close to the television is required. We came in at the right time as it has just started, so getting another round in wouldn't break the bank, which is what happened. Jenson Button and the struggling McLaren-Honda only make it as far as P13 in Q2 and after seeing Nico Rosberg put his Mercedes on Pole, we sup up and make our way.

We make our way down an alleyway at the side of The Riddins Tavern which brings us back onto Halesowen Road (why didn't we use this way before!), so we, I, take a break at the bus stop and along comes a National Express West Midlands service 141 pulls up, so we board where we only go a couple of stops to Reddal Hill Road and go into our next pub of choice and another which I have been past loads of times and today is my first time entering, "The Waggon and Horses", a pub which is now owned by Ostlers Alehouses. We decide which beer to have and after sitting down and having a sip, we do take our pints back to the bar as it smells and tastes like vinegar. There were no problems with having it exchanged for a different (and more expensive) ale with no extra money being paid and it is a Green Duck Brewery ale which we will sample more later in the day. We are a bit peckish, so Mr WME decides to have a cob, I opt for a delicious hot pork cob which I must admit, was very moorish. With our food and pint finished, we make our way back outside and catch a bus down to Cradley Heath Interchange.

Upon arrival, we make our way back through the new waiting area and onto the Stourbridge-bound platform and after a short wait, our train arrives and we board and with our stop being the next station, after a few minutes we arrive and alight at Lye Railway Station, where our next place to visit is just a few steps away. Having already sampled Sadlers Ales Brewery Tap House "The Windsor Castle" previously, the brewery has also opened new brewing premises in Lye and we make our way to the new Sadlers "Brewhouse and Bar" connected to the brewery and sample a pint of Yoricks Skull and have a comfy rest on the leather seats. With our drinks finished we make our way to another brewery not too far away which also has another bar connected to it. We arrive at the Green Duck Brewery situated on the Gainsborough Trading Estate and upon arrival we see a green door in a wall which is also the entrance to the Badelynge Bar, Green Duck's Brewery bar which you can see a lot of the brewery so you can sup and see how it is produced.

We have a couple of beers in the brewery and we are also joined by Diesel, a lovely fluffy husky dog who seemed to be enjoying the rugby that was being shown on the television screen and he even joined in the celebrations by giving us a few "howls". With our drinks finished, we decide to have a final drink, so we get a taxi from the brewery to Marston's "The Gigmill", a pub which I have been in loads of time but this is a first time for Mr WME. A pint is had before it is nearly time for home. Well for me it is just a few minutes, so seeing as Mr WME took a shine to Diesel at The Green Duck Brewery, before he leaves he comes back home with me and meets another canine, the one and only Doggy SBI, also known as Alfie, see picture right, in which Mr WME passes the test, before he makes his way home.

A good day out was had with Mr WME with a couple of new pubs / brewery bars thrown in and Alfie's seal of approval.

2015 - Day Out 02: Kingswinford and Wordsley

Date: Saturday 14 March 2015

It has been nearly a year since I last met up with Mr WME. After a long gap we finally met up again to visit a few hostelries in Wordsley, or so we thought.

It was arranged that we would meet at the Red House Glass Cone in Wordsley and visit a few of the public houses around that area, so I make my way up to Wollaston to catch National Express West Midlands Service X96 into Stourbridge before interchanging onto Hanson's Service 267 bus which dropped me off at the bus stop virtually opposite the previously mentioned Wordsley's Red House Glass Cone, a local landmark. I arrive with a few minutes ahead of the prearranged time and wait at the Glass Cone. Mr WME seems to be running late and after a couple of Stourbridge bound buses go past, I send a text to Mr WME, a couple of minutes after I receive a phone call (with a lot of hyperactive sounding children in the background) and Mr WME says he is just getting off a bus in Kingswinford as the Service 256 he originally planned to catch had been taken out of service. Luckily I spot a Kingswinford bound National Express West Midlands service 257 bus coming along from Stourbridge and I make a mad dash across the road and sprint towards the next bus stop and luckily with a second to spare board the bus and catch my breath back as the bus makes its way to Kingswinford.

Nearly recovered I arrive in Kingswinford and alight just opposite The Cross where Mr WME is waiting and after saying our hello's and me still a little bit out of breath we make our way for some much need refreshment. We walk along Summer Hill and make a left turn along Cot Lane, where we arrive at "The Park Tavern", a pub that I have visited on several occasions before, its here that we have a catch up and a look ahead to this seasons Formula One over a pint of Enville Ale.



A pint of Ma Pardoes Bumblehole!

After leaving The Park Tavern a short walk was taken Barnett Lane and then Barnett Street to "The Glass Cutters Arms" where a pint of Ma Pardoes Bumblehole was sampled, see picture above. After sampling this pub we left and came back out on Barnett Street, I was lost and as we literally around the corner, I knew where we were, up until now, I didn't realise that The Glassmakers Arms was there, I'm pretty sure I have heard about it over the years, so know I know where it is situated.

As we turn the corner from The Glassmakers, we are at the back of "The Queens Head" in High Street Wordsley, which is now part of the Black Country Ales Brewery Portfolio. We enter via the tradesman's entrance and Mr WME had a pork pie, with loads of mustard, he calmed his taste buds down with a pint of Lancashire Stout. I went all strange whilst sampling a pint of Voodoo Dawn. After snacks and drinks were finished, we went past The New Inn, somehow resisting the urge of a pint of Bathams and then it was all downhill literally as we walk past the church to sample our next public house.



Cheers from The Rose and Crown!

We stop by the traffic lights and turn left into the bar area of "The Rose and Crown" and whilst watching a bit of Six Nations Rugby Mr WME samples another Enville Ale, see picture above. I decide to watch something else instead, the barmaid who served me my pint of Holden's Golden Glow, I'm sure she could look after me, see picture below. After drinks are finished, we reluctantly leave and have a short walk up Brierley Hill Road and sample another pub that I have never been in before and visit Marston's "The Samson and Lion", both of us sampling a good old fashioned pint of Banks's Mild. We gatecrash a party before it has even started, we were allowed to stay though as they were only setting up the room for the festivities later that evening.

The Rose and Crown offer a crèche service!

After The Samson and Lion we retrace our steps and head back down Brierley Hill Road and head towards Stourbridge along the main road. We are getting a bit peckish now, so we decide to pop into "The Vine", or what was once The Vine, but is now Ocean Basket, a Chip Shop / Fish and Chip Restaurant where we sample a cone of chips. I opt for the good old fashioned style whilst Mr WME decides to have a battering with the battered chips. We carry on our walk to Amblecote eating our chips along the way and up Brettell Lane to a newly refurbished "Red Lion".

I have been in since the refurbishment and this is Mr WME's first visit since the refurbishment. From what was once a run down dark public house with not too many customers, it was nice to see the pub regenerated into a bright airy and actually full public house. Here we have to stand to drink our pints as there are no tables left, we both opt for the Salopian Brewery's Lemon Dream and after finishing them we have time for one more public house to visit. We make our way back down the short distance down Brettell Lane.

Our last pub and drink of the day is an old favourite, "The Maverick", now early evening, the pub, as The Red Lion is starting to get busy and we get a spot in the Wild West Saloon where Mr WME decides to go all Mexican, even though we are having a typically British named pint of "Dodgy Banker" to round off our day. After we finish our pints we leave the pub and say our goodbyes, with Mr WME heading in one direction for his National Express West Midlands service 256 and myself back up Brettell Lane to catch my National Express West Midlands service 246 buses back home.
 

A good afternoon was had and a couple of new hostelries were visited, a meeting should not have as long a gap next time.

2013 - Day Out 08: Worcester

Date: Saturday 10 August 2013

In April at the Stourbridge Beer Festival, I became a fully fledged CAMRA member and to take advantage of discounts to members I decide to visit another beer festival which is being held at Worcester racecourse.

Disaster strikes before I even leave the house as vandalism on the line at Kidderminster means that there are no trains running between Kidderminster and Worcester, undeterred I make my way into Stourbridge and visit J D Wetherspoons, "The Chequers" to sample a traditional breakfast to help soak up the ale sampled at the beer festival. Breakfast eaten I make my way to Stourbridge Interchange, catching the Dodger to Stourbridge Junction, on the way I receive a phone call from Mr WME to inform me that the Great Malvern train has been cancelled and that he will be on the earlier train, luckily I arrive in time for the train to Kidderminster and meet up with Mr WME, Mr WME senior and Nickolenko. We arrive at Kidderminster and Mr D9 must have lent me his bladder as I need to visit the toilet straight away (and that is even with sampling no beer), so a visit to the Severn Valley Railway station is needed and after business is taken care off we make our way to the normal railway station to wait for our replacement coach to take us to Worcester. I light up to have some "fresh air" and lo and behold the coach arrives and pulls up mid break. We board our coach which takes us to Worcester via Droitwich and arrives at Worcester Foregate Street, just after 11.45am.

We alight and make our way for the short walk to Worcester racecourse, the venue of the 14th Worcester beer, cider and perry festival, with Mr WME senior chatting about F1 along the way. We enter the venue and everyone has their 1/2 pint glasses in hand and for some reason I ended up with a pint glass. A photo is taken by Mr WME before we sample the ales and we are under way with beer tokens in hand to sample the ales. I look for the Ginger Tosser, but it eluded me that day, but when I said to Mr WME that I was looking for the Ginger Tosser, I don't think the bloke behind the bar was too impressed with me, it was the barman with ginger hair! The first ale is sampled and I have a pint of the Settles Signal Light, in honour of the failure on the railway line earlier, whilst Mr WME Senior has the Black Hill Stout, Nickolenko has the Plum Dunkelweizen and Mr WME has the Exmoor Beast. We find a picnic table in the huge tent and take our seat for the afternoon, see picture right. My Signal Light goes down well and we are off to sample the second ale of the day, I opt for a pint of the Cannon Royal's Blonde Bombshell, whilst Mr WME senior opts for Old Dairy's Gold Top, Nickelenko opts for the Ginger Doodle Stout and Mr WME has the Raspberry Wheat Beer.

Mr D9 is catered for by his own loos!

Still full up from my breakfast, Mr WME senior and Mr WME have their packed lunch whilst Nickelenko has a good portion of the vegetable curry available at the festival. Whilst they are eating I opt for a visit to the facilities and Mr D9 even has the supplied toilets named after him, "Andyloos".  After some "fresh air" I make my way back to the table and finish off my Blonde Bombshell, before finding my next ale. Normally at festivals I would try different ales and not have any local brews which are always available for me at local pubs, but I decide to sample an Enville Ale beer which has eluded me all the years it has existed and opt for a pint of the Cherry Blonde, and Mr WME also samples the ale too, and what a wait it was with a distinctive taste of Cherry's. Mr WME senior samples Friday Gold and Nickelenko samples Clash London Porter. We take our seats again and as the festival gets busier we are treated to a gang of Stormtroopers, I make another visit and get a photo of the Stormtroopers, see picture left, who are enjoying the sun outside and after some more "fresh air", I make my way back inside. Nearly out of beer tokens, it is time to look for a last ale and Nickelenko kindly gives me some of his tokens so I can enjoy a last half at the festival, I opt for Monty's Desert Rat, Mr WME senior opts for a Joshua Jane (and also has enough tokens left to have a half of the Old Slug Porter), Nickelenko opts for a Exmoor Beast and Mr WME has a last half of Skullduggery.

With our last ales finished, we make our way to sample a few of the pubs in Worcester, but before we leave, Nickelenko, Mr WME and myself have a go on the tombola and I am the only one that wins a prize and opt for a Fullers beer towel. We make our way from the festival and head into the city, with our first inn being The Plough which is located on Fish Street and I show off my beer mat flipping skills and I opt for a beer mat advertising the beer festival we have just left. Drinks consumed we make our way to the next pub, which is The Cardinals Hat, a nice traditional pub, which is one of the oldest pubs in Worcester, next up we make a visit to King Charles II, a joint venture between the Sadlers and Craddocks breweries and was also the pub sponsoring the beer festival, seeing as it is owned by the local Stourbridge breweries it meant that we should visit the place with Mr WME senior opting to buy the round on this visit. Drinks purchased and we make our way upstairs and if feels like we are drunk as the floor and table didn't seem to be level.

We leave the King Charles II and make an unplanned visit to the pub next door, The Swan With Two Nicks, on our visit it was renamed The Swan With Three Nicks as Nickelenko was with us, we opt for Draught Bass and Malvern Hills Trevor Stout on this visit, see picture above right. I check Twitter and find out that the rail services are restored and running normally albeit with a few delays, so we have time to visit another couple of pubs before making our way back, and it is time to visit The Paul Pry, see picture left, which is located on The Butts and after that whilst we have time we visit our last pub of the day and whilst Nickelenko and Mr WME senior visit Tesco Express to get some food for the trip back, Mr WME and myself make our way to The Dragon, see pivture below; for our final pints of the day and we don't have too far to walk as it is located near to the Worcester Foregate Street railway station.

Cheers from The Dragon!

With the beer starting to take its toll we make our way back to the station and catch the 18:51 London Midland service back home with me saying goodbye and alighting at Stourbridge Junction before making my way on The Dodger and catching National Express West Midlands service X96 back to Wollaston and I get visit my local Chinese to get my traditional trip tea, but I opt for something different and decide to have a chinese curry.

Overall, a good day out sampling many different ales at the Worcester Beer Festival and visits to local public houses afterwards and even though the beer took its toll on me at the end of the day, it was a successful trip and a good beer festival.

2013 - Day Out 02: Wollaston

Date: Saturday 09 March 2013

Normally at this time of the year, this blog post is all about my five mile of torture, sorry run around the streets (and hills) of Dudley. I didn't take part this year, but along with Mr WME, we took part in some training for a different type of run, the Enville Street run.

Before the run and before meeting Mr WME I decide to get some fuel, so head into Stourbridge first for a J D Wetherspoons traditional breakfast at "The Chequers Inn". After a devouring my fodder, I let it go down for a few minutes and then I catch Hanson's Local Bus Service 250 to Wollaston Farm where upon arrival, contact is made with Mr WME stating his location. Luckily I know the way he is heading and know the shortcut to meet him, well I thought I did, but get confused as to where the entrance to the footpath is but I eventually find it and Mr WME who is basically at the entrance to the footpath from the canal. As we meet, we walk around to the Kingsway shops and decide to make a start on the run, so to get to the starting position, we decide to conserve energy and catch National Express West Midlands service X96 to the stop in Bridle Road, but I misjudge the location of the bus stop and we alight as the bus turns into Bridgnorth Road. We have a little walk up hill to get us to the start of "The Enville Street Run", a locally known pub-goers paradise with a good number of public houses along the road between Wollaston and Stourbridge.

We get to the starting position and we are off and enter the first port of call, The Foresters Arms, a public house which is located on the border of the West Midlands and Staffordshire and this is the first time that Mr WME gets to sample the inside of the place. The time is just after 1pm and as we enter, we struggle to find a seat as there is a healthy number of customers already sampling the pleasant nature of this hostelry, and we start off with a pleasant Young's Bitter, and manage to squeeze into a seat with a sleeping dog (well a painting) keeping a weary eye over us. The Enville Street Run has got off to a good start and we leave the starting blocks, and one of my favourite Wollaston pubs and head downhill towards Stourbridge and the second port of call is The Plough and as we enter, the lounge / restaurant area is looking full, so we decide to sample the bar area at the back of the pub and we get a seat  around the pool table area to avoid the flying darts from a few customers playing. In this establishment, we sample Everard's Tiger Ale, and it was an enjoyable pint to drink too. I am still full from my late Traditional Breakfast, but Mr WME has got some empty space to fill in his stomach and samples a pork pie with Black Pudding included within the meat. For £2, it was a generous portion of pie that Mr WME soon devoured.

Mr SBI in The Unicorn

Mr WME in The Princess

 A good start to the run and we are picking up speed now as we head into Wollaston Village, we head to another popular public house owned by Batham's Brewery, The Unicorn, a public house that we have visited a couple of times before. As we enter, the bar and small back room are full but this does not put us off and we sample a pint of Batham's finest Bitter and we take a seat out in the back area, but I spot that a few people are leaving and we have a little run inside the pub to grab the now vacant table in the main bar area. A chance for a couple of photographs and this is where disaster strikes for me, my camera decides that it doesn't want to play any more, it was expected as it was playing up on my trip to London the camera was refusing to take photographs and was also seeming to overheat in the area where the flash was, luckily I have backup and have to use the camera on my phone. Mr WME likes The Unicorn and is tempted to stay for another pint of Bathams Bitter, but we do have the rest of the run to go and we move to the next one, not to far away is The Princess.

The Princess, which was renamed in 1998 from The Alexandra following the death of Princess Diana, is located in the village on the corner of Cobden Street and we sample Holden's Golden Glow. We take a seat at the back of the pub quite close to the big screen TV showing a West Bromwich Albion match which means that we don't stay here that long. We head from The Princess onto the main straight as we pass the big traffic island in Wollaston and into proper run mode as we actually start walking along Enville Street. We pass what was The Waterloo, which has now been turned into an Indian restaurant and our next port of call is Graham's Place, which was once known until a few years ago as The Cottage Spring. This pub is a haven for real ale lovers with plenty of pumps available dispensing proper beer. We decide to opt for the Angel Ale and as we take our seats it is where Mr Keith Lemon joins us for a "Bang Tidy" pint. We are now hallway through the run and as we finish off our drinks in Grahams Place, I work out who will be buying the cheapest round of the day as my local knowledge knows which pub will be the cheapest and it won't be me that purchases it.

Having a "Bang Tidy" Pint in Graham's Place.

We make our way down the hill with Keith Lemon in tow giving a thumbs up to the passing traffic and enter one of my favourite pubs, Katie Fitzgerald's, a pub which is now host to a Irish theme and host to live music each week. Keith orders the round and Mr WME opts for a Wood's Wonderful Bitter and myself for a pint of Tribute. We take our seats and get talking to one of the regulars, Pete, with our topic for discussion of Mario Lanza beermats which I spot hanging by the bar, from the discussion, the identity was still not revealed and have been a victim of the mysterious beermat leaver from my time working behind the bar at The Bell and The Talbot in Stourbridge. Pints supped, we say our goodbyes to Pete and now over the halfway point we head along even further of Enville Street and up a slight hill to get us to the next pub.

Ooosh From Katie Fitzgerald's

The next pub on the run is The Somerset House, once becoming famous for pints sticking to the wall, but sadly the pub is now a shadow of it's former self and as we enter there are only a couple other customers in the pub. After purchasing Bank's Bitter, we head to the dart board and after three games and breaking the flight on one of the darts, I am victorious after winning 2-1 against Mr WME. We head to the penultimate pub on the run and it is literally a few steps taken to get there as The Queens Head is right next door (Once known as The Queensbury when I did a couple of shifts there back in the late 1990's), and Mr WME gets his revenge by purchasing two pints of Joule's Pale Ale which comes in at a wallet-busting £3.20, the revenge is short lived when Mr WME finds out that Wolves have lost 3-1 at Nottingham Forest. We enjoy our cheap pints before heading to the final pub of the run.

Not Celebrating The Cheapest Round!

It is time to visit another Batham's and the final pub situated along Enville Street before hitting Stourbridge Ring Road, and as we enter the finishing line (otherwise known as the bar), we make up for another lost pub at the end of the run, which would have been The Cottage Spring, by having two final pints in Batham's The Royal Exchange and we sample the brewery's own beer again by having a pint of Bitter and a pint of Mild. Keith makes an appearance in the bar again much to the amusement of other customers in the area (one who I saw the following day who asked where Keith was), and it was a cracking end to the afternoon and a good pub to end the Enville Street Run.

A good afternoon out and even though I was flagging at the end of an exhausting long run, I totally enjoyed it even though I did not get the cheapest round of the day. Now that I have done it from Wollaston towards Stourbridge with great ease, it is time to start training to do it in the opposite direction, all uphill.