Dudley South by Southwest

On Bank Holiday Monday 27 May a rendezvous with Mark Geeson and other CAMRA friends took over the long back room at The Vine Inn, Brierley Hill, the home of Batham's Beers.

Meg and Tim arrived by bus from Dudley, passing Russels Hall hospital at the same time as Mark's group arrived by bus from Wolverhampton. We all enjoyed pints of Batham's beers and many also bought a sizeable and well filled cob to eat sooner and / or later.

The front rooms have more character but those tables were already occupied by locals at our 12.30pm arrival time.

The Vine is known locally as the Bull and Bladder and there are bull motifs on the interior tiled walls and vinyl floor.

Mark's group were determined to revisit Roberto's Bar in Halesowen next, before the Old Swan Inn in Netherton. Meg and Tim opted for a local walk to explore Delph Locks before a second rendezvous at the Old Swan.

Turning right outside the Vine Inn, we had a better view of of Batham's brewery before walking down Delph Road as far as the Tenth Lock, with a short break for shelter from the rain just outside the Black Horse.

There were Canada Geese with chicks by the canal and a heron, on the opposite bank, seemed to follow us as we walked up the towpath beside the Delph locks (seen perched on railings in the photo above). The Black Country does seem to have a lot of green spaces.

JD Wetherspoon pubs shown in blue above

From the top of Delph Locks we followed a signpost to Merry Hill to catch a bus to Netherton.

The bus stopped opposite the Old Swan Inn. The entrance on the right was closed but thankfully the one on the left was open. There's a model of the RMS Titanic with a green background in the window to the right of the door.

The etched glass on the window to the left of the door shows Mrs Pardoes Bar and the Old Swan is known locally as Ma Pardoes.

Locals were gathered near the back of the bar and we found a nice sunny spot to sit by a window in the smaller front room.

An interesting collection of old bottles above the bar included a beer brewed here at the Olde Swan brewery named Bumblehole named after the local Bumble Hole nature reserve, another example of the Black Country's green spaces. 

We followed Mark's progress c/o Google Maps sharing location on the bus from Halesowen. We couldn't work out how he was where we were but nowhere to be seen. Eventually we were advised that Mark's group was next door in the part of the Old Swan that had opened later! Instead of taking our beers out of the door we found a way through the labyrinth that is the two adjacent properties into the front room on the other side of the dividing wall! It seems that the Old Swan is a 'Tardis'! Perhaps the Old Swan should provide a map for visitors?

This room also has an enamel ceiling, a steam whistle and a nice collection of pewter tankards above the bar.

CAMRA has recognised the importance of the historic interior of the Old Swan and it is listed in the national inventory of historic pub interiors.

The Olde Swan brewery is in the yard behind the pub and can be seen through the window of the Gents toilets!

Rooms behind the bar can be seen through window of the passage that leads to the toilets.

Pictures on the walls reflect the local industrial heritage of the Black Country.

On their return to Wolverhampton, Mark's group planned to visit Park Inn, the Holden's brewery tap, which we had visited the previous evening. We now went our separate ways with the Lamp Tavern, Dudley as our next destination, only a short journey by bus away.

This traditional Batham's pub just outside the centre of Dudley wasn't busy when we arrived.

The XXX is only available in the winter and the Batham's Bitter was in superb condition.

We turned left on entering the Lamp and our room had a fireplace guarded by Gromit!

There's a similar bar on the right of the entrance but with a carpeted floor and no fireplace.

It was now 7.30pm so we walked via King Street to the rear entrance of the Full Moon (JD Wetherspoon) which also has a front entrance on Dudley High Street.

We enjoyed pints of Enville White with our curries. This was a new addition to the bar since our earlier breakfast here.

We stopped for a photo of poet Ben Boucher and the Market Place Fountain beyond on our way back to the hotel at 9.30pm

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From Stourbridge to the Bull and Bladder

A pleasing way to arrive in Stourbridge is on the West Midlands Railway shuttle from Stourbridge Junction to Stourbridge Town. This was the final stage of my train journey from Newbury via Reading and Worcester on Tuesday 26 November, 2019.

The small railway vehicle heads downhill on the 0.8 mile branch line which can claim to be the shortest in Europe.

After crossing the ring road, a short walk along Stourbridge High Street leads to the Talbot Hotel, a traditional coaching inn which dates back to the 1630s.
I had time to take a photo of the High Street from the second floor bedroom before noticing that the shower fitting was damaged and leaking into the bath. After returning to reception via the creaking staircase I was able to change keys for a different room.

The hall passage to the rear second floor bedroom gave views of the hotel's open courtyard. The tower of St Thomas' Church beyond could be seen from this bedroom. All the floors appear to be sloping at second floor level!
A short walk via Victoria Passage led to Barbridge, based in an old retail unit since 2015.

Barbridge, Stourbridge  [Photo: Mark Geeson]

Mark Geeson and the 'Farnham Trubbellers' were already well established on the high level seating and the only seat I could find was at low level! Mark established that our group included CAMRA members from seven different branches. This is a bar with an appeal to all ages that features music memorabilia.

A blackboard lists four cask beers and four keg beers. My first beer here was Black Iris Snake Eyes, a 3.8% ABV hoppy pale (£2.90 pint 'Happy Hour'). Blues music was playing on the sound system. Our attempts to revisit this bar on subsequent days were unsuccessful as it may have closed early.

As Craddock's Brewery is based at the Duke William, Stourbridge, this was the next pub we decided to visit.

The Duke William was the second Craddock's pub to open in Stourbridge (in 2009). The brewery was installed at the Duke William in March 2011.

Trevor - The Duke William

The Duke William has atmospheric lighting, a fireplace with a stove, and hops for decoration.
Pieminister pies are available with a blackboard above the fireplace giving further details.

My first beer here was Craddock's King's Escape, a 4.7% ABV cask ale. Craddock's pubs have a loyalty card system where stickers are given for each beer and once a card is filled with eight stickers a free beer is offered. Our group were soon able to fill a card!

The Vine Inn aka The Bull and Bladder - Farnham Trubbellers assemble!

A trip through residential streets on a National Express West Midlands number 8 bus service from Stourbridge Interchange to Delph Road, Brierley Hill, took us close to the Vine Inn, also known as the Bull and Bladder. This is the home of Batham's beers.

The public bar on the right of the entrance has an Edwardian bar and a three-bay bar-back with a central clock and a bell for calling 'time'. On arrival, only Batham's Bitter was available but this was the beer that I had been looking forward to drinking.

As the public bar was already busy our large group found tables in another of the rooms and carried our beers through.

One of the large cheese and onion cobs from the bar made an ideal accompaniment for a favourite beer. Martin Taylor's Bull & Bladdered blog post, about his visit to the Vine in April 2019, includes photos of the public bar and a cob at this 'classic pub' which is featured in CAMRA's inventory of historic pub interiors.

A long room at the back of the building has further seating and a darts board over a fire place.

Thanks to an earlier arrangement made by Mark Geeson, our group was privileged to be invited on a tour of the large cellar by landlord Tom. He mentioned that at busy times, the pub can empty a hogshead (54 gallons - shown in photo) in a day. There were also barrels (36 gallons) of Batham's beer in the cellar. (For comparison, the largest size container of cask ale seen in pubs in the south of England is usually a firkin (9 gallons) although brewers supplying CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival are asked to use kilderkins (18 gallons)).

Photo: Mark Geeson

Bitter, Mild and (seasonally) XXX are the three Batham's beers served. Roger Protz's 'Black Country family affairs' article in What's Brewing (January 2020, with same text as linked Protz On Beer blog post) has more details about Batham's 'delicious and uncomplicated' beers, from the brewery located behind the pub.
After this enjoyable introduction to the Black Country and its beers we would catch a bus back to Stourbridge and our hotel for rest before a visit to Walsall the next day.