28/11/25 - Bromsgrove Bar Trek

"Mostly Older Pubs in Bromsgrove Centre"

The nearest activity to me in the excellent Bar Trek App is Bromsgrove. I wasn't really aware that Bromsgrove had enough pubs to warrant a crawl but they are there, when you look. Or have them pointed out to you by a fellow enthusiast.

All lined up and ready to be discovered

On a wet Friday afternoon, what will I find? What will I eavesdrop? Solo entertainment in retirement has come to this.

Olde Black Cross

The first pub I have entered, where the TV Screen is tuned to GB News. I cannot spend too long, else I get radicalised.

Dating from 1640, the unmanned front bar gives the history.

Grade II Coaching House, Jail, Blacksmiths - you name it

First Charles II, now Mappiman

A sprawling pub, it's a case of find someone to serve you. The rear bar also unmanned but some-one leaves the afternoon creche to come and serve. No cask, so half a Guinness.

Golden Cross Hotel

No real reason to re-visit this Good Beer Guide stalwart. And it isn't the first 'Spoons I visited today. The 52 bus to Bromsgrove goes to Redditch, so the Royal Enfield, a GBG newbie, has been ticked.

Double 'Spoons

Unlike the Royal Standard, I have never been able to get comfortable here. It's always too manic and tables are at a premium. Today, I do better than usual, getting a four seater table. Now I don't mind people joining me but there are rules. Do not have your phone on speaker, hold it to your ear and then had a nonsense conversation about Xmas presents, whilst your husband fetches two pints of Coors.

I try and entertain myself by looking at who else is in. Usual workies in high viz, shoppers who know where the bargain inexhaustible coffees are and pensioner dinner parties. 

I cannot complain about the beer though. A whole smorgasbord of festive beers on - which could have warranted a proper taste-off all afternoon. Although I am unsure what makes Holbeck Santa Baby a festive beer. It's an IPA. But it was in fine condition and the price was more than right.

The Red Lion

A previously unnoticed Marston's Single Roomer along the high street, where a first pleasant greeting is received and comfortable chairs are available to sit on. Hobgoblin or Banks Bitter on the pumps clips warranting a conversation about whether it is now known as Amber. I find out that on weekdays, it's £2.40 a pint. And Friday is no longer a weekday.

Pub real estate sold off to a shoe shop

A 3.4% shadow of its former self. Random A E Houseman portrait

All the other punters are solo men. Most know each other. One bloke looks like he lives in here. No judgement from me on any lifestyle choices but I am not sure the bar staff should be serving two pints at a time.

The Old Post Office

Another newbie to me, slightly further up the road. No prizes for its history, but I can tell you it was converted into a pub in 2019 by Amber Taverns. It's cavernous inside, with posters advertising how many bombs you can get for a set amount of cash.

Post box as a pub sign

Two Wye Valley Cask on - HPA and Butty Bach. A cursory look around and of course, everyone is on lout. Should I risk it? Despite every bone in my body screaming "Don't Do It", I plunge in and order - without asking for a sample - a Butty Bach.

Would you believe me if I told you it was as good as my local Wye Valley GBG Tied house? The world is always full of surprises and sometimes they are pleasant.

I pick a quiet spot in an alcove all to myself and a second surprise when two ladies, who have the entire pub to themselves, choose to sit as close as humanely possible to me. 

After a few minutes talking conspiratorially to themselves, they turn to me and ask "Excuse me, do you know who the Prime Minister is?"

I immediately have many potential responses. Am I being chatted up? How do they not know? Eventually, I settle on the fact that they are probably inquiring about my own mental cognitive abilities.

Kier Starmer, I reply.

No, not him, the one before they respond.  

I furnish them with Rishi - and they say the fellow on the TV Screen looks just like him. If anything, he looks like Sajid Javid, rather than he of the too short trousers.

Alas, Diamond Bus Timetables thwart how this unusual pub quiz may have progressed. 

The pub crawl cut short, as the Crabmill doesn't open until 4pm.  Even on a weekend Friday.

Thoughts on Bromsgrove? A lot of hidden in plain sight pubs. A lot of afternoon boozers.