The Horse & Jockey, Lichfield

A great pub that has been a privately run free house for about the past two years, the building is an irregular shape with a large front gable on the right, a second gable end on the left side and a single storey flat roofed extension also on the left of the building, it looks slightly out of place being surrounded by three storey Georgian style town houses. The interior has a large main room with a small darts room at the back, the main room has a large U shaped island bar counter in the middle which serves front, right side and back with a narrow corridor down the left hand side of the room. Across the front and down the right hand side of the room is the public bar area, this has a natural wood floor, half a dozen tables (some in booths) with red fabric bench seats and a few dark brown leather arm chairs, there were two large flat screen TVs showing football, one in the front right corner and one on the back wall. Extending from the middle of the back wall is an internal wall that divides the back of the main room and provides a snug type area in the back left corner of the building. The dividing wall has a fire place in both sides, the one on the public bar area side is rustic with a large wooden beam lintel and a stove, the snug area side has a more Victorian style cast iron fire place with a nice mirror built in to the mantle piece. The cosy snug is carpeted and has three tables with red fabric bench seating. The small room at the back of the building is totally dedicated to darts with two dart boards on the left hand wall and just enough space for the two oche. The décor is a mixture of traditional and modern, for example the bar counter is traditional dark worn wood with nice stained glass panels above but the leather arm chairs are modern coffee shop style and the pictures on the walls are contemporary. In the back right corner of the main room is a door which leads to some kind of an outside drinking and smoking area which I did not actually see. Regular ales are currently Holden’s Golden Glow, Timothy Taylor Landlord, Fullers London Pride and Marston’s Pedigree with two changing guest beers which on this occasion were Burton Bridge Golden Delicious and Wye Valley Hereford Pale Ale (GBG 2012). A nice mix of popular national and local beers, I tried the Glow and Golden Delicious and both were precisely that. This was my first visit to this excellent free house and I was impressed. Elements of the décor are not to my taste but any pub furnishing faux pas are forgiven due to the good selection of well kept beers, between myself and my drinking partners we sampled all of the real ales on offer and there were no complaints. I don’t usually comment on the quality of the service as in many pubs it can vary from week to week largely due to the quick turnover of bar staff, but I must say that the efficiency and pleasantness of the service here by all the staff was outstanding especially as the pub was packed on a Saturday afternoon. I would definitely return if in the area again.

An undistinguished building both inside and out. There's something of the modern bistro about the interior but it's a comfortable, friendly and atmospheric place to be which is, I suspect, as much down to its popularity as any design touches. It is rightly popular with a friendly welcome and the following beers on when we visited: Wye Valley HPA, Purity Mad Goose, Burton Bridge Golden Delicious, Pedigree, London Pride, Landlord and Holden's Golden Glow which was in good nick. Thoroughly deserves its GBG listing and has probably the widest range of ales in Lichfield.