The Hop Pole, Bilston

The Hop Pole is due to be demolished for improvements to the outdoor market. No date as yet.

It maybe fair to say that this is perhaps the blandest pub I have ever seen from the outside. It is a Banks’s pub and it is effectively a box of undressed red brick with a view of the market area of Bilston. The interior is an open plan L-shaped room, with two areas; a bar and a lounge. The bar room is in green and white, with a white ceiling on which there is a few England flags. Some Victorian styled prints adorn the walls. There is a small side area where bands set-up and play, or, as on the Saturday night that I revisited the place, there was a karaoke set-up. There is a pool table in the middle of the room and a TV, which was showing the tennis. The lounge area is in white and beam effect, with tables that seem to be set-up more for dining, though I am not sure if they do food (not long been taken over). There are again, prints on the walls and there is a dart board. The service was fine, especially when I realised I knew the gaffer from a previous pub he had ran. The clientele is a real mix – it caters for the market during the day and seems quieter on the evenings. Beer; usual tap stuff, with Banks’s Bitter and a very decent Banks’s MILD on handpull. I didn’t really fancy the pub from the outside and it’s location, however, I enjoyed my stop off and have since been back in.