The Craven Arms, Birmingham

I had no trouble at all finding this pub as it appeared before me in the rain as I was staggering up the hill to get to the Figure Of Eight from the Dragon Inn. I knew all about this place and had a plan to make a specific visit some time which was immediately ditched. There seems little point in dwelling on the detail as it has already been very well described previously. For me there were two plus points and two minus points. The first plus point is the exterior and I can't resist pointing out how the GBG has shot itself in the foot by saying it's a former Holden's pub! Holder's were a Birmingham brewer taken over by Mitchell & Butler's in 1919 long before they became part of Bass Charrington. From the older reviews below it obviously became a part of the Banks's estate and later with the merger Marston's. As far as I recall from early CAMRA days there were no Banks's or Hanson's outlets anywhere in the centre of Brum. The second plus point is by far the major and undisputed one which is the superb beer range with the three Black Country Ales and eight from anywhere you like. The first minus point is the interior. This isn't an unspoilt gem like the Vine in Brierley Hill, the Beacon Hotel in Sedgley or others. It would have been trashed into a single room almost certainly by Bass Charrington decades ago. OK it has some nice windows but even one of them is plain! It reminded me of numerous back street East London Charrington pubs visited in the past. My biggest gripe though was with the prices. I came in here out of the rain and went straight to the hand pumps. I noticed a familiar beer I hadn't seen for some time Magic Rock Dark Arts. I was charged five quid for this! I subsequently looked at the blackboard on the left and noted that at least one of the three Black Country ales was just £3.20 but two beers were £5.00. I'm sorry but five quid for a 6% ABV beer is daylight robbery anywhere in the country. They would do better spending a small amount of time putting prices on the pumps and less time writing long tedious descriptions of the beers. For what it's worth the beer was in excellent condition but I had to ask for it to be topped up. To sum up I didn't think this was a classic pub but admit it has an extraordinary exterior and beer selection but the five quid pint knocks two points off my score.

Fantastic tiled exterior opens to a surprisingly small interior with a great selection of brews on the bar from light to dark and everything in between. House brews are Black Country, the Fireside and Pig being in excellent form. A bit of a hike out of town, but well worth the effort, decent bar food on offer too.

A cracker of a pub. Several beers available. A bit expensive mind but sometimes you don't mind as long as you're getting a variety as you get in here. A point knocked of for the prices.

An old style exterior and interior as described below. 9 real ales on during my visit.

Great visit here on Friday and enjoyed our 2 beers from Blackjack brewery so decided to stay for an Alechemy brewery and one from Brass Castle too. It is very busy at lunchtime and there were cobs available with variety of fillings including black pudding and cheese one!! Tasting notes a great idea in front of each beer pump. Does get congested in front of the bar at busy times. Has a great old fashioned pub feel to it, and staff are friendly and helpful.

This is a really classy back street corner pub, tucked away close to the Mailbox complex, recently reopened by the reliable Black Country Ales group. The building is very striking on approach, with some fine ground floor level tiling and large signs for Holder's Ales and Stouts, as well as impressive etched glass windows and doors bearing the pub's name. You enter into a carpeted single room with the servery to the rear right. Banquette and standard seating runs down the left and in a small section near the front door which is broken by some low dark wood partitioning. The front right has a slightly cosier seating area, hidden partly by the aforementioned partitioning, with lots of old photos on the walls and a mural of sorts which explains that the pub was built back in 1905 for the Holder's Brewery. The servery has some nice ornate woodwork around the mirrored bar back and a low profile canopy. The fine woodwork can also be appreciated around the fireplace which stands on the end wall, with some smart tiles set into it and a large mirror above. An excellent indie soundtrack played throughout my stay and there was a good mix of customers in on my early Saturday evening visit. The star of the show here is the beer range, which presented a real challenge to pick something from. Options on my visit were Salopian Oracle, Beer Madness IPA, Hopcraft Reign of Terror and The Beast, Summer Wine Barista, Landlocked Copper Bottomed, Black Jack Single Hop IPA, Saddler's Boris Citrov, Marston's Smash, Church End Gravediggers and Black Country BFG. I couldn't make my mind up and ended up with a half of the Beer Madness IPA (very good) and a half of the Boris Citrov (outstanding). The bar staff were very friendly and helpful, offering tasters and giving useful descriptions of the ales to baffled customers. There was also a very handy ale board at the end of the bar, which allowed an at-a-glance summary of the available products. I'd not really heard too much about this place prior to my visit, but was very glad I included it on my crawl as it was easily my pub of the day, despite some strong competition. I found this to be a relaxed and welcoming pub with great beer and comfortable surroundings. I'll definitely be back as for me, this is the best pub in the city right now.