The Ruin, Birmingham

A terraced Victorian pub with a brown frontage and an upper in white render with large sash windows. It has been renamed several times; Horans, Floogate Tavern and with it’s re-opening after a year, now the Eagle. The pub has three areas. You enter into a bar room with the bar in front, to the left. This room is in coffee, cream, wood panel, with a cream ceiling and a wood floor and a fireplace in the corner. Pictures of the Blues and old Brum adorn the walls. A small side room has a pool table in it and nearly enough room to play it. There is a lounge at the top of a few stairs; with coffee and cream walls, cream ceiling, red carpet floor and a grey chimney breast with a red brick fire. It also had photos of old Brum and was definitely quieter. They serve cobs. There was a TV, which had the news on. The music was loud and charty. I had a ham cob. It was really nice. The service was fine and the clientele mainly younger based. Beer; usual tap stuff with four taps, though only two were on; with Bombardier and ABC’s Heartlands Bitter. The bitter was ok. Spekky Hen and Doombar were to go on according to the bloke behind the bar. I was happy enough to have visited – it was just a bit loud. I am sure I will pop back.

A back street boozer in Digbeth, clearly a Birmingham City FC pub, given that the barman was wearing a Blues shirt. The Eagle is a Victorian/Edwardian pub. The 'extensive refurbishment' seems to be a paint job. The pub is tidy, but clearly 'lived in'. There are three rooms, the rectangular bar, which had most of the customers in. Then up a step to the right of the counter is another small room with a pool/snooker table and a couple of fruit machines in it. Continuing on and round to the right is the lounge, effectively behind the bar. The music in the bar was a little loud, so we settled in the lounge. Beer wise, there are the usual suspects. Alewise, there were four taps. Two were off and two were on. They were serving Aston Brewery Bitter and Pedigree. We had the Aston Bitter. Two of us enjoyed the Bitter, one of us thought it a little too warm. I actually really liked it. They were serving ham or cheese cobs behind the bar. I had a ham cob. It was really nice. I personally quite liked this pub. Might be a bit raucous on a match day, but I would definitely come back for another pint.

Refurbished and reopened as the Eagle and serving real ales.