The Horse & Jockey, Birmingham

This pub is a typical chain pub. Good for families, value meals, children's play area outside. Worth calling in if passing by.

This is a Fayre & Square chain family pub and eatery, with a patio, beer garden, kids' outdoor play area and a wacky warehouse - the tranquil nature is tempered by the late 70s fly-over opposite. The exterior has individuality, unlike the functional chainy interior. An amalgam of more than one building, in white and cream brick, one having bay windows, the other a central chimney with rounded orial window. The place has grown organically since construction (early c19th?). The interior is open plan, with little fireplaces dotted about to show the old rooms. It has walls of clay, green and mushroomy colours, as well as patterend wallpapers - usual really - and landscapey pictures are on the walls, amongst others. A grabbing machine is present. The TV wasn't on and the music was general and at a decent level. The service was OK and the place fairly empty at my early visit. Beer; usual stuff - indeed John Smith's seems to be celebrated here, as a set of pictures on the wall show Rob's pint diminishing somewhat uninterestingly. On handpull there were Pedigree and a rather poor Hook Norton Lion. A functional family place.