The Lamp Tavern, Birmingham

Looking more like a run down working mans club from the outside, the Lamp tavern opens into a small, slightly shabby bar with 3 handpulls, serving Tiger, Harvest Pale and another on my visit. Really well kept beer, served by the chatty Irish landlord. Toilets were a bit stinky on a Saturday afternoon, for no good reason.

The Lamp Tavern page on the Stanway Brewery website - www.stanwaybrewery.co.uk

The Lamp Tavern page on the Stanway Brewery website - www.stanwaybrewery.co.uk

Hidden away in the backstreets of a semi-industrial area, you are unlikely to come across this old-fashioned (in a good way) single-room pub by chance. However, many beer-lovers make the effort and it has won plenty of local Camra awards. Comfortable, if fairly basic, furniture. Various items of memorabilia on the walls. The associated Lillie Langtry's lounge and music venue at the back has a separate entrance but can also be accessed from the compact bar. Three of six handpumps operational when I visited, dispensing Lamplight from the in-house Rock & Roll Brewhouse, Everards Tiger and Mallinsons SPA (£2.90). Well worth seeking out.

Situated in a fairly inauspicious part of town, the Lamp Tavern is a charming local's pub that you're unlikely to stumble across without knowing about it. The pub initially appears to be a very compact single room affair. You enter through a small porch into the main bar, with the servery running down the left hand wall and a long, curved banquette wrapping itself around the front, right and rear walls. The room is carpeted throughout and has red and cream walls decorated with lots of old photos, pictures, brewery mirrors and newspaper articles. A lengthy history of the pub hangs in a large frame opposite the bar, although frustratingly, I couldn't read it without leaning over other punters. Local radio was playing very quietly in the background and I noticed an old wireless set in the front window. Seating is at a premium here and despite not being that busy when I visited, the only seat I could find was on a bar stool at the far end of the bar and it was already becoming a little tricky to squeeze between the seating and bar when people were stood there ordering. Just when I thought that's all there was to the pub, music struck up through a door to the rear, so I went and explored, only to find a lounge bar in a sizeable rear room. There are some comfy looking padded button backed banquettes in here, as well as a short servery and a nice stained glass cupola. A stage at the rear explained where the music was coming from, as a band were there tuning up for their gig later in the evening. The corridor between the two rooms boasts some nice art prints and there was an upright piano stood in one corner. The pub is home to the Rock and Roll Brewery, who apparently operate from the pub's roof. Their Misty Mountain Hops was available and in decent condition, alongside Stanway Stanney Bitter and Cotteswold Gold, Everards Tiger and Hobson's Mild. The pub is also the only in the West Midlands to stock Stanway beers from Gloucestershire. I was served by a charming barman who has apparently been manning the pumps here for over 20 years. I found this to be a very friendly and relaxing spot for a pint and imagine it would be a good place to settle down for an evening. It's certainly worth a look, especially if you want to try some beers you're unlikely to find elsewhere in the city, and I will definitely call in again the next time I'm in the area.