Beacon Hotel, Dudley

Idiosyncratic home brew pub, it uses only handled glasses (dimpled jugs) which are served from a wooden phone box like kiosk with serving hatches at both sides. There are numerous small spaces making up the first bar you enter but I liked the larger Smoke Room to the left, the Camra types cluster in the entry corridor near the serving hatch. The Smoke room, like most of the pub is decorated and furnished in traditional style (benches and Britannia tables). The Sarah Hughes beers are excellent and the pub also sells Sam Smiths in bottle, it is a bit hard to see what else might be available in the “kiosk”. The pub was busy when others I passed were empty or fairly quiet and I can probably guess why.

A large detached pub and home to the Sarah Hughes Brewery, in brick and white render, with a conservatory. The interior has a nesting of rooms. Two lounges spring either side of the entrance, the one in 1940s style wallpaper, the other in white. At the back there is a larger bar area, in white and wood panel and, i believe, from my last visit, a room where you can take children. The service is via hatches in an old wood bar, so it is like asking for a ticket at an old railway station and it is difficult to see, from the lounge, what beer is actually on (there is a chalk board). Service is difficult to rate as all you see is a pair of hands, but the clientele is mixed and it was busy, hence we didnt explore just plonked ourselves in the first seat we saw. Beer; hard to tell - there was the Sarah Hughes range; MILD, Amber and Surprise, with Snowflake as a seasonal. The MILD was nice. There were also a few guests; Oakhams White Dwarf and Acorn Barnsley Gold were spotted. I would go back of course, but i preferred other pubs on the tour that i made

Official site of the Sarah Hughes Brewery at the Beacon Hotel - www.sarahhughesbrewery.co.uk