The Britannia, Dudley

This is a fantastic traditional pub owned by Batham’s Brewery, the building dates from the 1780’s but it has been used as a pub since the 1830’s and is a former brew house. The interior has three small rooms, a public bar at the front, a snug in the back left of the building and a sports room on the far right. The main entrance leads straight into the public bar which has a tiny bar counter on the left with a Bathams tiled bar back and large mirror, in the right hand wall is a cast iron coal fire place that is often used in the colder months and creates a lovely cosy atmosphere, this has a nice wooden mantle piece and mirror above, there are burgundy bench seats and old local photos on the walls. Opposite the entrance is a doorway which leads to a corridor that runs across the back of the building, immediately on the left is where you will find the snug which is listed on CAMRA’s historic pub interiors web site, this is mainly due to the 1920’s large fitted sideboard on the right hand wall which has four hand pulls built into it, so there is no actual serving counter as such. The snug also has a brick fire place with cast grate, green leather bench seats and old tools mounted on the walls. At the other end of the corridor on the right of the building is a small room with a dart board and an old TV on a high shelf in the corner. The corridor also leads to a nice beer garden behind the pub. Regular ales are Bathams Bitter and Mild with no changing guests, the quality is always very good as with all Bathams pubs (GBG 2011). The antique hand pulls in the back room are actually used, but only on Friday nights when a member of staff is available. I love this pub. This is my idea of heaven, consistently great beer served in a very traditional pub with bucket loads of character and a real coal fire. The food is simple, you won’t find anything other than cobs, pork pies and scratchings in here. This is one of those pubs that is definitely worth travelling for, it’s a local gem and there are other excellent pubs nearby.

The Britannia is in the upper gornal area of Dudley. This is a nice looking Bathams tied house and once inside there were a few different rooms i stayed in the room at the front and propped myself up at the very small bar,my first drink was Bathams bitter and this was a really nice drink i also had a drink of Bathams mild and this was also very nice. The pub seemed pretty much unaltered inside and i was quite happy having a drink is this proper pub. Pub visited 17/5/2008

Nice Bathams pub, with three rooms a bar at the front with the counter running at an angle, to the right a pleasant sitting area and at the back the Parlour with its wall mounted handpumps. Excellent Bathams Mild and competitively priced too, the usual pork pies are also available. No screens as conversation seems to be the order of the day here. Good beer at a reasonable price, pleasant surroundings, no gimmicks, I can easily understand why people love this pub.