The Bell Inn, West Smethwick, Oldbury

An interesting U-shaped corner pub, it looks Victorian and is in undressed brick, but using diffent colours to create aesthetically pleasing patterns, as well as several small gables. The interior has three rooms. The bar room is the largest and is a straight room in yellow, with a white ceiling and a brown cornice (wood effect) and red floor. There are no real pictures here and a dart board area is at the far end. There are a couple of TVs which were showing soaps and other programmes (different on each TV). There was no music. There is a games room, which has a pool table and is in white with the same wood effect painted cornice and a red floor. This room has always been locked at my visits. The third room is a little lounge, which sort of reminds me of an old station waiting room! It too is in white with wood painted effect. It has a chessboard floor and no pictures. A small tiled fireplace - which has an old electric fire in now. The bell pushes are still evident, but the room seems hardly used. The service is fine and they do Indian food at around £5 though i didn't try it myself. Beer; no real ale, or keg. Usual stuff with Banks's and a decent M&B MILD. A lovely building, and worth a pint for that - but nothing for the real ale fan. The M&B MILD is as good as it can be.