Butts Tavern, Walsall

This large, two room community pub, just a 10-15 minute walk from Walsall's town centre, looked on approach to be a Banks's tied house, thanks to some old signage outside, but thankfully it's a genuine freehouse with four regularly changing ales on the bar. My visit saw a choice of Enville Ale, Titanic White Star (£2.60), Olde Swan Bumble Hole and Holden’s Golden Glow, with a blackboard next to the bar listing the next four ales waiting to come on. I gave the White Star a try and thought it was a good pint at a more than reasonable price. The lone barmaid was very friendly and good for a bit of banter, especially when I absent-mindedly walked off with a half filled pint which she had left to settle before topping up. The interior comprises of two large rooms, the first of which houses the servery in the rear right corner. The room is carpeted and has rather bland white walls which aren't really broken up with anything of interest except perhaps what appeared to be some large vases on a high ledge opposite the bar. There is a mixture of seating with high tables and stools and a couple of sofas opposite the bar plus banquette seating on the left hand side of the room, where one of two large TV screens was showing the afternoon's West Midlands derby to a small but keen audience. A framed poster propped up behind one of the banquettes displayed an old Marston's guest beer list, which perhaps explains the Banks's signage outside. The second room is dominated by a pool table and it also had a large screen showing the football, a dartboard and some leather sofas and chairs in a small raised seating area. I may well have caught this place at the wrong time, but I thought the bland decor and spacious, empty interior left the pub bereft of any atmosphere, but this was compensated for by the outgoing staff and well kept beer. All in all this is a good local's pub and one that merits the walk from town.

This is a really good street corner free house which was built around the mid 1930’s according to a stone detail showing two crossed riffles in the central gable of three gable ends running across the front of the building which is in plain red brick with stone mullioned windows. The interior has two rooms, a public bar on the right and a small sports bar on the left, both rooms are served by a central island bar counter. The public bar has the counter in the middle of the left wall with three large flat screen TV’s also on the left wall, one of which is above the counter, a couple of high tables with chairs, brown suede bench seating in the front of the room and black leather bench seats at the back, old photos of the pub and Walsall area on the walls. The sports bar has a tiny counter in the back right corner (which no one seemed to use), a very large pull down projector screen dominating the left wall, central pool table, dart board in front right corner, nice cast iron fire place in the middle of the right hand wall and a couple of leather arm chairs. The décor is a bit on the modernish side but it’s tastefully done. At the back of the public bar is a push bar fire door that leads out to an enclosed patio with a couple of picnic tables. Real ale on this visit was Wye Valley Butty Bach, Greene King Old Golden Hen, Wadworth Bishops Tipple and Burton Bridge Top Dog Stout (GBG 2012). I had Butty Bach and Old Golden Hen which were both in good condition in my opinion. I have since been reliably informed that they have Batham's Bitter on every other weekend so my visit was badly timed. A brilliant community local with an interesting selection of well kept beers. It’s a proper drinkers pub with a lively atmosphere that has built up a good reputation for beer quality over the last couple of years since it became a privately owned free house. A bit of a walk from the town centre but its worth searching out.