The Oak Inn, Walsall

Once quite a good pub located a short distance north of the town centre, but sadly the handpumps are now disused. That said, the island bar and popular pool table remain, and a real fire was warming the place on a cold December evening. The furniture and decoration must look quite basic for much of the year, but it had been spruced up for Christmas on this visit. Anyway, with the absence of cask beer, the Hobgoblin Ruby (£3.00, and served in the latest bespoke glass) from one of the keg taps proved good enough in the circumstances.

A double fronted building, inside is a single square room with a centre circular servery. Keg taps nearly all round the front quarter, two unused handpumps lurk towards the back left side, covered with Thatchers advertising triangles. Laminate and board floors, banquette seating at a mix of wood and cast iron based tables to one side, old casks to the other. Grey tongue and groove and wallpaper mimicking button back leather upholstery. There’s a pool table and screens at the back. And that’s it, a basic boozer.

The Oak Inn has banquette seating and table to the left of the entrance and to the right is an island bar. Around the wooden topped counter are stencils of greats such as Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Elvis and Mick Jagger. I expect there is live music, but I didn’t see any advertised. However there is a jukebox that was providing some background music while the two television played muted Scottish football. To the front of the bar counter some banquettes run under the front windows, the three tables here are old casks. Behind the bar counter is a pool table that was being used by the other four people in the pub during a recent Wednesday evening visit. Two hand pumps face the entrance, both unused. There was a small ad on the bar for the pub’s cask Brew X1, but I spotted it after ordering a generic lager. Standard and premium keg was available. The service was polite, but I don’t plan on returning when next in Walsall.

This is not somewhere I had planned to visit. It consists of a fairly plain open plan room with an island bar, a carpet to the left and a wooden floor to the right. There is a prominent jukebox and TV sport is advertised everywhere. I arrived here early on a Saturday afternoon to find it empty. The Juke Box appeared to be playing the "latest hits" which were all unfamiliar to me. There is a solitary hand pump which had Enville Simpkiss, although it was badged as another Enville brew. I went for this and at £2.50 it was good value but the condition was only reasonable. The whole place seemed to be geared up to showing football and the jukebox. I doubt that I would return.