The Barley Mow, Wolverhampton

Excellent country pub located fairly close to Penn and Sedgley but still feeling quite remote (with just the golf course on Penn Common for company). A rather rambling and partly extended traditional interior, but on a fine summer day, most customers were out in the grass beer garden or sat at patio tables under cover of two large tents. Making use of the outdoor service hatch from the bar, I found four of the six handpumps in use, offering Landlord, Wye Valley HPA, Hobson's Town Crier and Enville Ale (£3.90).

Top review below: Surprisingly tricky to find. In the Good Beer Guide, its under Staffordshire. In practice, it shares a drive with the golf club. I approached on foot on the Wolverhampton Ring (27m route around the city) and scratched my head for 5 mins before finding it. Beer wise - take your pick from TT Landlord, Enville Ale, Wye Valley HPA or my chosen (apologies to the others) Three Tuns Cleric's Cure. Perfect - and good food. Worth seeking.

This is a brilliant country pub located on the edge of Penn Common which is just on the border of Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire. The original cottage was built around 1630 but it has been extended a couple of times since, most recently in the early 1990’s. The pub is now owned by Punch Taverns. First of all mind your head as you enter the pub, the door frame was built before building standards existed and it is very low indeed. Luckily there are a couple of steps down into the pub so the ceilings are not as low as the door but there is one thick tie beam across the middle of the original room which could be a problem for some. On entry you will find the small dark wood bar counter immediately on the right filling a large nook, the ceiling above is plastered with old pump clips, beer mats and foreign currency, the floor is red quarry tiles. To the left of the entrance is a seating area with green leather bench seats in a U shape around the perimeter of the room with only four tables, some old hunting and farm yard animal paintings on the walls, patterned carpet and (unfortunately) a string of fairy lights pinned to the oak beam across the ceiling! In the middle of the room opposite the entrance is a cast iron log burning stove and flue which stand out from the back wall on a thick hearth. In a small sympathetic extension in the front left corner of the building there are around half a dozen four seat dining tables, the same busy carpet, half wood panel walls and a nice painting of the pub on one wall. There are half a dozen chalk boards dotted around the pub advertising standard pub grub which I have sampled in the past and found to be very good. Outside there is a separate toilet block at the front right of the building, to the left of the pub is a grass area with several picnic tables surrounded by a picket fence. Regular ales are currently Greene King Abbot Ale, Timothy Taylor Landlord and Hobsons Town Crier, these mainly national favourites are complemented by three changing guest beers which on this occasion were St Austell Tribute, Three Tuns XXX and Clerics Cure (Cask Marque). Between me and my drinking partner we tried the Landlord, Tribute, Town Crier and Clerics Cure and all four we agreed were in excellent condition. A great olde worlde country pub with lovely traditional décor (despite the fairy lights) which feels very comfortable, considering its age I was really surprised to find that the building is not listed! The decent selection of beer is well kept every time I visit which isn’t as often as I would like as the pub is quite isolated and has no public transport access. Despite this the place is popular and they have a well attended bring your own instrument folk music night on the third Monday of the month which is quite an experience if you like that sort of thing. It was named Wolverhampton CAMRA Branch South Staffordshire pub of the year in 2009 and was a GBG regular for many years, but it’s not in the 2013 GBG due (in my opinion) to tight branch quotas (only four from their part of South Staffs) and improved competition rather than a drop in quality. This is a cracking little pub and one of my favourites in the area.