The Harrows Inn, Wolverhampton

The Harrows Inn is a pub that I have driven by many times over the years without ever contemplating going in. On arrival, the large car park was busy and the garden area was packed with families. There is a children's play area, but also undercover areas more suitable for enforced alfresco dining. We did still spot some spare tables, so enquired if they had room for us. The initial answer was no, but when informed that we were only planning to stop for a swift one, we were directed to the table closest to the main A449. Many other customers were turned away following us, despite other tables remaining empty throughout our visit. Some people were eating pizzas. Whether these had been delivered in, or whether they had been prepared on the premises, I wasn't quite sure. I did manage to step inside into a corridor to use the facilities. The interior has been recently refurbished and will hopefully get good use when pubs are allowed to open fully. A blackboard displayed the 5 real ale options and also a couple of craft beers. Real ales were Lemon Dream, Jaipur, HPA, Moonshine & Golden Glow. Unfortunately, they no longer stock real cider, but the ale selection was certainly the biggest on this crawl of Staffordshire pubs.

Modernised but still traditional pub at the edge of the village on the main A449. The main bar side is entered via a snug and has been partly opened-out from two rooms (one with a dartboard), and the separate lounge is now more of a dining room. A small patio area can also be found on the car park side. Although a Punch Taverns house, it is also deservedly Good Beer Guide listed, with Banks's Mild, Fyne Ales Jarl, Three Tuns XXX (£2.80), Ludlow Gold, Oakham Helter Skelter and Titanic Plum Porter available from the six handpumps when I visited.

Small one room locals pub owned by Punch Taverns, it has a long and narrow L shaped public bar which has an L shaped counter on the left, at the back of the room where it bends round to the left there are a couple of steps up to a second level. Here there is a central chimney breast which is no longer used, pool table, dart board and a large flat screen TV in the corner with paintings of birds on the walls. The pub has started doing a Sunday carvery and there is a large paved patio area behind the pub which has several picnic tables. Regular ales are Banks’s Bitter and Mild with a single changing guest beer. The Tetley Mild keg pump clip was still on the bar but they said that they didn’t sell it since the change of landlord, but they have had so many enquiries that they were considering having it back which would be great as it’s a very rare beer in these parts. This is a nice cosy local’s pub that has a homely feel, unfortunately it has struggled in recent years due to several changes of management. Hopefully the new landlord can give some stability and start to get the old regulars and locals back in, being on a busy main road they can expect a decent amount of passing trade which should also help.