Duke of York, Wolverhampton

This is a traditional Victorian pub owned by Enterprise Inns that was called the Duke of York until the 1960’s when it closed and reopened as a bank. It was converted back to a pub and renamed in 1996, the interior was faithfully restored to a similar design to that of the late 1800’s. The interior consists of three small rooms, a public bar on the left and a small snug on the right as you enter and a second small snug at the back of the pub also on the right. The public bar has a very traditional enclosed bar counter on the right of the room with a nice cast iron coal fuelled fire place opposite, old pictures of other local pubs and two flat screen TV’s (one at the front of the room, one at the back). The front snug has a small counter in the left corner, wooden bench seats and brewery memorabilia on the walls. The snug at the back is very easy to miss as you must walk to the end of the public bar and turn right, here you will find a dart board surrounded by old Wolves FC photos on the back wall of the pub and opposite this is the entrance to the second small snug which has a serving hatch that connects to the front snug, a flat screen TV and various Wolves FC memorabilia. There is a small courtyard with picnic style tables out the back. Thankfully the owners have seen sense and repainted the frontage black and white instead of the previous fluorescent pink! Regular ales are Holden’s Golden Glow and a rotating beer from the Ludlow Brewery, Boiling well on this visit with two changing guest beers which were Green King Old Speckled Hen and Shepherd Neame Spitfire (GBG 2010) A great traditional city centre pub with lots of character and characters, I totally agree with the previous reviewer’s observations on the mix of people that regularly use this pub, they can be a bit scary. Even the staff are a little bonkers, during this visit a middle aged lady behind the bar started F-ing and Blinding at some of the customers for no apparent reason! Not the kind of place that you would take the wife and kids, don’t let this put you off though; this is still a good pub for a nice pint as long as you don’t mind a bit of excitement every now and then, one of the better real ale pubs in the centre.

I walked into the pub and everyone turned to look at me. The League of Gentlemen sprung to mind. There were 4 cask beers on, I tried Ludlow Boiling Well, this wasn't really to my taste but there was nothing wrong with the way it was kept. The pub could do with a general spruce up as could some of the clientele but overall I quite liked it.

I accidentally stumbled across this pub whilst wandering aimlessly through Wolverhampton City Centre trying to kill a couple of hours. In short it is a rough and ready, dated, old fashioned place and the floor, pre smoking ban, was littered with discarded fag ends. The walls and ceilings are ingrained with generations of cigarette smoke and yet in a certain way, the smoking ban will probably detract from its character (my visit was pre-ban). The interior appears to have changed very little in the past 30 years and the worn and battered furnishings and décor give the place a certain charm that is hard to find in this day of plastic pub makeovers. There are a few snugs and anti rooms, the small snug to the right of the door as you enter being of particular note with its own little serving hatch. The customer base is a mix of strange but seemingly harmless characters, many of who are in various stages of liver malfunction. There is a selection of quiz & fruit machines, a small TV at the rear and an awkwardly positioned Big Screen that takes out a big chunk of seating when in use. The big bonus is the excellent beers that included Landlord, Banks and Stairway To Heaven on my visit and pretty cheap, especially when you are used to London prices. The pub wouldn't be to everyone's taste but if you like no nonsense boozers with a bit of character and decent beers, then this is an excellent choice.