The Railway Bell, Kidderminster

The Railway bell has large front windows with one side etched and the other side not, so at night the pub is all lit up inside and on approach one could be forgiven for thinking a Channel 4 pub documentary was being shown on a TV. Wooden flooring runs throughout and a blue and white tiled wooden topped serving counter across the rear faces a line of small round tables that run across the centre of the pub and banquettes under the aforementioned front windows. A dartboard is on the rear wall to the right of the counter and muted Eastenders was on one television and Now 70s was supplying background music from the other. An advertised function room is accessed up a few steps to the left of the counter. Standard keg was available alongside three hand pumps, one of which was drawing Bank’s Amber, the Stella wasn’t great but I had been on the ale beforehand so it may have just been my tastebuds kicking off. The governor was very friendly, pretty much like everyone I met during my recent crawl of the town, but there are better options close by.

With the King and Castle closed on a Monday, I needed to wait out 30 minutes for the bus somewhere. Usually, this place has disco lights and loud music in the evenings and weekends. A little more sedate in the afternoon. Couple of old boys nursing pints and early finishing workies playing darts in a single roomer. Surprised to see a single cask (Banks Amber) and people drinking it. Played safe with a £4.85 Stella.

Handily located just over the road from Kidderminster station, the Railway Bell is an imposing looking Victorian pub and former hotel, now operated by Marstons. You enter into the main bar - a spacious front room with modern floorboards and a nice patterned tile area around the servery, which runs along the back wall. These patterned tiles also appear on the front of the bar counter, alongside some nice green glazed tiles, whilst further examples of period tiling can be found on the bar back which also boasts a back-lit stained glass top and impressive etched glass Railway Bell mirror. Sturdy banquette seating runs beneath the front windows and to the right, with chairs and stools filling up the rest of the room. A space has been set aside to the rear right for a darts area whilst over to the left there is a nice little fireplace with pictures of the brewing process above and a sparsely filled bookcase to one side. The room has a high ceiling with red anglypta covering and some very swish modern light fittings that work quite well in the context of the pub's overall look. TV screens at either end of the room were showing live football with the sound clearly audible. A door to the left leads out to a beer garden which I didn't bother to explore and I'm told there is another room with a pool table somewhere, but I can't say I noticed any sign of a second room. I visited this pub because I had a 45 minute wait for my train and arriving just before the place opened, I found myself stood outside with two real characters, who may or may not be representative of the pub's clientele. On opening, I found all four handpulls had reversed pump clips, with nothing ready to be pulled through, so I ended up with a Guinness for £3.20, which didn't really hit the spot. Being a Marstons pub, beers from their portfolio can be expected and I noticed Pedigree, Wychwood Hobgoblin and something from Banks's were among the clips that had been turned. I'm prepared to accept that I got unlucky on the beer front, although it also implies that they ran out of ale at some point during their Saturday evening service, which doesn't seem to bode well. The pub looks like it's pretty well kept and is in a striking Victorian building but far better options can be found nearby or down the hill in the town centre.

Official site of The Railway Bell - therailwaybell.webs.com