Ye Olde Seven Stars, Kidderminster

The oldest pub in Kidderminster, apparently, and there certainly is a some character in the irregularly shaped front room and the slightly lower rear bar (although the former also has a small, unused counter). Traditional alehouse furniture and decor in both parts. With five of the seven handpumps in use, I found Wye Valley Butty Bach, Robinson's Dizzy Blonde, Titanic Plum Porter, Old Rosie cider and something being changed over.

As ever, the Signmeister makes my review a little academic as it is still the same. A nice dormered Georgian looking property in white and green with a rear patio area. The interior is very irregular in design. The small and quieter front room has its own bar (I assume for busier times) and a dartboard. The triangular rear room is where most people go it seems. Beamed ceiling, wood floor, it is traditional with old photos, a piano and so forth. TV wasn't on and music was a decent level. Service is fine and there is a good and mixed clientele. 5 real ales: Kinver Noble, SA Proper Job, Fixed Wheel Chain Reaction, WV HPA and a decent Titanic Plum Porter. Another great pub in my opinion - always worthy of a visit.

Proudly proclaiming to be the oldest pub in Kidderminster, this is a decent, two bar town centre pub which has seemingly been pitched to appeal to a wide range of customers. You enter into a small, unstaffed front bar with the servery to the rear and a few tables with bench and chair seating. The walls sport some pretty impressive high dark wood panels that help to make it feel like a cosy, traditional front bar and these have been topped with a few decorative items, including a number of animal miniatures which can be found throughout the entire pub. The main servery is along the front wall of the rear room – a bare boarded space with more of the same high dark wood panels, but a larger area which loses some of the cosiness of the front bar. Long pews and standard chairs provide plenty of seating, mainly arranged towards the back of the room and there is an upright piano to one side, lost somewhat under a plethora of local interest leaflets and listings magazines. Decor includes a collection of earthenware items to the rear, various ceramic bits and bobs along the top of the panels and a rather smart portrait of the pub on one wall. At the far end of the bar there is a door which leads out to an impressive split level beer garden with a covered section that the smokers seemed very pleased with. Some sort of marquee was set up at the back of the garden and the gent’s toilet block can be found out here as well. Food is limited to quality looking snacks such as pork pies and cobs but customers are allowed to bring in their own food, with cutlery and plates available on request. Music played at a sensible level throughout my visit and a chap was busy setting up for either a live performance or DJ set – he had such a crazy amount of equipment with him, I couldn’t work out which it was to be. The bar has a long row of handpulls to one end which were offering a mix of well known and slightly obscurer ales, with the full range on this visit comprising Sharps Doom Bar, Robinsons Dizzy Blonde, Moorhouse Pride of Pendleton, Three Tuns Rantipole, Hobsons Twisted Spire and Sadler’s Mud City Stout, with a final pump saved for a real cider. The Dizzy Blonde was in pretty good shape, served up by a bubbly barmaid and sensibly priced at £3.20. This struck me as a nice, lively town centre venue that is popular with a good cross-section of the local community. The beer range and prospect of drinking in the town’s oldest pub are likely to be the big pull factors for most visitors, but it was the friendly atmosphere and relaxed feel of the place that would probably entice me back.

Just seems to get better and better. Enjoyed my last visit three years ago. Same as I remember it, although it may have had a bit of a makeover. 6 real ales on - and the Woods Santa's Ales was perfection itself. Very friendly landlord and locals. Would be my choice of boozer if I lived in the town. Trip blogged at http://bit.ly/2ieHy8w

Decorated in ale house style there is a front and back bar, only three pulls in front so go through to the back, you can use either front door, and find the choice of seven pulls. It's a reasonable choice with local favourite Titanic Plum Porter among a few from Lancashire (Moorhouses), Cheshire (Robbos), down sarf (Old Hooky and Otter) and Scotland in the form of the dreaded Deuchars, one was spare. Bare boards and kitchen tables in the ale house style but the panelling and ceiling decoration show it's an older pub. Again all pulls on sparklers so Kidderminster must be close to the border between with and without or the Godly and the Godless.

Said to be the oldest pub in Kidderminster this pub has wooden floorboards and wooden panelled walls. The main serving area is the other side of the room from the street entrance. It was showing the rugby but nobody was watching it. It wasn't too busy on my Saturday afternoon visit. The bar has seven hand pumps with one devoted to cider. The beer choice was rather better than the previous review with Titanic Plum Porter, a 7% ABV version of Cottage Norman's Conquest, Sharp's Atlantic, Salopian Lemon Dream, Three Tuns Rantipole and Wye Valley HPA. I went for the Lemon Dream (£3.30) which was in very good nick. I thought this was a good pub but not outstanding in any way. Despite that I would certainly return.