The Fellows, Dudley

Having seen their facebook page, I decided to pop in for a pint of Special bitter; big mistake! Place was gloomy and not very welcoming, only four people in (the barperson looked bored out of her skull) and the beer was warm - obviously none had been served since the pub opened. You also have to pay £2 to park, this is apparently refunded in the pub but the sign on the parking meter is missing, so it can be a very expensive pint. Not somewhere I'll go again.

Not too bad a place. Its split into 2 with the rear part for "Diners Only". The pub part has the feel of a basement bar despite it being on the ground floor. A total of 11 handpumps in two banks of 5 and 6. Four Holdens beers on and a cider all doubled up. Real ales between £2.50 and £2.80 is a fair deal.

The friends we were with brought us to this Holdens pub for a bite to eat, and it is in the 2014 Good Beer Guide. I thought being Christmas there may have been a seasonal at least, but there was only their Bitter, Special and Golden Glow on. We had the Golden Glow and Special, both of which were excellent, as was the food available. The steak bagette was really good value for money with the chunky chips.

Mid 1800’s Grade II listed former upper class gentlemen’s social club with castellated features and an interesting glazed gallery in the one corner of the first floor overlooking the car park towards Dudley Castle, the premises have been refurbished and reopened by the Holdens brewery just a couple of years ago. If you consider the front of the building to be the long right hand side as viewed from the street then the contemporary interior has two areas on the ground floor, a large public bar on the left and a small dining area on the right, there is also a larger restaurant area on the first floor which can be hired for events. The public bar entrance is in the front left corner of the building this reveals a dark wood bar counter across the back wall with a lovely old Victorian cast fire place with black painted wood mantle in the right wall, a modern wood floor, couple of wide brick pillars in the middle of the room, hand full of dark brown leather arm chairs dotted around and a large flat screen TV in the middle of the front wall. On the right of the bar, next to the fire place is a narrow opening through to the small dining area, but I only popped my head in to glimpse several standard four seater tables arranged next to modern fixed brown fabric bench seating against the walls and normal dining chairs. The walls and previously mentioned pillars are brick and half wood tongue and groove painted white. Regular ales are Holdens Bitter, Mild, Special and Golden Glow with no guest beers as far as I can tell from a couple of visits. I asked for a Mild but it had run out so I had a Glow which was good. Full selection of Holdens standard range but no changing guests is a bit disappointing from a brewery that normally supports local micro-breweries. A slightly more modern interior than I normally feel entirely comfortable having a drink in, but it has been refurbished in a fairly sympathetic manner by today’s standards, thankfully no horrible fairy lights or crap vases full of twigs. The public bar is a fair size and sparsely furnished with a plain decor which means it feels a bit clinical and lacking character, I imagine it feels better when there are more people in. I like Holdens beers so I would return for a pint but it’s not one of their better pubs or the first place in Dudley that I would consider for a drink.