The Shakespeare, Birmingham

A medium-sized Nicholson's house, handy for New Street station. One room, decorated in the usual faux Victorian style, with a small raised area to the front and a large open space in the centre. To the rear is a tabled dining area. A few interesting features include an M&B tessellated floor at the entrance and some nice tiling down the side. A fair selection of ales on pump with Purity Ubu and Bunny Hops, Rudgate Hop for Heroes, a St Austell seasonal and the house ale, also from St Austell. And Doom Bar, of course.

Called in yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, there were four real ales on the bar consisting of Purity Ubu, Cotleigh Tawny Owl, Hadley Brewing Moonstone and of course the Nicholson's Pale Ale. One of the pumps that was off may have had a Doom Bar clip turned round. I wasn't feeling particularly inspired by the line up and it seemed service wasn't going to happen any time soon anyway, so decided to leave and try elsewhere.

Quite a small Nicholson's right by New Street. Gets packed on match days. Good choice of beers alongside the usual Pale ale etc. On my recent visit there were 3 beers from Siren Craft - Sound Wave, Yu Lu and Mosaic. the 2 we tried were in good shape - my only gripe is the dreaded plastic glass. A sign of the times I suppose!

Fairly standard Nicholsons that I wandered into by mistake, meaning to go to the Good Beer Guide Shakespeare in Summer Row! Seen it done a thousand times but decent beer and comfortable environment. Visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2pxONu4

A long and narrow Nicholson's outlet with a boarded floor and a slightly raised area to the front. Dark green painted walls and white cornices to the substantial ceiling beams. There is an attractive chandelier and ceiling rose. The decor includes framed Shakespeare paraphernalia as you'd expect as well as book covers and pen quills. A fireplace on an end wall looks unused as it contained little twinkly lights. There are copies of beer guides and other related stuff behind the bar. A decentish selection on comprising Sharp's Atlantic, Two Tides and Doom Bar, Purity Gold, Great Heck Christopher, Nicholson's Pale Ale and Old Rosie cider. Worth a look in if on a crawl of central Birmingham.