Devonshire Arms, Birmingham

A right old-fashioned local boozer, comprising a slightly split-level bar / 'lounge' with plain furniture and virtually no decoration. Both ladies and gents toilets are also of the backyard variety. The few locals in may have been mildly curious about my arrival, but there was certainly no hostility here. Finding no real ale was hardly a surprise, so I had the Worthington Smoothflow (£2.80) before moving on.

This is a detached pub, with a few benches outside. The pub looks 1920s, but i am not sure of that, and may be a rebuild of an earlier pub - it has a brick lower frontage and a white rendered upper and has a couple of bay windows. The interior has a couple of rooms served from a central island bar. The are in cream, with a white ceiling, some brown paintwork and a blue patterned carpet. The seating - bench and stools - are also blue. The back room has a dart board and pool table. There is some maritime pictures on the walls, including a large painting/mural. There is some other, very strange, art, as well as a sound system for karaoke, in the corner. There was no music and a TV had Corrie on, followed by Benefits Street - which is actually filmed in Winson Green! The service was fine and a few mature locals were in - it was friendly enough. Beer; no real ale, just the basic keg, with M& B MILD. I just had a shandy. The kind of pub that is vansihing fast - a locals pub, friendly enough, just nothing for a real ale fan.