Scruffy Murphy's, Birmingham

Another one I hadn't visited for many years. I have a lot of good memories of this place. Always been a rock pub. No ales but we enjoyed an hour of pool and rock tunes and will happily call again!

I had a nice pint in here, and enjoyed the Rock/Metal decor. Only problem was, obviously I went in at the wrong time of day - mid afternoon - and this looks like it's a pub best enjoyed rocking out in the evening. So it was fairly quiet. I sat in the basement area with the bar opposite. Service was friendly and relaxed. That said, I will pop in again when I am in Brum. As for it's location, well after the London/ home counties gastro-pub (where hipsters have 'curated' my pub experience), I'll take this anyday. Rock on!

Dismal-looking pub housed under the corner of a multi-storey car park; obviously a rock pub, but once inside you find a 'L'-shaped room decorated in more of an alehouse style. Seating is mostly on pew-type benches, but in one corner there is a slightly separate seating area between low-height partitions and a pool table can be found at the other end. Heavy / thrash metal on the jukebox, but not that loud in the early evening, although previous experience of walking past suggests this isn't always the case (especially when the basement rock club is operating). The solitary handpump appears to only be in sporadic use, so I went for the Shipyard Pale (£4.60) as the most appealing of the limited keg offerings.

A Victorian street, when this site was the Horse and Grrom pub, lost under the 60/70s redevelopment of Birmingham. The Pen & Wig back in the 1980s, this place has little charm from the outside as it is built into the corner of a car-park. The interior has an L-shaped room, which is given over to the homage of rock/metal music. A small stage area is in one corner and a sound booth in another. The decor is one of that nicotine stained look, with green and wood walls, red ceiling (that which you can see through the plethora of T-shirts of different bands, an a wood floor. One wall has Marilyn Monroe paper, another has mounted CDS, while a third has some bottles - although these may have been left from the previous night. There is a dart board, but you would kill several people to play. Seating is wood beches and table/chairs. There are several TVs that had the sport on and the music was rock based (strange that) and at a decent level. The service is friendly and the clientele is really mixed - i pop in once in a blue moon and it always feels welcoming. Beer; no real ale, just the usual tap stuff - i had Guinness, which was fine. They do do a few bottles. Worth dropping in if you like the music.