Post Office Vaults, Birmingham

Another real ale pub in Brum. A little gem.

I walked around the post office and its environs for about five minutes and consulted my map a dozen times whilst looking for the Post Office Vaults. In the end I bit the bullet and asked a local office worker if they knew the location and they directed me to an easily missed single door in amongst numerous shops. There is also an A-board outside that advertises eight real ales, 150+ foreign bottled beers and real cider and perry. A sign halfway down the stairs to this cellar bar invites people to bring in their own food for which cutlery will be provided. After reading the A-board outside I wasn’t surprised to see that the bar supports eight hand pumps, but I was surprised to see the size of the extensive cider and perry list. Also available are a few draught products from the likes of Freedom Brewery. This isn’t the biggest place so I imagine that it gets very busy and a little uncomfortable during peak hours. I’m sure that it isn’t possible to pull out the bar billiards table during Friday lunchtime. My visit was just after opening so there were only two other customers and I had my pick of tables. I decided to pick up one of the day’s newspapers that were lying about and listen to the chat at the bar that had already become beer related. I found the service here to be very friendly and I will make sure I revisit here when next in the area.

Last pub on our crawl round the watering holes of Birmingham. Good selection of well kept brews on offer, however, the place was packed on the first warm Saturday afternoon of the year and the gents toilet was emitting a powerfull stink and we had to go and stand outside on the pavement. This probably broke several Birmingham city bylaws, but it stopped us being overcome by the bleach smell. If in the city again, I will probably give the place a miss as there are lots of equal beer establishments with less aroma.

This is a brilliant real ale and foreign bottled beer cellar bar that is a free house part owned by the landlord of the well regarded Wellington on Bennetts Hill. It is a Victorian building that was a prominent furniture and piano dealers called Dale Forty until M&B bought it in 1967 and opened it as the Royal Mail, it was closed for a couple of years until reopening in December 2011. I consider the main entrance to be on Pinfold Street as this is where the largest frontage is and this entrance leads directly in to the single room, but there is also an easily missed doorway on New Street which has a flight of stairs down to the room. If entering from Pinfold Street you will see a small windowless room with a small bar counter in the immediate right hand wall, just beyond this is the bottom of the stairs from New Street and on the other side of the stairs against the right wall is a bar billiards table. The décor is fairly plain with bare wood floor, green leather bench seats and I only counted five tables, there are a couple of old photos of Brum and a large mirror on the left wall opposite the stairs, the stairs also have several vintage foreign beer adverts on the walls. Regular ales are currently Salopian Oracle and Hobsons Mild with six changing guest beers which on this occasion were Byatts Urban Red, Nethergate Old Growler, Yates Blond Ale, Cropton Endeavour Ale, Phoenix Navvy and Rat Brewery Dirty Rat Mild. I tried halves of the Salopian, Hobsons, Byatts and Nethergate and found them all to be in excellent condition which was no surprise as I know that the second owner and landlord is the former cellarman of the Old Joint Stock who has previously won some awards for his cellarmanship. A good mix of styles both local and not so local, it’s also worth noting that they stock over 250 foreign bottled beers! A fantastic addition to the growing real ale scene in Brum, it reminds me of the type of subterranean bars that are very common on the continent. Admittedly it’s not really my kind of place being more of a fan of traditional Victorian spit and sawdust and olde worlde country pubs, but the beer selection and quality has been consistently good during my hand full of visits. I have found the atmosphere a little strange and clique with a group of regulars almost chained to stools at the already small bar counter, but this has failed to put me off so I shall continue to visit. The place is well supported by the local CAMRA branch so I would be very surprised if it is not in the 2013 GBG.

An off shoot from the nearby Wellington,this city centre cellar bar should be included on any ale tour of the area.The entrance from New Street is just a front door leading you down a flight of stairs.The decor is simple and unfussy,the bar billiards table a feature although you would need to be in during a quiet period to play with any comfort. Eight handpumps with a good variety of beer styles from the six rotating guests with an excellent Salopian Oracle and Hobsons Mild as permanents.I also thought the sample glasses infront of each pull was a good idea,and I restisted the obvious temptation. Besides a good selection of real ale,the kegged lagers were from the continent,some rare,and no sign of any Carling.There is a selection of a dozen ciders and fridges behind the bar offer a wide choice of bottled beers.Even the whisky selection contained some collectors items,so this is a very useful pub to indulge in alcohol consumption.The lack of musak and the knowledgeable service from behind the bar were also noticeable plus points. I popped in during lunchtime when it wasn't too busy,and this may be the most comfortable time to visit given the constraint on space.I liked the pub a lot and will be calling in on any future trip back to Brum.

Defo well worth a visit, all the ales are top notch quality and serve a good selection. A lot of customers were calling in for their specialist beers, which I'll have to try on my next visit. Called in early doors, so I was lucky to have the pleasure of seeing what was on offer. They fill out taster glasses and put them in front of the handpumps, so that you can see the colour of the ales on offer. Barman told me that a few clowns have been in and actually drank out of them thinking that they're free samples. I'll be in again.