Combermere Arms, Wolverhampton

This place has been well described below. It's still three rooms and still has (a highlight for me) a proper outside Gents where the tree is still thriving. There are five hand pumps that had AJ's IPA, Robinson's Dizzy Blonde, St Austell Tribute, Greene King Festival Ale and a cider. I went for the AJ's IPA (£3.40) which was in good nick. It may have had an ill advised makeover at some point in the past but I really liked it. It gets a strong 8.

What a shame.From the outside this is a most pleasing building,with a small garden leading to the front door.Internally it has the classic midland central corridor with the tap room first left and two seperate rooms to the right in the form of a front and back snug.The outside gents in the courtyard has a tree growing through it,but that's were the joy finishes. There has been a crude ,modern paint job applied to the internal woodwork,and previous alterations have left an artex wall covering.The furniture is clean but without any wood features you may expect in an early Victorian setting.The wood burner in the tap room isnt connected to anything,the lights were off in the rear snug and the local radio station was playing over the p.a.Worse was the ale choice with Greene King Old Speckled Hen,"Hardy & Hanson" Bitter,CW Youngs Bitter ,Deuchars IPA and Upham Punter which proved the default option and thankfully drinkable.If you like national real ale brands then you will be pleased and clearly the local CAMRA branch like it enough to include in the GBG,but for me this was a single pint stop. In more imaginitive hands this could be a classic midland pub,it's a crying shame in it's current state.

An interesting and characterful multi room pub in old style, its roots appear to be as a private house. The counter is in a small room to the left of the central corridor with a serving hatch onto the corridor. There are two more sitting rooms, one front right and the other at the back. I sat in the back room as the bar was very busy, the front room less so, it's a room with sofas and modern art . The rear room is quite plain with quarry tiles, green painted tongue and groove, and Britannia tables by brown chairs and benches. The white walls had the well known set of making Guinness by John Ireland as decoration, the only modern touch being a biggish screen. To complete the old style is an outside Gents, beyond a (more recent) drinking marquee.

Lovely old fashioned local on busy road junction, the front bar is really unspoilt, thin beams, wood bar, like stepping into someones house in the 1960s. Lots of Wolves memrabelia, and indeed on my old route from home to Molineux and gets busy match days. Of course there is also the infamous tree in the gents. Banks's Bitter plus four guests the beer quality is good.