White Swan, Burntwood

Having been closed when we passed here mid-afternoon, we returned shortly after its weekday opening time of 4:30 to find it really busy with a local after-work crowd of all blokes, apart from a female barmaid. Almost all customers had full pints of lager in front of them. There must have been quite a queue of guys waiting to be served when the pub had opened several minutes earlier. We'd actually arrived a little later than I had planned and had less than 10 minutes before our hourly number 62 bus was due to arrive. In fact, despite only being there for a relatively short period of time, we soon got involved with some lively banter in the pub. The guy next to us informed us that had we planned to visit a week later, the 62 bus would no longer be running. The pub is a fairly worn affair, but seemingly friendly. Wye Valley HPA is the regular ale. They also had Butty Bach from the same brewery, along with Sharp's Doom Bar. There was no real cider that I could see. Not really fancying any of these beers and with very little time, we ended up ordering sambuca shots, which seemed to get the pub in uproar, especially when sipping them instead of downing them (we weren't that rushed)! The guy with the reliable local bus knowledge soon exclaimed that the only person he knew who sipped sambuca was a Baggies fan. I revealed which team we followed, which caused even more uproar! Certainly a lively community local, that we didn't get to appreciate to the full, despite our short visit being quite eventful.

Appealing corner pub with an attractive bar along the front partly sub-divided into two small seating areas. A separate lounge and darts area can also be found on the other side of the entrance corridor. Traditionally furnished and decorated in both parts. Wye Valley HPA and Bombardier are the regular real ales on the five handpumps, along with the unbranded (Laine's) Heroes charity beer and Backyard's Elderflower Pale (£3.50) plus Sneck Lifter 'coming soon'.