Dog & Gun, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton

Official pages at the Ember Inns site - www.emberinns.co.uk

Official pages at the Ember Inns site - www.emberinns.co.uk

This old village pub is now owned by Ember Inns, the single open plan room is entered from the car park on the left hand side of the building, it has a central island bar counter opposite the entrance and has two areas (one front, one back) which are both laid out for dining. The décor is very modern with numerous pointless arty bric-a-brac and an almost continental coffee shop feel to it, there are wooden beams in the back room and a nice brick fire place in the front room which remain from the previous traditional layout. Outside the entrance is a small patio with a bus shelter type affair for smokers. Regular ales are Banks’s Bitter, Wells Bombardier and Timothy Taylor Landlord with two changing guest beers chosen from Ember Inns monthly national guest list, on my recent visit these were Young’s Waggle Dance and Skinners Betty Stogs (GBG 2010, Cask Marque!?). There were 10 hand pulls all together on two sides of the bar, 5 were on while the other 5 were all marked coming soon. Beer quality was up and down, god only knows how the landlord is Cask Marque accredited! I used to visit this pub regularly before it was bought by Ember Inns, so I remember it when it was traditional and more to my taste, the old regulars used to affectionately call it The Pup and Pistol. Beer choice is good but quality on my last visit was not. This is not a terrible pub, but like my fellow reviewers I am equally unsure as to how this place got into the Good Beer Guide!

Quiet strange one this. In the 'village' of Tettenhall on the way out of Wolverhampton its part of the Ember Inns chain and is a mix of the old and the new. And the fact that its in Teteenhall I think has probably led to its inability to find a true identity. To me though its like the designer was just trying too hard! The bar as you walk in is nice, but then there is a bizarre white tiled floor area on the right that feels cold leading to a more traditional pub room, albeit with modern decor. The area on the left is a trad/modern mix again. The thought is there, the staff friendly, a try before you buy scheme, but it just doesn't quite work. Three real ales on, with two more 'nearly ready' though the quality, as leading to below, is say average and I too wonder how it made the Good Beer Guide. Its ok, but there are far better pubs in Wolverhampton.

A large detached Ember Inns pub, with the black and white rendered front and beer patio. The interior is open plan and slightly better than the usual dull Ember modern look. The decor has the plain white, with a bit of brick and some strange circular wallpaper. Interest is supplied by their usual 'objects d'art', as in lamps, statues and arty pictures. Usual comfy and half backed chairs. Service was ok, clientele mixed and the place was busy, proving i am in the minority. Beer; tap stuff, with no MILD, with four real ales. I skipped the Wzards Wonder as it was awful in the Bell Inn Ember Inn. The Burton Bridge Golden Delicious came out so flat that i just managed to swap my order for an only semi-flat Banks's Bitter. There was also Wells Bombardier. How this has got in the GBG i will never know - i may dislike the interiors of Ember Inns - more clearly dont and i do make that point, but the beer here,as in the Bell, was poor. I shall simply rate any Ember, in future, drinking coke.