The Brown Lion, Birmingham

As described below. It had purple walls to your right on entering and the seating had Audrey Hepburn cushions.

On approach, this looks like a typical traditional Victorian boozer, but inside you find a modernised two bar venue with a central servery and two very different rooms to either side. The left hand room seems to be marginally larger and has bare floorboards, an unusual terracotta tile topped bar counter, bland bar back and walls painted in unlovable neutral shades, studded with dull, generic bits of breweriana. Grim looking plastic chairs serve a formal row of tables arranged along the left hand wall and IKEA-style light fittings round out the utterly uninspiring décor. A large pull-down screen to the rear was showing live football from an obscure foreign sports broadcaster. Thankfully, the right hand side was considerably better. This room is also bare boarded and has a noisy fußball table to the front with a single table served by some standard chairs to one side and a lone sofa along one wall. A TV showing the same football fixture was hung above the sofa, backed by some unusual wood-stack image wallpaper, and there was a dartboard further back, but with no oche and no sense that it was ever used. Some shelving near the servery held a few coffee table books of limited interest and a slot machine stood in the front corner. An arch leads through to the nicest part of the pub, a lounge area with some proper furniture including a nice curved padded banquette which runs beneath a pleasant stained glass window. Beyond is a covered rear smoking area which can't really be described as a 'garden'. Music played quietly throughout my stay and for some reason the pub had a sign outside advising that they would be closing at 19:00 that evening, which I can only assume is not standard Saturday night practise. Staff Christmas party maybe? I think I had this pub on my to-do list due to its connection with the Two Towers brewery, who operated the venue for a while but had, unbeknownst to me, since sold up. I was therefore a little disappointed to find just two ales on arrival - Purity Ubu and LWC Frozen Assets. I couldn't face another dubious Christmas beer, so opted for the reliable Ubu, which was fairly well kept. This was a big let-down and a poor finish to a day drinking in and around the second city. I'm not sure if it was the disappointment at the reduced beer selection, the bland interior design or the fact that they were closing early and thus the place was practically empty by the time I arrived, that put me off this place - probably a combination of the three. Either way, I certainly didn't feel the same way as some of those who've reviewed the place previously and I'll definitely be dropping this one from future visits to the area.