Drop Forge, Birmingham

A spiral staircase is to be found to your right as you enter this place. The interior is made up of bare brick walls which give it a warehouse feel. A metal staircase is to the left. Its all a bit trendy for my liking though it did have 4 real ales consisting of Banks Amber, Purity Ubu, Oxford Gold and one I've forgotten.

Conversion of an industrial building that it's nice to see being used rather than knocked down. 4 real ale taps(3on) and food served.

This large bar and restaurant is housed in a converted industrial unit, close to the Jewellery Quarter train station. The conversion has resulted in quite a smart look, but the large, open plan interior means that it all feels a bit soulless and impersonal. You enter into a large bare boarded, exposed brick walled room with a raised seating area to the front and a slightly lower bar area at the rear, with the servery to the right of the back wall. A few brick and metal pillars do their best to break up the space a bit, but it's a large room offering a vast mix of seating options, including button backed sofas opposite the bar, high stools around ledges on some of the pillars, tub chairs and banquettes in an alcove to the right of the bar and some comfy armchairs arranged around a few small tables. The raised space at the front was set up more as a dining area and had formal table and chair arrangements, also seemingly available on the mezzanine level that looks down into the main bar area. Some steps in the far left corner lead down into a slightly cosier looking lounge, but this space was empty on my lunchtime visit. The main part of the pub is lit by a large skylight, that acts as a good focal point, although arguably the pub's most interesting feature is a sizable piece of forge machinery that takes pride of place behind a glass screen. Other than this, there is very little in the way of visual distraction around the room, leaving the place feeling a little bland and perhaps losing some of the connection that might have been established with such an interesting building. I found four ales on at the bar - Woods Shropshire Lad and Honeyed Ale, Jennings Sneck Lifter and Purity Ubu. I tried a pint of the Honeyed Ale for £3.50 and found it far too cold, with a very thick, almost impenetrable head and not in the greatest condition. The staff seemed quite polite and industrious, but didn't appear to be interested in engaging in conversation. I thought this place was an interesting concept with quite a bit of potential, but I didn't really warm to it. It lacks a bit of personality as far as I can tell and a poor pint didn't help to win me over either. I might consider a return to try a meal, perhaps when the place is a bit busier, but I would drop (no pun intended) this one from future Jewellery Quarter crawls.

A bar restaurant housed in a former industrial building which still has some of the old machinery in place, including the actual drop forge. An unusual layout on various floor levels including a roof terrace, reflecting its former industrial use and probably the insertion of a mezzanine floor. The raised area at the front, beside the machinery, is furnished with tables and chairs while the lower levels have sofas and Britannia tables in odd alcoves. No problems with serving casual drinkers there are 4 hand pumps - two with Marstons stable beers and two from micros. The quality was good and the bar was in the GBG2013 but not 2014s.

The Drop Forge is a newish pub that is in an old industrial building, situated quite close to the Jewellers Arms. Once inside there is a largish main room with the bar facing,the room is bare boarded and had chesterfield settees and leather chairs with lots of cushions scattered about for seating,the front area was raised and had normal tables and chairs,this was very busy with diners on my Saturday dinner visit,there was another area to the left which was down one step,i did'nt look in this area. There were four real ales on the bar,i had a drink from Malvern Hills,the clip said MHB,probably their bitter,this was a very nice well kept beer,the other beers were Cotleigh Barn Owl,Hobgoblin and a beer called Owlzthat which was on a hand written clip. The pub had a nice laid back atmosphere and was quite busy,my only gripe is about the seating,they might look nice but they are not comfortable. Pub visited 17/8/2013

I'd like to review this pub but as it was closed for a "private party" on a Saturday night I can't. It looked stark!