Katie O'Brien's, Birmingham

Part of a small chain of upmarket, gardening themed (yes, really) gastro pubs, this is a very smart, well presented bar in the heart of the city centre. You enter into an unusual lower seating area in a strange space that feels completely disconnected from the rest of the pub. The room is quite pleasing, with bare floorboards, lots of detailed iron work, some dovecotes, birdhouses and old clocks on the walls and a selection of smart seating options. Steps lead down from here to the toilets and up through a door to the main bar and restaurant area. The room is split in two through the middle by a nice etched glass partitioning screen, with drinkers to the left and diners to the right. The restaurant space is easily identifiable on entrance as there was a greeter stood next to it at a lectern, guiding people to the row of tables along the right hand side under a green wall hung with floral paintings, or beyond to a wider space with padded banquettes and standard chairs in front of an open kitchen. This space is half panelled with what appears to be skirting board covering the ceiling and there were a lot more pictures and paintings on show, mostly of a horticultural theme. The left hand side of the room sees the servery along the left wall with a row of high, pewter topped tables opposite. The bar has a rough wooden counter with a pewter top and smartly presented bar back. The whole space is under a large skylight which has a remarkable chandelier comprised of numerous coloured glass light shades hanging from the centre. At the end of the bar I noted a row of small watering cans, but I have no idea what these were for - maybe they serve cocktails in them. Inoffensive lounge music played throughout my visit, but the relaxed atmosphere was ruined by the bar staff who kept yelling at one another in short staccato bursts which destroyed the atmosphere - they could have been playing thrash metal instead of lounge music, such was the totality of this shattering of the peace. Four fake cask ends on the bar back were used to dispense the ale options, although quite what the actual method of dispense might be is anyone's guess. The board behind the bar listed Oakham Bishop's Farewell, Salopian Golden Thread, NWTC Passionate Blonde and Byatts Phoenix as the options and I had a pretty good pint of the Oakham, served by a very nice trainee barmaid. A few interesting keg options included Samuel Adams Boston Lager, whilst a bottle menu listed over 80 different brews in the fridges. This chain clearly aims for a slightly more upmarket clientele than your average city centre bar and judging by some of the other customers, this tactic seems to be paying off. I felt a bit out of place here but could imagine returning for a bite to eat with the other half. To my mind, this is a major upgrade on chains like All Bar One or Slug and Lettuce and deserves to do well within its own little niche.

There are a few of these Botanist bars around and they are all identical and they are all pretentious and they are all crap. This is no exception. Go somewhere else, there are much better places.

Fancy bar / restaurant with the two sections separated by a 3/4-height screen. Features a light colour scheme and rather twee decor (that certainly won't be to everybody's taste). Also has an unusual covered terrace area at the front. Four real ales available from inconspicuous taps in fake casks behind the bar, but the stillages can be seen behind a glass screen towards the rear - the 'house' Passionate Blonde (£3.80), Two Towers Complete Muppetry, Oakham Bishop's Farewell and Salopian Golden Thread. All a bit odd, but I thought it worked a bit better than I was expecting.