Laura's Bar, Kidderminster

Very loud and busy when I called on a Saturday teatime. Plenty drunken locals dancing and having a good time. Only one of the three handpumps was in operation but it was a new beer for me so happy days! BOA Dripwave in fine shape. Glad to see the place being enjoyed and I'll call in again.

Laura’s Bar is a square open plan shop converted bar with padded bench seating in the front windows and high shelves and stools around a central supporting column. A wooden L-shaped serving counter in the left rear corner supports standard keg and Birra Moretti alongside many Thatcher’s cider flavours and three hand pumps, two of which were in operation drawing Wainwright and Boa Brewing’s Lock n Load. On the right-hand wall is a disco rig that was unused during my recent midweek late afternoon visit, but there was some loud background music. The service was polite, from I assume Laura, and the two locals seemed friendly enough. One of their dogs sat on the window seating with me for the duration of my stay. Closes at 19:00 in the week. I think the heyday of the Beer Emporium are gone, but this is still a friendly place and I enjoyed the Lock n Load.

A shop conversion micro,the interior has a lot of beer adverts and ephemera and traditional seating as well as two high tables in the front window.There is an alcove to the far left and it is here that the helpful landlady will take your order and deliver your beer to the table.There is an impressive bottle collection also for sale making a great display. Just two real ales on my trip Mallinsons Simcoe Columbus and Electric Bear Glitch Pale Ale (gravity poured ,tired,NBSS 2.5). There were 6 ciders and 6 craft keg options but the disappointing ale options would inhibit another visit.The pub is up for sale which may account for the slight lower of standards in what is a 2023 GBG entry.

I can't really add much to the Signmeister's excellent review below. Yes, the exterior is a little bland as many of these micropubs are - although the etched glass helps. The interior is in white and brick with kegs used as seats in places. TV wasn't on and there was no music. A good, mixed clientele - but it is the service here, which is fantastic and friendly, which means i always stop off when around. Pump clip collection, be warned. 5 gravity served ales and a few ciders. The Kelham Island Kingston was very good. I do like this place - gets a bit loud as microplaces do, but always worth a visit.

A short walk from Kidderminster’s main retail street, this is a simple, single room, shop converted micro pub. The room is roughly square shaped with new floorboards throughout, walls painted in a neutral cream shade, partly frosted front windows and some brick pillars with sections of wood panelling to the left. The pub has no bar to speak of, but there is an arch in the rear left corner, flanked by large wine racks, which leads into the tap room from which the landlord will pour you the beer of your choice straight from the barrel. I found the landlord to be very friendly, giving customers plenty of time to make their choice from the list drawn up on a school-style easel and popping round for a chat with each table as the night progressed. Seating involves a lot of high stools around tables to the front and a large upturned barrel to the right, with low stools, standard chairs and some padded kegs filling in the remaining gaps. Pump clips inevitably run around the room, mainly on the beams, whilst there is a collection of beer trays and unusual pint glasses on a shelf atop a centrally positioned structural pillar. Aside from this, decor is fairly restrained, with a painting of a canal boat and a nice old Bass sign being the most notable other adornments. A door to the rear leads to a unisex toilet and beer yard, neither of which I got round to exploring. The pub was doing a pretty good trade just before closing on a Friday night and the landlady popped over to have a chat as I was about to leave, helpfully recommending a few more pubs around town I might also enjoy. The blackboard listed a good selection of ales, most of which could loosely be described as local, with the options on this visit being Hobsons Dark Mild, Taylors Boltmaker, Byatts Blackfriars Porter, Salopian Oracle and Teme Valley Wotever Next. Three real ciders were also listed but I don’t recall there being any keg options. The Oracle was competitively priced at £2.90 a pint and in absolute top condition – an observation I shared with the landlord, which he seemed very pleased to hear. This is another fine Kidderminster micro pub, perhaps the truest to the movement’s original vision of those in town, and a great place to stop off for a quality pint or two. The pub itself still feels very new and is perhaps lacking a bit of the character of a more established venue, but the incredibly friendly welcome and top class service mark this out as somewhere worthy of repeat visits.